THOR Alter: Digital Story
by swift56
Summary: You all know the original version of Twin Heroes of Remnant, how it flowed and how it ended, but let's take a look at how different things could have been, with a little Digital Story.
1. Prologue: First Meeting

**Surprise!**

 **Yeah, ended up making this before finishing up the Zelda version of the story.**

 **Honestly I was in a Digimon mood, so I went for it.**

 **Hope you enjoy!**

 **And if you're new to this, then the original version of this story is called Twin Heroes of Remnant, so, it got abbreviated as THOR.**

* * *

" _This is a story. About how my brother and I met a strange monster. It was a night that would change things, we just didn't know what at the time."_

It was the middle of the night, the darkness blanketing the city.

Every residence in the large apartment blocks was sound asleep.

Well… all except one.

In it, a young boy, about 4 or 5 years of age, with dirty blonde hair and green eyes was staring in confusion at a computer screen.

He was sure his older brother had closed it earlier, so why were there so many numbers and words moving across the screen?

"Pierce?" the young boy heard a young voice say his name in confusion, making him turn around to see his twin brother, the only difference between the two being his twin's hair was a lighter colored blonde and his eyes were blue.

"Azure's computer is all weird." Pierce said, pointing at their older brother's computer, his twin rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and looking up at it, standing next to Pierce.

The blue eyed twin tilted his head in confusion "What's wrong with it?"

"I don't know Gyro." Pierce answered his brother, now revealed to be named Gyro.

As the two brothers continued to look at the screen in wonder, something started to push out from it.

It had a strange oblong shape to it, which was explained as it finished pushing itself out, the coding like skin on it disappearing to reveal a strange white egg with red stripes on it.

The two boys looked at the egg in awe, before turning to the computer, which had turned itself off.

After a moment, Pierce reached up and patted the monitor a few times "Good job." he said simply.

Gyro picked up the egg, looking at it in confusion "What do we do with it?"

Pierce turned to his twin, thinking about his question for a bit, before nodding at a decision "We'll tell Azure."

"Right now? But he has to get up for work tomorrow morning right?" Gyro asked, while also remembering their older brother had work in the morning.

"Oh yeah… we'll tell him once he gets back then." Pierce corrected with a nod, sure of himself this time.

Gyro nodded in agreement with the idea, finding it made sense this time.

With that decided, the two brothers walked back to their room, Pierce climbing up to the top bunk of their bunkbeds.

"Who keeps the egg?" Gyro asked him suddenly, making Pierce stop and think about it.

He eventually shrugged "I don't know."

Gyro thought about it as well "Let's play rock-paper-scissors." he said simply, finding it to be the best solution.

Pierce nodded, and Gyro sat down the egg, the two brothers holding their hands out in a fist each "Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!" the two called out while shaking their hands, and both chose paper, making them blink before trying again.

They actually ended up choosing the same thing for 5 more tries, until eventually Gyro chose rock while Pierce chose scissors.

With that decided, the two brothers went to bed, with Gyro placing the egg under the blankets with himself.

The next morning, the boys were woken up as their brother opened the door to their room.

He was in his late teens, with silvery blonde hair and blue eyes, currently wearing a simply blue button up shirt and a pair of jeans "Time for breakfast munchkins." he said with a smirk as he saw them start to get up, going back to finishing up his own breakfast.

What he didn't expect, and made him spit out his glass of orange juice, was for Gyro to be rolling a large white egg with pinkish stripes out of their room. Azure stared at the egg for a moment before his brain finally rebooted. "Wha...where did you get that?"

"It came out of your computer." Pierce answered innocently.

That just confused Azure even more, and was about to ask what his little brother was talking about, before noticing the time, turning back to his brothers whom were sitting at the table for their breakfast which was waiting in front of them "We'll talk more about this once I'm back this afternoon, as always, if anything happens, go ask the old lady across the hall for help."

"Okay!" his brothers nodded.

"In the meantime...ah...keep the egg warm. Maybe...put it in some blankets?" Azure suggested. This...was really NOT how he expected to start any morning like this.

His brothers nodded again, with big smiles on their faces, making him laugh in amusement, before getting up and grabbing his keys, waving goodbye to his brothers as he left for work.

With him gone the twin simply continued to eat their own breakfast.

Though, they stopped when the egg started rolling around on it's own, moving around the apartment, before rolling back into their room, making them look at each other, before they moved back towards their room, watching as the egg suddenly stood up straight.

The two brothers looking at it in awe, before cracks suddenly formed on the egg, making them jump in surprise at the fact it was already hatching.

Just as suddenly, the top of the egg was throw off and something small, black, and round zoomed out from within the shell, speeding around their room, darting between their legs, before eventually rushing underneath the bed.

The two brothers looked at each other, before getting on the floor, looking under the bottom bed to find two yellow eyes staring back at them.

The creature that had popped out of the egg looked like some kind of small black fuzzy thing, it's yellow eyes staring back at them, blinking curiously.

After a few moments of simply staring each other down, the small creature started blowing out… bubbles from it's mouth, making the two boys blink at it strangely.

It also seemed to be blowing the bubbles in a rhythm, which gave Gyro an idea.

He moved away from the bed for a few moments, coming back with a small bell from a tricycle, which he started ringing along to the rhythm from the small creature's bubbles.

Pierce looked around the room as the bubbles kept being blown out, as they just floated around the air.

When he looked back, Gyro was holding the small creature, which was still blowing out bubbles, although Gyro opened the windows so they wouldn't be swarmed by them. After a few minutes of quite literally aiming and fanning the bubbles out of the room, finally the small creature seemed to calm down.

The two boys sighed as they watched the bubbles float about in the air above the street, which were obviously noticed by several people, all of them staring at the cloud of bubbles in confusion. However, back in the apartment, the boys had to deal with a different problem...namely in the form of a grumbling stomach, one that was coming from the small creature.

Gyro lifted up the small creature, looking at it curiously "You're getting hungry huh?"

"What does it eat?" Pierce wondered outloud.

"I don't know… think it would like peanut butter?" Gyro asked his brother, receiving a shrug.

They decided to try that, making the small creature a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and watching it scarf it down… then it's stomach growled again, meaning it was still hungry.

The boys tried making it a bowl of cereal, although it ate everything before they even poured the milk into the bowl.

Gyro hummed in thought as he watched the creature start to eat a few slices of baloney they placed in front of it after the cereal "I think I know what it is."

Pierce looked to his brother curiously "Really? What is it?"

"A mini-black hole." Gyro said with a nod as he crossed his arms, as if his answer was the only right answer.

"...ok?" Pierce blinked.

"It just doesn't stop eating. And black holes keep sucking up stuff, right?" Gyro explained further, with Pierce nodding along, understanding what he meant.

Then a thought hit Pierce. "...are we gonna keep feeding it?" he asked, noticing that it was still eating.

Gyro blinked at that, about to answer, before they heard the creature let out a loud burb and just sag down, letting out a content sigh "I guess not." he eventually answered after a few moments.

Then they looked to the TV over in the living room as it started glitching out, the screen wavering and showing interference, and other electronics started glitching as well, neither of the two boys noticing the small creature standing stock still. However, when it started to glow, THEN they noticed it, and turned to see as it was engulfed in light.

They covered their eyes as the light shone bright, before it finally cleared away after a few moments, letting them look upon the little creature to see it was… different, now.

It had become larger, for starters, and it's black body was now a pale pink color, it's small little ears now long and floppy like ribbons, and it's eyes, once small and yellow, now large and red, it's mouth was even visible now, with visible fangs poking out from it's bottom lip.

The little creature shook itself once it came out of it's daze, before looking at that, smiling as it opened it's mouth… and spoke.

"Hey! Thanks for feeding me!" the little creature called in a child-like voice.

The two boys were speechless for a few moments, before finally Pierce spoke up "You can talk now?"

"Yep!" it said happily as if it was the most normal thing ever.

"Um… do you have a name?" Gyro asked after a moment.

The little creature nodded, somehow "I'm Koromon! Nice to meet you!"

"Uh...hi, Koromon?" Pierce blinked, not sure what else to say.

"Hi!... um, I can't remember your names but I'm pretty sure I heard them earlier." he said with a frown as he tried to remember "I… think they start with a G and a P?"

Gyro nodded with a smile "That's right! I'm Gyro, and this is Pierce!"

"Right! That was it! Gyro and Pierce!" Koromon said with a nod, his memory jogged.

"So...Koromon...what are you?" Gyro asked.

"Koromon is Koromon." the little creature answered as if that explained everything, and to him, it did.

"...okay?" Gyro and Pierce blinked, not sure what else to say.

"So...what do you want to do, Koromon?" Pierce asked, figuring he might as well.

Koromon actually hummed in thought "Uh… I only saw your room and this spot. What else is there?"

"Yay! We get to play tour guides!" Gyro called in glee, I mean, what child wouldn't want to pretend to have an important job?

"Not going to be a very long tour though." Pierce added as he looked around the rather spartan apartment.

The brothers didn't need much after all, just the essentials.

They did have video games and toys though.

Minutes later, we find the boys sitting in the living room in front of a gamecube and teaching Koromon how to play super smash brothers Melee.

Funnily enough, his long floppy ears actually worked like hands, so he was able to handle the remote and press buttons correctly.

Gyro was playing as Samus, Pierce as Ganondorf, and Koromon as Pikachu. Understandably, Koromon was a bit shaky at first, but once he got the hang of it, he turned out to be a fast learner. They didn't even need to let him win by the third fight. He'd actually won on his own.

"Wow, this is really fun!" Koromon laughed as on the screen the victory scene played with Pikachu doing its own little victory pose.

"Huh, didn't think you'd get good that fast." Gyro said, a bit surprised.

"Well, he's not better than Azure at least." Pierce mumbled as while Koromon had won they still KOed him a few times.

"What else can we do?" Koromon asked, bouncing excitedly, to which the brothers decided not to wonder how something with no limbs could bounce so much.

Instead, they ended up playing different games with Koromon, as well as playing with some of their toys. Before long, time passed till it was the evening, and they heard the sound of the door being unlocked an opening.

"I'm home," Azure said as he walked into the house. "By the way, I heard the strangest story while I was on the way home," he started as he put away his shoes and bag. "The neighbors saw a cloud of pink bubbles coming out of the apartment earlier this morning. Care to explain?" he asked...right as he saw the pink puff ball that was in front of the tv, playing a game. "...the egg hatched into that?"

Gyro turned to his older brother, waving with a smile, before addressing the Koromon issue "Actually he was a little black and fuzzy thing with yellow eyes a few hours ago, then he kind of just turned into that."

"...I'm sorry, what?" Azure deadpanned. Somehow he had a feeling sanity just died. For the rest of his life. For the next few minutes, his little brothers explained to him what had happened through the day, and when they were done, Azure was sitting on a chair with a bewildered expression. "So… 'Koromon' could suddenly talk, and from the looks of it, even play video games...and he eats just about anything."

"More or less, yeah," Gyro nodded.

Azure took a few moments at that, thinking about everything, before he muttered "My life has become a cartoon show for the entertainment of the masses."

"Really? Cool," Pierce laughed.

"So...can we keep him?" Gyro asked, holding up Koromon...and doing the dreaded puppy dog eyes, which Koromon soon joined. The cuteness could have rotted teeth in minutes.

Azure felt his will waver already, and it was shattered when Pierce noticed and joined in, making him groan as he hanged his head "Fine, fine, we're keeping him, but you two will have to do chores for the neighbours so we can pay for his food more easily."

"Okay!" both boys said happily, bouncing excitedly, something Koromon joined in despite not fully understanding what was going on. They didn't mind having to work if it meant they could keep their new friend.

"Well, enough of that. For now, let's get dinner started," Azure chuckled, to which the brothers did just that, though Gyro and Pierce took turns keeping Koromon company while dinner was being prepared. Dinner itself was a lively affair, as Koromon showed his ravenous appetite again, something that had Azure a little worried seeing as that...could be a drain on their expenses too...not that he told his brothers that. Eventually dinner was over, and the dishes done, and everyone soon was ready to head in for bed.

Once they were in their room, Gyro and Pierce were about to try and decide who Koromon could sleep with...before Koromon jumped up into Gyro's bed. "...well, that was easy," Gyro blinked, while Pierce shrugged, and the two got into bed. Little did they know, that this night would be one that would change their lives forever.

It was several hours later, a little bit past midnight, when Pierce was awoken by Gyro shaking him awake, his brother's face set in worry "What's wrong?" he asked as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.

"It's Koromon." Gyro said in worry, Pierce understanding as he quickly climbed down from his bed, and saw the same thing Gyro did.

Koromon pale, his eyes wide with his irises almost invisible little pinpricks, and his whole body shaking all over.

"Koromon?" Pierce called out to their new friend in worry.

They didn't notice every electronic in the apartment complex going haywire this time either.

It was at that moment that Koromon's form started to grow, getting taller and wider, scales covered him, a dull yellow in color, arms and legs grew in, both pairs with large claws, his floppy ears shrinking down into small little ears flattened against the side of his head's his rather flat face growing into a more reptilian snout, as his red eyes were now green in color, the whole thing finished off with a short and stubby tail.

Quite obviously, the bed couldn't handle Koromon's new weight as it collapsed under him, Gyro pouting as he stared at the pieces of his bed scattered around the floor.

Koromon's new form looked around a bit, before moving towards the window, looking out of it curiously, the two boys following him in confusion.

Koromon's claws picked against the window, as if he was trying to open it, the two boys understanding and opening it for him as they stepped out onto the small veranda.

Sniffing the air, Koromon walked towards the open window, trying to squeeze past it, only to end up breaking some of the wall.

Back in his room, Azure shot up as he heard all the breaking coming from his little brothers room, getting up and walking towards it, clad in a simple pair of sweatpants, a t-shirt, and slippers.

When he opened the door, he looked into the room with a raised eyebrow, only for his face to morph into shock as he saw Koromon's new form, as it jumped off the veranda… with his brothers hanging onto his back, the two boys shouting in surprise as they fell down to street level.

He stood there for a few more moments, stunned, before bolting out of the apartment with a coat in hand.

While Azure was heading down to try and catch up to them, the boys were wandering around the town while hanging onto Koromon's back.

Lucky for them, not many people were still up at this hour on this side of town.

Eventually they reached a row of vending machines, with Koromon staring in curiosity at them.

"I'm thirsty." Pierce mumbled from Koromon's back, with Gyro hearing him and tapping the side of Koromon's head before pointing at one of the vending machines.

Koromon seemed to get the message, as he used his claws to break open the vending machine, causing several cans of soda and juice to fall out, with Pierce grabbing one of the cans of lemonade, before they walked off.

Azure ran around town, looking everywhere in the main area of where they lived "Gyro! Pierce!" he shouted out their names in worry, before adding a moment later "Koromon! Where are you?!"

Back with the boys, they were still hanging onto Koromon's back, the adult sized dinosaur walking in traffic.

"Koromon… why won't you talk to us?" Gyro said in worry as he looked up at his friend, before all three of them turned their heads as a truck was headed right for them.

Just before the truck would have hit them, Koromon jumped over it, surprising the boys, as well as one of people in the truck.

"Did you see that?" the one in the passenger seat asked.

"No, I was sleeping." the driver mumbled.

"But you're the one driving!" the passenger shouted at him.

As Koromon landed back down, he growled at the truck, the boys looking at him in worry.

"Koromon?" Gyro called to him, before both him and Pierce were shocked as a ball of flame shot out from Koromon's mouth, seemingly heading straight for the truck, but thankfully being off course and hitting a payphone instead.

The two boys stared at the flaming wreck of the payphone, scared, the gravity of the situation now starting to dawn on them.

At the same time, Azure stared at the broken vending machine, panting, a thought crossing his mind 'If I don't acknowledge it, I don't have to pay for it.' he thought to himself before turning and starting to run again.

Meanwhile, the boys were trying to stop Koromon as he looked at a bus, his mouth slowly opening with a flame building up in his throat, before he snapped his head towards the sky, jostling the boys around as he stared up a plane that was flying up high.

Unsurprisingly, he tried to shoot his fireballs at it, but all that happened were that the flames extinguished themselves on the way down.

They stayed lit long enough for Azure to notice them though.

As he ran in the general direction the flames had been shot from, the boys were still hanging onto Koromon's back, the dinosaur walking around town aimlessly.

They didn't realise every electronic in this area of town going haywire, except this time… it wasn't affecting Koromon.

Hundreds of people looked up in the sky in confusion, as a gigantic egg formed out of nowhere, Azure staring up at it while still trying to find his brothers "I don't want to meet the chicken that layed that egg." he muttered, before starting to run again.

Koromon was running towards the egg, the boys hanging on tight to him, until he slowed down while passing under a bridge, looking up at the egg with a growl.

"Is it something bad?" Gyro wondered.

And suddenly, the egg hatched.

Falling out of the egg was a HUGE green and yellow bird with arms, the top portion of it's beak covered in metal, and with two red antennae on top of it's head.

The bird flapped it's wings, slowing its descent as it started to slowly fly about, as if trying to figure out where it was.

That's when Koromon reared back and roared, making the boys fall off his back, before he fired fireballs up at the feathered monster, getting its attention.

The two boys got up, before running up to Koromon and trying to pull him back "Don't! It's too big! You'll get hurt!" Pierce said in worry over their friend.

"Gyro! Pierce!" the two boys heard, making then turn to see their older brother running toward them, his face a mixture of relief and worry at having found them.

He crouched near them, Koromon seemingly ignoring them as it kept looking at the huge bird, before pulling his brothers into his arms, just glad they were ok.

Before anything could be said however, it was then the bird decided to retaliate against Koromon's attack, as electricity charged between it's antennae, and it fired.

The shot didn't hit Koromon, no, it hit the bridge above him and the brothers, causing it to collapse on top of them.

As hundreds of kids watched on as the bridge collapsed, little did any of them know this anomaly wasn't isolated.

* * *

 _World of Remnant_

At the same time, in the world known as Remnant, thousands of children, teenagers, and adults all watched in shock and awe at the sight before them, transmitted through various different electronic devices.

Some of the people watching did so with siblings present, some alone, others were even watching from the streets while looking at TV displays in a store, then there were those no one would ever knew watched.

And finally there was a little 4 year old girl with black hair and red highlights, her eyes a surprising silver, wearing a pink footie pajama with a whistle hanging around her neck, staring at the TV in her living room in childish awe as she watched the large green bird land down.

Then she jumped in surprise as the bird shot lightning at a bridge and broke it.

As soon as she saw that, she ran for her big sister's room, trying to shake her awake, only to get more snores in reply.

Puffing up her cheeks in childish annoyance, the little silver eyed girl placed her whistle to her lips, before starting to blow it in her big sister's ear.

This caused her older sister, a girl with lavender eyes and blonde hair that went to her upper back, wearing a t-shirt and shorts to bed, to jolt up in shock and almost throw the younger of the two onto the floor "What was that for?" she asked her little sister in a bit of anger, her eyes flashing red for a few moments before turning back to lavender.

The younger sister simply pointed towards the living room, before running off, causing the older one to stare at her in deadpan before sighing as she got out of bed and followed after her.

When she arrived in the living room, she stared with her jaw dropped at the sight on the TV.

A large orange dinosaur with blue stripes on it's body and a brown, horned helmet covering its head, emerging from a pile of rubble, and she could see that crouched underneath him were an adult man and two boys her age.

She watched, along with her little sister, as the dinosaur charged at the large bird, the two clashing against each other before the dinosaur pushed the bird back and shot a white hot flame from it's mouth, burning off one of the wings of the bird and grounding it.

In retaliation, the bird charged it, grappling with it, before discharging electricity point blank into it's face, sending the dinosaur flying back and skidding on it's side.

She saw the two boys that had been under it run up to it and apparently try to wake it up as the bird slowly walked forward, unbalanced slightly thanks to the loss of its wing.

Her attention was drawn to her little sister as the little girl blew her whistle with a sad tone, walking up to the TV and blowing into it a few times.

The older sister understood what she was doing "They can't hear you." she said simply, frowning as she looked back at the TV.

That caused the younger sister's shoulders to sag, before she perked up with an idea.

She took her whistle that was hanging around her neck, and tried to push it into the TV.

Her older sister opened her mouth to tell her that wasn't going to work, only for choked out words to come out as the whistle actually fell into the TV.

Her little sister also nearly fell into it, before she pulled her back out.

Still… tonight was definitely strange.

* * *

 _Back on Earth_

Gyro winced as something fell on his head while he stared up at Koromon, looking down as it fell to the ground, making him raise an eyebrow as he saw a whistle attached to a red string.

He looked at it for a moment, before glacing at Koromon, then at the giant bird, and grabbed the whistle, before putting it to his lips, and whistling into it for as long as he could.

When he pulled it back, he panted for air, looking up at Koromon.

Nothing… until his eyes snapped open.

Gyro turned his head to the bird, uttering a single word "Fire."

Koromon's body shot up, facing the bird, before he opened his maw and a stream of white hot flames shot forth from it.

The intense flames wrapped around the feathered monster as it struggled to get away, before disappearing into them.

However Koromon seemed to have lost control of them, as his body disappearing into the flames as well, their heat reaching a point where everyone looking was blinded.

It was minutes later when the bright glow faded, the sun slowly rising on the horizon as specks of light floated in the air before fading away, though, no one noticed as a small amount of orange lights fell into a portal of some kind as it closed itself up.

Gyro looked around, a frown on his face, before he called out "Koromon! Where are you?!"

" _I didn't know it at the time, but, my friend had gone back home. My first ever Digital Monster encounter, it was something I, or my brothers, would never forget. It set so many things in motion, that we couldn't possibly understand at the time, not only for us, but for the friends we would make on Remnant years later. It was the start of our very own Digimon Adventure."_

 **(Play Butterfly (the first movie credits version) by Wada Kouji)**

Gyro stood, now grown into a young adult, wearing a short dark blue coat with a green flame design on the edge and a furred collar, a blue shirt with a green star on the chest underneath it, wearing long dark green pants and black running shoes, a pair of goggles around his forehead, and a whistle hanging around his neck.

He looked up with a smile, standing in front of him, crouched close to the ground was Koromon in his large orange dinosaur form, who moved closer to Gyro, making the young man smile wider as he hugged the large dinosaur's snout, the reptile closing it's eyes happily at the action.

The two stood in a large field of flowers of different kinds, while in the background stood a tall mountain with a castle like structure on the top.

After a few moments, the two separated, and seemed to act as if they heard something, before turning to the screen and smiling, starting to walk towards it as the scene froze.

Digital code appeared on the screen, before translating itself into "The Adventure begins in 10 years."

* * *

 **Yeahp, full on rewrote the one I made in the original THOR for this, because I wanted to put more effort into it and also add my own spin on things in certain spots.**

 **Also, if it isn't obvious, grown up Gyro's short coat is the same one Daisuke had in 02 just with different colored flames.**

 **See you next time everyone!**


	2. 1: Into Remnant

**And we're back with some more digimon!**

 **Funny thing I've been working on this for the last few days, and this is actually just the first half of the full document I'm writing.**

 **Yeah, me and Timeless decided it would be best to cut it in half so the chapter is a bit smaller.**

 **I mean, all of this? this is like 18 and a half pages on it's own.**

 **And we still have more pages left to write.**

 **But still, I decided to post this one, to tide some of your guys over.**

 **Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

A door was slammed open into a dimly lit workshop, as a young blonde man with a goatee and green eyes stepped inside while still in his pajamas "Gooooooooood Morni-!" and his greeting was quickly cut off by a pair of slippers slamming into his face.

"Shut the hell up it's 6 AM!" came two other voices from inside the dimly lit room.

The young man, now flat on his back, groaned as he pried the slippers from his face "This is what you two get for working so late on that thing!"

"Well excuse us for wanting to get this done as soon as possible!" one of the voices, the younger of the two, shot back.

"Besides, we noticed a few bugs last night, well, more like I did." the older of the two voices said, before a light was turned on, not a bright one thankfully, finally illuminating the area.

The 'thing' that they had all been talking about, was a large gate like structure in the middle of the room, the floor around it surrounded by warning tape. Seeing the structure, the young man smiled as he stepped in. "I almost can't believe we're finally breaking this thing out. To think that thing we thought of as kids to find a friend, ended up becoming something that could save a world," he said softly.

"I freaking miss Koromon." a young man with light blonde hair and blue eyes sighed out, lifting an old whistle that was hanging on his neck. Their sole memento of a friend they'd made all those years ago.

"You guys really need to stop being depressed about this." the oldest of the boys said, leaning against a workbench.

"Not our fault. We lost a good friend, Azure." the only one who had green eyes said.

And if it isn't obvious by this point, these are Gyro, Pierce and Azure, now a little over 10 years after that fateful night.

Azure sighed slightly. This was a topic that even after a decade, was rather somber for his little brothers, not that he could blame them. Even if he himself hadn't been too close to the little pink blob, he also missed the little guy who'd wormed his way into the family's hearts in a single day and night. Looking at the portal, he remembered how originally it had been conceived as a plan to find said friend, but when they realized they needed an actual destination...that plan quickly became a bust. Now however, it was a different story...even if finding Koromon was no longer the goal.

About 5 years ago, him and his brothers had found a new webseries that they quickly became fans of, though it did help that his little brothers had quickly admitted they had developed small crushes on some of the main characters. At first things were pretty normal, then came the shocking plot of the third volume of the series. Suffice to say the brothers agreed it was far too cruel and undeserved...though at first they sighed at the realization that there was nothing they could do about it...or was there?

It was shortly after the fifth volume of the show had concluded that the brothers had remembered the portal they had been trying to make all those years ago, and thus, their plan to go and save the characters of the show, no, of that world, was put into motion.

If they continued to think of it as a show, it wouldn't be fair to the people of that world. It took time, and sooo many all nighters, but they'd finally done it. They'd found the world they were looking for and synched the portal to it. Now all that was left, was to do the fine tuning, and finish up any remaining business they had, cause they knew, once they stepped through the portal there was no turning back.

"Right, I'm gonna handle the final tests, how about you boys start getting ready?" Azure told his little brothers as he cracked his neck, walking towards the portal.

"Whaddya want for breakfast?" Gyro asked his older brother as he got off the floor.

"Whatever you'll be having." Azure said as he started working on his computer.

"Big breakfast it is then," Gyro nodded. "I think we both need it after last night."

* * *

A week soon passed, and the three brothers were now standing before the gate which was about to open. They had to do this quick, as to make sure nothing went wrong, they'd been ready to divert power from the city if needs be. They weren't too keen on that bit of the plan, but as it was, this was going to be a one time deal only, and they did NOT want to have an 'accident' cause the power failed mid-way...though just to be safe they made sure nobody would trace it to them.

Gyro and Pierce had also decided on their 'Hunter looks' as they called it, while Azure had made their weapons for them, and made sure they practice with those types extensively before giving them the real ones.

Gyro wore a dark blue jacket with a green flame pattern on the bottom edge and the sleeves, a rainbow colored, twister shaped flame printed on the right breast of the jacket. Underneath it he wore a lighter colored blue shirt, white gloves covering his hands, his legs were clothed in long, dark green cargo pants with simple black and green running shoes. Finally, the one thing to break his color scheme was an orange sweatband around his forehead, which had a pair of goggles resting on top of it, though they looked a bit high tech with some small lights on the side, and the usual whistle hanging around his neck on a new chain necklace.

As for Pierce, he wore a black tunic with a single square button, that had a high collar with a wine red trim. Over that he wore a dark red bomber jacket that had the silhouette of a roaring dragon's head as seen from the side printed on the back, a pair of aviator goggle hanging around his neck, while a black and red tiger patterned bandana was tied around his bicep. Finishing off the look was a pair of wine red pants and black combat boots.

(quick note to readers, design changes have happened to the twins obviously, but don't worry, these are their final designs. Gyro obviously takes inspiration from Taichi and Daisuke, while Pierce mostly takes inspiration from Iori, but with some more stuff to it)

Lastly, Azure was dressed in a blue shirt, with the sleeves folded over his elbows and a pair of black long pants, with a tie around his neck, albeit one with a flame ornament at the top of the tie, giving him an interesting look of a simple office worker mixed with something of someone ready to fight at a moment's notice.

As for weapons, Gyro had a pair of curved swords hanging off his belt, with obvious ports at the pommel to attach them together. He had named the swords Ascalon.

Pierce had what looked like a simple naginata on his back, though several parts and pieces seemed to be able to come undone or open, almost like it had several secrets and modes hidden within, as such, he had dubbed it Pandora… though it didn't have 666 different forms like the weapon of the same name in Devil May Cry.

And finally, Azure wielded a pair of kukri knives that doubled as pistols, both of them in black with a white edge to the blades, called Umbrae.

"Alright, did you two get everything you needed?" Azure asked. It never hurt to do a final check. He'd already packed clothes, food, and some valuables that they could possibly use to trade for money if needs be.

"Got everything right here." Gyro said, lifting up a rather large, and used, school bag, Pierce doing the same, both bags being simple grey and black with nothing much to them.

"Right, guess we're ready to go then." Azure said as he shouldered a large duffel bag that had everything he had picked up, from clothes, to stuff they could sell to get money of the world they were heading to.

"You know, I know its a bit late, but I gotta admit…" Pierce started, looking at the door. "I'm gonna miss the old place," he sighed, before turning his attention back to the gateway that was now active, the three of them having already checked and double checked to make sure everything was working. "So guys, you ready?"

"You know it! Time go and try to save the world!" Gyro said, pumping his fist up into the air.

"Just try to do it?" Azure asked in amusement.

"I'm being realistic, there's no way we can do it on our own." Gyro told him in deadpan.

Azure nodded his head at that "Very true, but, that's what we have the plan for."

"But first we gotta actually get there," Pierce chuckled. "On three?"

"On three," his brothers nodded, the three of them standing before the portal.

"One…" Gyro started.

"Two…" Azure continued, as the three of them took a deep breath.

"Three!" they shouted together before jumping through the gate, and once they went through, the program initialized, and before long the gate went dead, leaving an empty workshop. It was not long after that the Vermillion Brothers were reported missing, with their neighbours saying that the boys just up and disappeared that day.

* * *

Moments later, a portal opened up in an alleyway, spitting out the three brothers who landed in a heap."Did we make it?" Azure groaned as they got up.

"Gimme a minute." Gyro said, shaking his head, before peeking his head out of the alleyway and looking out onto the street, turning back to his brothers a moment later with an OK sign "Bingo!"

"Right! So, plan review time!" Pierce said with a nod.

"Well, landing in the middle of Vale is checked off of that, thankfully." Azure said as the brothers sat down in a circle.

"Next step is finding out where Jaune lives and give him some training so Pyrrha has more stuff to work with when helping him." Gyro said as he pulled out an actual list from his bag.

"Don't forget we need to also unlock our auras, and get some Dust," Pierce added.

"At least I was able to figure out how mechashift weapons work." Azure said, since that had been a difficult part that was thankfully already taken care of.

"Yeah, but, don't forget, for auras, that's all you Azure." Gyro said with a grin as he nudged his older brother.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, get into Beacon as a teacher, have my aura unlocked, then come back and do it for you two as soon as I can." Azure said, waving it off as he remembered what he had to do.

"Well then, let's get to it," Gyro grinned. "We got a world to save."

* * *

A week had passed since the brothers arrived in the world of Remnant.

In that time, they had sold off a few of their possessions to get plenty of Lien, the main currency of the world, and thus find a place to stay until it was time for Beacon to start.

Azure had also started the process of trying to get a job at Beacon, which, from the way things were going, was easier than they had expected.

Though they blamed this on the fact Ozpin had realised he had absolutely nothing on the Vermillion brothers and was curious.

Because of this, Azure was quickly accepted and had his aura unlocked, he was even planning on explaining things to Ozpin as soon as he could in a way that was believable… though it certainly helped the man was several centuries old and would be more open to believing that kind of story.

At this moment, Gyro was walking around Vale, messing around with his brand new scroll after Azure had come back to the temporary apartment to unlock both of the brother's auras. They'd manage to get a decent foothold in Remnant, so now he was looking into the next phase of the plan. Finding one Jaune Arc, or at least the Arc family.

While he was doing that, Pierce was gathering up as much of the relevant history of Remnant they would need to know, thankfully, it was all easily accessible on their equivalent of wikipedia, at least according to his twin.

And if they were right, they should have roughly a year or so before they hit the start of canon, which was plenty of time to figure out their semblances, shouldn't be too hard, since it had to do with who they were, Gyro even had a bit of an idea, considering he did love flying in planes when he was a kid and anything else that went into the sky, and that it had made him a bit adventurous.

As for what his twin's semblance was… honestly, it was hard to figure out, Pierce was all over the place in terms of his personality, but somehow, Gyro felt like it wasn't the deciding factor of his semblance.

He shook his head, for now, he had to focus on any leads regarding finding the Arc family so they could get started on giving Jaune a good foundation for his skills so Pyrrha would have something to work with when training him. That and also so Cardin wouldn't be able to push him around as easily if at all. Going through the information, he finally found something of note. It seemed the Arc family lived in a rather small town, nothing big, and honestly rather out of the way...probably why Jaune didn't even know about Pyrrha.

At the very least, it wasn't too far from Vale, hell, it was on the same coastline just a few miles away, he could get there easily with a car or motorbike.

With that in mind, he decided he'd be handling the initial meeting right now, as he went to the nearest vehicle rental store he could find, glad that the process for getting a permit wasn't actually long on Remnant.

Minutes later, he was driving towards one of the many exits of Vale on a motorbike, humming the first Kamen Rider theme as he went along.

He did have to sigh as he waited for the gate to be open enough for him to go through.

In a sense, Remnant was similar to Attack on Titan, in that cities were enclosed behind walls to keep them safe, the difference was that the threat on Remnant was easier to manage as opposed to, well, Titans. Shaking his head from the thought, he focused on his destination, as the LAST thing he wanted was to be jumped by some random Grimm that might have gotten through.

He followed the path, only having to take one turn that had him rolling over a wooden bridge at some point, till he reached a town that, just like everywhere else, was surrounded with relatively high walls, though one side was left open for ocean access, but he could see that they seemed to have harpoon turrets on the towers that lined the parts of the wall closest to the water.

He had to resist snorting as he saw the guards walking along the top of the wall, because of how much it reminded him of medieval stories.

Eventually, one noticed him, and after making sure he was friendly, they let him inside, parking his rental bike in a small garage near the entrance.

"No address… but considering he has 7 sisters, I'm bound to run into a family member eventually." he muttered to himself as he looked at his scroll before putting it away.

Eventually, he found exactly what he was looking for on the beach.

He could see Jaune, wearing what he supposed was a work out outfit since it was a white t-shirt and blue cargo pants that reached his knees and some sandals, as he swung a wooden sword at an imaginary enemy… badly at that.

'You'll thank us for this someday Pyrrha.' he thought with a mental sigh as he prepared himself to basically work Jaune's skills up straight from the bottom.

"Hey man! Yeah, blonde guy! You're doing it wrong!" Gyro called out, walking towards Jaune who looked around in surprise before turning to him.

"Um, I'm doing it wrong?" he repeated in confusion.

Gyro nodded "Yeah, your stance is pretty easy to trip up right now. One shove and you'd be flat on your ass, it might be better to spread your feet wider and get lower to the ground, as not only is it harder to move you, it makes you ready to get into motion faster."

Jaune blinked, before looking down at his feet, and deciding it couldn't hurt to try, did just as Gyro said.

Gyro nodded as he walked around him, before looking at Jaune's free arm "Any reason you're holding it up like that?"

Jaune looked to his free arm at that, blushing sheepishly "Well, I want to use a shield so…" he trailed off with a shrug.

Gyro nodded again, before walking towards the edge of the beach and lifting the lid of a barrel that had a handle on top of it 'Very convenient.' he thought with a smirk as he threw it to Jaune, who dropped the sword as he floundered to grab the lid.

Slowly, Gyro's hand met his face, groaning audibly into it 'This is going to be a long day.'

* * *

Several hours later, Gyro was sitting on the same beach from earlier, with Jaune lying flat on his ass next to him, panting for breath.

"So, hey, Jaune, if you don't mind me asking, why are you training so much?" Gyro said, glancing at the blonde, the two had exchanged names over the many hours where Gyro did his best to instill the basics into the eventual leader of team JNPR.

Jaune took a few moments to catch his breath "I want to prove to my parents that I can handle myself, that I'm not as weak or stupid or, whatever they think I am."

Gyro actually looked directly at his fellow blonde at that, interested in learning what had driven the boy so much in the original story "Oh? What brought that on?"

Jaune sighed as he tried not to get angry at his parents for being overprotective of him and his sisters "My dad's a retired Huntsman, he did pretty well for himself honestly, until a mission that could have gone better where he lost the ability to run, his legs still work fine, but he can only walk. Then a couple of years later, my eldest sister became a Huntress, she was doing pretty well too, then she had her own bad mission, except hers went horrible, and she lost her whole left arm, all she's got now is a stump. Obviously, my parents ended up overreacting, and now are super overprotective of me and my sisters. But they never even fully listened to my eldest sister story's. She said it was her own fault for losing her arm and that she was just too reckless. Well, I'm not the reckless type, I'm not the strongest guy, but I'm good at tactics."

Gyro took it all in, committing the information to memory as best he could because of just how important it was to finally learn Jaune's reasons that had pushed him to run away from his family and forge his way into Beacon.

At the very least, he intended to only have one of those things happen this time around.

"Tell you what, I'll come back tomorrow with a few notes for you for stuff you should work on. I can see you need help man, but I'm not, well, the best teacher, that would be more my older brother. The best I can do is give you the tools to work with." Gyro explained with a shrug.

Jaune nodded after a moment "Thanks, hopefully it helps me out."

"I'll probably come over from time to time to see how well you're doing… and maybe try to help you get to Beacon if you'd like that." Gyro added with a bit of a grin.

Jaune chuckled "Yeah, I think I would like that."

"Welp, guess I'm gonna get started on a plan and those notes." Gyro said, standing up and brushing the sand off his pants "If you're ever in Vale, don't be a stranger." he added, waving at the still resting Jaune as he walked away.

Roughly an hour later, Gyro finally returned to the apartment the brothers were using at the moment "Hey Pierce! I found Jaune!" he called into it.

"I'm in the kitchen!" his twin shouted back, Gyro heading for that room as he saw his brother reading the screen of his scroll, expanded into tablet mode.

"So, what did you learn?" Gyro asked as he sat across from him.

"A lot… but mostly this." Pierce said, not looking away from the screen as he slid a sheet of paper over to Gyro.

He rose an eyebrow, grabbing the sheet before looking at what exactly was on it, his eyebrows shooting up at what he saw.

An information page on Summer Rose, most likely made a while ago, with a certain part of it being highlighted.

MIA.

Summer Rose was missing in action, yet, after a few years, she was assumed KIA.

Gyro stared at the sheet for a few more moments, before putting it down as he looked back at Pierce "Well… if I know my tropes as well as I do, we're going to find her eventually."

"I wouldn't be surprised." Pierce muttered.

The twins sighed in unison after a moment.

They felt like things were only just starting to get complicated.

* * *

A year had soon passed.

In that time, not only had the twins finally figured out what their semblances are, but they'd also done quite a few preparations and had learned everything they needed to.

They'd also managed to work Jaune's skills high enough that he was able to just barely get into Beacon without needing to falsify his papers.

Sadly, they still had to sneak him out of his home along with the family heirloom, Crocea Mors.

Jaune felt guilty, but he just couldn't let his chance pass him by without doing anything.

At the moment, the blonde trio currently stood on the airship to Beacon, though, Jaune had to stay close to the bathroom as he could regularly feel his breakfast trying to come back up.

"We...really need to do something about that…" Gyro sighed. "I doubt this is going to be your last airship ride."

Jaune simply nodded, not trusting himself to speak as he held his hand over his mouth.

"Right, first chance we get, we'll go and see the nurse, see if maybe they have something to help with this." Pierce nodded to himself as he spoke.

"Definitely better than letting sir pukes-a-lot here spew everywhere." Gyro said as he looked at Jaune dryly, his fellow blonde groaning at the nickname behind his hand.

"I'll get you back for that." Jaune managed to mumble out, before groaning as another wave of nausea hit him, having to run back into the bathroom again.

"Sure you will, just as soon as you're finished needing to puke," Pierce chuckled.

Once the bathroom door was closed, Gyro and Pierce looked at each other.

"Spotted anyone else yet?" the shorter of the two asked.

In response, Pierce simply pointed a little ways away, Gyro following his finger to see one Ruby Rose getting the life hugged out of her by her older half sister, Yang Xiao Long.

Gyro laughed awkwardly as he saw the silver eyed girl try to flail out of her sister's arms "Well, at least we found them."

"Are you going to try and stop the explosion?" Pierce asked his brother with a raised eyebrow.

"Probably yeah, would be good if Ruby and Weiss had a better start than canon." Gyro said with a nod.

"So...should we introduce ourselves or…?" Pierce left the question hanging.

Gyro scratched his cheek as he thought about it "I don't know honestly, it might seem weird if we come up to them out of nowhere, plus I don't want to abandon Jaune you know?"

Pierce mulled over his brother's words "Well… when you put it like that, makes sense I guess."

With that agreement, the bothers let things play out as they did in 'canon'...save for the part where Jaune threw up and got puke on Yang's shoes. It wasn't long before they arrived at their destination, Beacon Castle coming into view. Despite themselves, the brothers couldn't help but marvel at the sight of the castle that would be their home for the next few years, and if things went as planned, would REMAIN standing for that long, the two of them scowling at the knowledge of their soon to be enemies. It would be difficult, but they would do what they could to prevent those events from becoming a reality.

Though, in the back of their minds, there was something that concerned them greatly. Over the last year, the weather had gotten more and more weird, all over Remnant at that.

A heat wave in Atlas, a constant downpour in Vacuo, sandstorms in Mistral, and snowfall in Vale. It went without saying that these things never happened in canon, and that...made them understandably worried. At best they hoped it was just some freak weather that would eventually blow over, but at worst they were afraid this was one of those situations where the timeline was aware of their arrival, and was now going to try to toss in some curveballs to make sure things went as they did in canon, their efforts be damned.

At the moment, the twins and their fellow blond friend were walking towards the main building of Beacon itself, each with different thoughts on their minds.

As for what brought them out of those thoughts, it was as they saw two sisters interacting with each other.

Gyro, out of the corner of his eye, saw a certain white haired heiress walking, with two butlers pushing her things along on a transport… tray… thing… he doesn't know the actual word for it, but those thing they have in hotels basically for the luggage.

Either way, he didn't break his stride, in fact, he started walking faster, catching up to the sisters just as Yang zipped past Ruby, making her spin in place as she wobbled around.

Just as she was about to fall over, Gyro got behind her and placed his hands on her back, catching her "You ok there?" he asked casually, but with some honest concern in his voice.

Ruby shook her head of her dizziness "Y-yeah, thanks." she said as she got her feet back flat on the ground, Gyro glancing to the side as he saw Weiss Schnee walk past them, glancing at them for a moment before continuing forward.

He uttered a mental sigh of relief at the fact that the, hopefully, eventual partners, didn't have a rough start like in canon. The only issue was that with Weiss no longer meeting Ruby the way she did in 'canon', there would need to be another way for Blake to meet Ruby. Fortunately, it seemed things were on his side, as just as he thought that, a certain thinly disguised Faunus was walking by.

'Oh this is almost too easy.' Gyro thought with narrowed eyes, before mentally shrugging as his pinky finger twitched, and a gust of wind suddenly blew through the courtyard.

Ruby eeped as she held her skirt down, glad no one was looking down at least, and as for one raven haired feline girl, the sudden wind not only blew some of her hair in her face, but made her lose her grip on her book.

Conveniently, it ended up smacking Pierce in the face while it was wide open.

Blake winced as she ran up to the group, seeing Pierce's hand twitching "Um… sorry." she said after a moment.

Slowly, Pierce pulled the book away from his face, blushing as he handed the book to Blake "Maybe you shouldn't read this kind of stuff in public." he muttered lowly, yet knew she heard him thanks to her ears hidden by her bow.

Blake blushed as she took the book back "Right." she muttered, thinking maybe she should stop reading that in public.

"What is Ninjas of Love about anyway? You know, besides ninjas and… adult stuff." Gyro asked, stopping himself short and changing his last words when he remembered Ruby was standing right next to him.

"Well...at least it has SOME plot...not that I could really get to read any of it considering the page it opened on," Pierce admitted.

"What was on the page that was in your face?" Ruby asked innocently.

"We'll tell you when you're older." Gyro, Pierce and Blake all said in unison before looking at each other in surprise.

"Why does everyone say that?" Ruby said with a pout as she kicked at the ground.

"So...uh...my name's Gyro, this is my brother, Pierce, and the guy in the hoodie is Jaune." Gyro started, quickly changing the subject. "And you two are?"

"I'm Ruby!" the young reaper bounced right back into happy as she grinned at everyone.

Blake was silent for a moment as she looked at everyone "... Blake." she said curtly.

"Nice to meet ya," Pierce grinned.

"So...you two excited about getting into Beacon?" Jaune asked politely. The twins had thankfully managed to curl away his attempts at flirting, because in all honesty, that had just been ridiculous.

"You know it! I mean, I was already excited before but I still had two years to wait, but now I got in early because I met with Professor Ozpin himself, he was actuallyimpressedwithmethatwassocoolandallIdidwasgowooshandbamandthenboombecauseIwastryingtostoparobberyandthentherewereexplosionsandaplaneanditwassoawesome!" Ruby started before getting faster as she spoke.

"Uhhh…." Jaune blinked, starting to feel like his brains were leaking out of his ears. On one hand he knew it would be impolite, but on the other hand he felt the urge to clamp the girl's mouth shut, if only so he could let his brain START to try and understand what she was saying.

The others looked at Ruby silently, before looking between each other and sighing, mutual understanding passing between them.

'What did we get ourselves into?'

* * *

A few minutes later found the group walking through the courtyard, their trek towards the auditorium resumed after getting Ruby to explain again slowly.

What had surprised the boys though, was Blake falling in step with them, and not making any effort to leave the group.

They didn't know what exactly had caused it, but apparently something had caused the faunus girl to be more at ease around them. Not that they were complaining, as this would make things a whole lot easier down the line.

"So…" Ruby suddenly started, trailing off, before looking at everyone "What do you all have?"

"Uh… what are you talking about?" Jaune asked as he turned to look at her.

"You know, what kind of weapon." Ruby said with a shrug.

"Oh, that." Jaune mumbled, apparently being relieved.

To be honest, the wording WAS a bit suggestive.

"Well, I got these, I call them Ascalon." Gyro said as he pulled out his twin curved blades from their sheaths, giving them a bit of a twirl, before attached them together to show off the alternative mode as well.

"Ooohh, what else can they do?" Ruby asked as she looked at the combined blades closely.

"That's a secret till I have to reveal my semblance." Gyro said with a cheeky grin as he stored them away.

Ruby pouted at that, before turning to the others, eyes shining hopefully.

Seeing that, Blake shrugged and pulled out her weapon. "Gambol Shroud," she said simply, revealing her katana-machine gun combo, also showing how it's sheathe was a cleaver.

"And well...I got this sword," Jaune said, pulling out Crocea Mors.

"Cool," Ruby said. "What does it do?"

Gyro and Pierce had to hold back snickers as Jaune clumsily tried to explain how Crocea Mors DIDN'T have any extra modes, except for the sheath acting as a shield.

Well, not yet anyway, they still had to figure out exactly how combining an arming sword with a shield/sheath made a bastard sword.

"Well...the classics are great too," Ruby said at the end of Jaune's explanation, a rather poor attempt at being polite considering her previous excitement.

"Think of it this way Jaune, you don't have to worry about too much maintenance, and because most people would expect something extra from your weapon, they'd act a bit more cautious, which might cause them to overlook some things." Gyro added after seeing Jaune slump.

The blonde knight tilted his head at those words, considering them "I… guess that makes sense."

"So...uh…" Ruby started, not quite sure what to say next. On one hand, she wanted to ask about Pierce's weapon...but at the same time she had a feeling it wouldn't be so good after what just happened.

"Huh? Oh right, I haven't shown my weapon yet," Pierce chuckled. "Say hello to Pandora," he said, pulling out his weapon, still in its default naginata mode.

"And what does it do?" Ruby asked as she noticed what looked like several pieces that could move along the shaft of the weapon.

"Well… what would you like to see it do?" Pierce asked with a grin.

"Can it shoot fire?" Jaune asked jokingly.

In response, Pierce grinned as he twisted two pieces of the weapon, a nozzle coming out just above the blade and a trigger near the middle, which when pulled, made a stream of flames come out of the nozzle, it was thin, but nonetheless, it was fire.

"And there's more!" Gyro said with a grin as he nudged his brother to show off a few more of his weapon's many functions.

Pierce nodded as he started showcasing quite a few alternate forms, such as a trident, a grappling hook, a whip function, and plenty more.

"Uh...is she okay?" Jaune asked cautiously in the middle of the little exhibition, as true enough, Ruby was now drooling with stars in her eyes.

"Eh...probably," Pierce sweatdropped. He couldn't say he was surprised at the reaction, but this was a bit stronger than he'd imagined.

Gyro looked at the little reaper in concern, before reaching into his pocket and pulling out his scroll "Let's see, where is it again?" he muttered, before nodding as he flipped it around and put it in Ruby's face.

No reaction for a moment, before her eyes went to the screen and she snatched it away from him, muttering inaudibly as she looked at whatever was on it, then quickly looked back up at Gyro "You designed this?"

Gyro nodded simply, smiling a bit proudly.

Ruby looked at him, before smiling brightly "That's so awesome!" she said as she raised her hand up high and Gyro gave her a high five.

Everyone looked at the two of them in confusing, before Blake was the one to break the silence "What did you show her?"

"A blueprint for something that's a bit excessive but still awesome." Gyro said with a shrug as he accepted his scroll back from Ruby.

"...so uh...aren't we supposed to be gathering somewhere for the initiation?" Jaune suddenly said, remembering that yes, they WERE supposed to gather.

"Where do you think we've been walking to?" Pierce said as he stopped in front of a large door and opened it, showing that the auditorium was inside, and people were still coming in from other doors or corridors.

"Huh...I kinda thought we got lost just talking…" Jaune admitted.

"Hey wait! I haven't shown off my weapon yet!" Ruby said before anyone went inside.

"Well, go ahead, we probably still have like 10 minutes or something before we need to be inside." Pierce said as he looked inside the auditorium before turning back to the short girl.

Ruby nodded with a smile as she reached underneath her cape and pulled out a large red block like thing, before motioning the others to give her more space, and opening it with a flourish, revealing a very large scythe.

"I call her Crescent Rose, not only is she a scythe, but she's a high impact sniper rifle, and, I made her myself." Ruby said proudly as she compacted her weapon down into its sniper rifle mode, which honestly looked more like an AK-47 in appearance.

"So… it's a scyther rifle then?" Pierce said with a grin, causing a few groans.

"Stop the horrible puns please." Gyro said as he covered his face with his hands.

"Oh god he's just like Yang." Ruby muttered in horror alongside him, before she and Gyro looked at each other, and pat each other's backs in silent support for having siblings who loved bad puns.

After the moment of support had passed, the small group finally stepped inside the auditorium, and were greeted with… an argument.

'Oh you have got to be kidding me.' Gyro thought in deadpan as he saw Yang and Weiss glaring at each other and very loudly arguing with one another.

Both he and Pierce thought they would have to try and break up the argument, before a pair of fists descended on top of the two girl's heads, making their eyes go blank at the sudden impact to their skulls.

Everyone gaped at the scene, none more so than Gyro and Pierce however, as the person who had hit the two girls on the head was Azure.

"That's QUITE enough you two," Azure sighed. "Honestly, you're both part of the next generation of protectors. Please save arguments like this for outside or AFTER the opening speech."

"Dear Oum Azure has balls." Gyro muttered in a bit of awe.

While Yang simply winced as she rubbed her head, honestly as long as her hair wasn't damaged she wasn't going to go ballistic against someone, Weiss was fuming as she turned her glare onto Azure "And just who do you think you are to hit me?!"

Azure simply gave her a dull look "A teacher."

Immediately, Weiss's face went pale, her mouth hanging open in shock at the fact she'd just talked like that to a teacher.

"Now then, when you're done putting your blown mind back together, the headmaster will be starting his speech soon. I think it'd be in your best interests to be paying attention," Azure chuckled. "And that goes for you too Gyro and Pierce. I'm not gonna be bailing you out if you get in trouble that's your own fault," he added with a smirk.

"Hey, we're in the room big bro, so we're safe." Pierce shot back with a wave of his hand.

Azure shrugged with a smile "Fair enough I guess." before walking off to where the other teachers were.

It took the gathered prospective students a full 10 seconds to process that last part.

"Wait...he's your brother?" Yang asked as she turned to Pierce, having moved over to Ruby while Azure was basically scaring Weiss into turning white like a ghost, the snowy themed girl still frozen in place.

"Yeah, he got a job at Beacon and, well, he's the reason we were allowed to take a slightly harder entrance exam since we never went to a training school before, I mean, they had to doubly make sure we had what it takes." Pierce explained.

"God I almost puked like three times during that." Jaune said with a groan as he remembered he too had to pass the harder exam.

"Huh." Yang said, choosing to ignore what Jaune had said "Well… I guess we were getting kind of loud." she admitted, before holding her hand out to the goatee toting blonde "Anyway, name's Yang."

"Pierce, nice to meet you." Pierce said with a smile as he shook her hand.

"Nice grip there." Yang said with a grin as she still held his hand.

"Not too bad yourself." Pierce shot back.

"What is this?" Ruby whispered as she watched the scene unfold in front of her.

"Something I don't think I want to be a part of." Blake said dully "See you guys later." she added, before walking away from the group.

"See ya later." the remaining three not in a conversation told her back, still watching Pierce and Yang interacting.

However, before the conversation could continue, everyone's attention was drawn to the sound of a microphone being switched on, as up on the stage, a middle aged man with gray hair and black glasses stepped up and began speaking.

Gyro and Pierce, for the most part, tuned out Ozpin's speech, as it was more of a downer than anything, so instead they thought about how they should go about doing things tomorrow, as they still hadn't fully decided on that. Ideally of course was that they make sure they partnered with each other, so that if nothing else, they could easily plan their steps in the future. It wasn't long before the speech was over, and everyone was ushered to the room where all prospective students would be spending the night...though why was something that still baffled them, especially when they noticed how there were some students who seemed to like sleeping in their underwear.

As for the boys, they just had simple t-shirts and pajama bottoms, something they had managed to get Jaune into instead of his onesie.

Speaking of Jaune though, they seemed to have lost… him… oh wow, even the author is surprised by this one.

By the luck of the gods and everything else, Jaune had ended up right next to Pyrrha Nikos, AKA, the girl that would eventually love him.

"Huh, with any luck since he had no interactions with Weiss, he'll notice Pyrrha better." Gyro murmured thoughtfully as he and Pierce sat down in an empty space.

"If he doesn't well, we can just find a closet and lock the two inside of it." Pierce said with a shrug, eliciting a snort of amusement from his brother.

"Hey guys!" the two heard, making them turn to see Ruby walking towards them with a pillow and blanket in hand, Yang following behind her with a rolled up sleeping bag.

"Hey Ruby." the two greeted her with a wave as she sat next to them, Yang doing the same.

"So, I gotta thank you guys for making friends with my little sister, she really needed it." Yang said with a grin as she patted said little sister on the back, getting a pout from her.

"Yeah, well if it wasn't for Gyro I would have fallen after you ditched me." Ruby told her, crossing her arms and blowing her older sister a raspberry.

"I said I was sorry ok?" Yang said placatingly as she held up her hands.

"Oh come on, ease up on her Ruby, think about it this way, if Yang hadn't ditched you, you wouldn't have met us." Gyro told the reaper as he patted her shoulder.

Ruby adopted a thoughtful look at that while Yang looked at him dryly "I don't know if I should thank you or punch you."

"Probably a bit of both," Pierce snickered. "That's usually how things go."

"Geee, thanks a lot, bro," Gyro said dryly.

"Oh! That reminds me, I've been meaning ask, which one of you is older?" Ruby asked as she looked at the twins.

"Me, by like a few minutes, I took more after mom while Pierce took more after dad." Gyro said with a shrug. "And yeah, before you ask, I know Pierce looks older. We get that a lot, especially after he started sporting that goatee."

"Like Gyro said, I took more after dad, who was pretty damn tall, while he took after mom, who was rather short." Pierce explained a bit further.

"Yeah, but I also got mom's looks, which means I'm better looking than you." Gyro said jokingly, with Pierce laughing a bit.

"I dunno, I kinda think he looks more cute." Yang said as she grinned at Pierce and even grabbed his arm, squeezing it a bit "Definitely looks more muscular too."

"Oh ah ah." Gyro laughed dryly while Pierce grinned back at the lilac eyed blonde.

"Would you all keep quiet! Some of us are trying to sleep here!" they all heard a voice say, making them turn to see…

"Oh not you again!" Yang and Weiss growled out as they saw each other.

"Ok, how about no argument this time, huh?" Gyro said, getting in between the two girls and pushing them away from each other, being smart enough to push them by their shoulders and not the chest like he would with guys.

The two girls continued to glare at each other for a moment, before huffing and turning away from each other.

Hesitantly, Ruby went up to Weiss "Um, sorry about my sister, I don't really know what she did to make you angry, but knowing her track record back home, it's probably her fault."

Yang gasped "You dare!" she said, looking at Ruby.

"Dad's guitar." was all Ruby said, making Yang clam up and turn red in embarrassment.

Weiss looked at the shorter girl, before letting out a sigh "You have my condolences for living with someone like her." she said, making Ruby giggle in amusement, while Weiss let a small smile graced her lips "My name is Weiss Schnee."

"Like the company that's run by a hardass?" Pierce asked.

Weiss blinked at the word used to describe her father "That's… a new one… I can't deny it though, father is a bit of a hardass."

Unseen by the others, Blake raised an eyebrow behind her book at the Schnee heiress admitting her father was a hardass, before shrugging, figuring that was a sort of step in the right direction to the girl not being like him.

Before the conversation could go on further, Ruby let out a yawn.

"Well, I guess it is getting late, let's just get to bed, if we want to talk again, there's always tomorrow." Gyro said, looking at everyone who all gave different signs of agreement before getting to their own sleeping arrangements.

"Night bro." the twins said to each other, bumping fists before getting in their respective sleeping bags.

They had one hell of a day tomorrow.

* * *

 **Holy jesus that was a lot, with still more to come!**

 **But yeah, we just covered quite a few things.**

 **And trust me, there's still a LOT more to cover, because this story will have quite the large numbr of arcs, not saying how many this time though.**

 **I just hope you'll all enjoy what we have planned here, and see you next time!**


	3. 2: Initia-WHAT

**Already another chapter!**

 **Expect this story to be getting cranked out for a good while, because I am in the Digi-mood!**

 **As for why this is already out just after the last one, well, originally they were one BIG chapter, but yeah, cut it in half, it's the best thing to do.**

 **So, before we begin, there's a thing I want to note.**

 **We,re gonna be using the japanese version of digimon levels, mostly so we can avoid the pretty weird Ultra level name.**

 **Although one level has the english name, but only one.**

 **Here's how it's gonna go.**

 **Fresh-Baby-Child-Adult-Perfect-Ultimate-Super Ultimate**

 **So, hope that avoids all of you getting confused later on.**

 **With that said, let's get started!**

* * *

Once the next morning rolled around…

"Good morning sleepyhead!"

The brothers hadn't realised they had been sleeping close to one Lie Ren and his best friend because of tragedy, Nora Valkyrie.

"Is she always like this?" Gyro asked Ren once the two pairs of tired eyes met while Nora was switching out of her pajamas inside her sleeping bag.

"All the time." the magenta eyed boy said with a sigh, and the twins blinked a moment, before realising his voice was from Monty.

'Rest in peace' the twins thought at the same time, while also realising that Ren would have his original voice through it all, since this wasn't a webshow anymore.

"So uh...think she's gonna lose steam anytime soon?" Pierce asked semi-rhetorically as Nora was still talking like a chipmunk on a sugar rush.

"No," Ren sighed.

"Oh…" Pierce said with a sigh.

"Betcha you're gonna be on team with these two." Gyro told his brother.

"Knowing my semblance, it won't bother to turn itself on for that." Pierce muttered.

"If you do become one of my teammates, I apologise in advance for Nora aggravating you." Ren said with a bow.

"Eh, its cool. At least she seems nice," Pierce waved off, before extending his hand. "Pierce Vermillion, and this is my brother, Gyro."

"Lie Ren," Ren nodded, taking the hand...before Nora was suddenly leaning on his shoulder.

"And I'm Nora Valkyrie!" she grinned.

"Don't Valkyrie's usually have pegasi?" Gyro muttered with a grin.

"That's what I always say!" Nora exclaimed with probably the brightest grin possible.

Ren shook his head in amusement at his friend's personality "So, what brings you to Beacon?"

"We mostly came here since our brother is a teacher here, but also killing monsters sounds like it could be a doable job, you know?" Pierce said with a shrug, using the believable reason the brothers had come up with.

Oh they planned on telling the teams someday, but only when they had their trusts, so they didn't get thrown into the loony bin.

Ren nodded, accepting the reason for what it was "It's pretty much the same for the two of us."

"Yeahp! We're gonna kill monsters together!" Nora exclaimed, pumping her fist in the air.

Gyro blinked, before he figured he might try to start this early "So, are you two together-together?" he asked the orange haired girl.

At that Nora's face turned red "W-what? No! Noooo, nonononono! W-We're just really good friends, you know?"

"Uh-huh." Gyro said dryly as he looked at her. "Well...anyway, we'd better get ready for whatever they got in store for us today. Wouldn't want to go this far and fail just cause we didn't get ready," he chuckled at the end.

"Oh my gosh, you're right!" Nora said in a rather exaggerated gasp. "Ren, we gotta get ready, we gotta make a plan!" she exclaimed before running off.

Ren managed to give the brothers a polite nod, before Nora came back and pulled him along.

The two brothers watched them leave, silent for a few moments, before "Shove em in a closet and threaten Nora with no pancakes till she confesses?" Gyro asked suddenly without looking at Pierce.

"You read my mind." Pierce shot back.

"So...we'd better get to our lockers and actually get ready, or the plan is screwed," Gyro suddenly pointed out, to which they both made their way to the lockers.

* * *

When the brothers did get to the lockers, they blinked as they saw a surprising but not unwelcome sight.

That is, Jaune interacting with Pyrrha, albeit he was being a bit of a clumsy dork, but the fact that Pyrrha was smiling and helping him was good.

"Huh, and all we had to do was stop Weiss and Ruby from having a rough meeting, go figure." Pierce muttered lowly.

"Well, here's hoping the rest of the plan goes this smoothly," Gyro chuckled slightly. "Who knows, maybe if we stop the next disaster, some random guy will be able to stab Salem and end the whole thing," he whispered the last bit as a joke.

"Well, that would be anticlimactic, but convenient as hell… hey wasn't there a story where a Gamer went and basically Kamikazed himself against her because he realised he had become a total dick?" Pierce asked.

"Yeah, and somehow that story inspired another one that was a bit better because the main character hasn't lost sight of himself, well, not yet at least, and I hope he never does, I mean, he has a crazy sister, but the guy is pretty cool… you know, I actually submitted some event ideas to that author a few years back." Gyro said conversationally.

"Huh, neat. So, we good to go?" Pierce asked as he slipped on his jacket.

"Think so yeah, plus Jaune seems to be doing well, so everything should be good, come on, let's go." Gyro said with a nod as the two headed for the cliffs.

Shortly after, the two brothers found themselves standing on platforms alongside all the other students, to which they couldn't help but notice that Jaune still seemed VERY nervous...not that they could blame the poor guy. They may have helped with his fighting skills, but he still had a bit of a confidence issue.

It didn't take long before Ozpin and Glynda arrived, and this time, the brothers decided to pay attention, having a feeling something would be different.

"Now that you're all gathered here, it's time for the test that will decide your team members for the next 4 years you'll be spending at Beacon. Know that everything you find in the forest will be trying to kill you. As for how team members are formed, the first person whose eyes you meet once you are within the forest will be your partner, as for the rest of your team… well, that's a surprise as to how we decide that, but know that your goal is to retrieve a relic hidden within ruin inside the forest. Finally, because we had a bit of an odd number of applicants this year, two students have been made special partners in a way, as if you find them, they will act as a fifth member of your team, as for who they are… I'll let you figure that out yourselves." Ozpin explained everything neatly, the brothers being sure Azure had a hand in that, just as they were sure the special students were the two of them… that or they were Jaune and Ruby. Either way, they didn't have any time to ponder that as the next phase was starting...seeing as Ozpin was talking about them 'flying' into the forest...and some students already being launched. True enough…

"Wait...are you uh...giving us parachutes or something?" Jaune asked cautiously.

"No, you will all be making use of your own landing strategies," Ozpin said, a small quirk on the side of his lip betrayed his amusement.

"Wait, did you say...landing strategy?" Jaune gulped, and at the nod he got, all he could do was slump a little. "Oh…" was all he could say, before he was promptly launched into the forest.

"Huh, was wondering when we'd hear the wilhelm scream." Gyro said as he followed Jaune's flailing form with his eyes.

It was at that point that Pierce happened to notice that...they were next. "...brace yourself," was all he could say, before he too was launched.

In response, Gyro quickly pulled down his goggles over his eyes and pulled out his swords, getting flung through the air a second later.

Ozpin watched as the last few students were sent sailing through the air, sipping from his coffee "Glynda… you know how I said this year would be interesting this morning?"

"Yes?" the deputy headmistress repeated in confusion.

"I take it back, it's going to be extremely confusing, I just can't put my finger on why though." Ozpin said, before sipping more of his coffee.

Glynda looked at him for a moment, then to the students, before sighing "Where's Qrow so I can steal his flask?"

* * *

Gyro took a deep breath as he was still riding on the momentum of him being flung, before letting it out with a smile "I love this." he said, before pointing the tips of his blades at his sides, and hitting a switch on the hilt, which, somehow, made blade extensions come out of it and basically cover the holes between his arms and body, almost looking like a pair of wings or a flying squirrel's membrane now.

And with a small application of his semblance to keep the wind riding under him, as well as making sure it was warm, Gyro was basically flying through the air, steering around by twisting his body this way and that.

Elsewhere in the skies, a rotor was heard spinning, before Pierce was seen slowly descending while holding onto Pandora, about half if it's length having shifted into something akin to the blades of a helicopter, spinning fast enough to slow his descent from the skies.

As he kept going down, eventually it ended with him going down through the forest canopy, the blades spinning fast enough to cut through the branches around him.

When he came out the bottom of the surprisingly thick canopy, he looked down, and was surprised to see a giant black snake slithering towards Lie Ren.

He knew the martial artist was aware of its presence, but he figured he might as well make this faster, quickly shifting his weapon back into Naginata mode, aiming the blade downwards, and letting gravity do the rest of the work, as the blade went right through it's head, piercing the middle of the brain.

As for the second head of the King Tajitu… well, it was taken care of easily as Nora suddenly appeared hanging upside down within the canopy, using Magnhild to fire a grenade down it's gullet.

Silence for a moment, before Pierce scrambled away with Pandora in hand, as the white head blew up, leaving nothing but smoke behind.

Slowly, Pierce and Nora looked at each other, before giving out a silent thumbs up.

Ren looked dryly at the two of them 'I guess… there's no escaping this huh?' he thought with a sigh, before a wry smile graced his lips. 'I suppose there are definitely worse people I could have been partnered with.'

* * *

Back above the skies, Gyro was still flying around, looking for a good person to partner up with "This… is harder than I thought."

He continued to fly around, before spotting a clearing in the forest, seeing two familiar splotches of color, one sitting in the middle, and the other moving around the clearing.

"Huh… guess I found them after all." he said, before going into a dive.

Meanwhile, down on the ground, Weiss was walking around the clearing, trying to figure out in which direction the ruins were, Ruby watching her walk around.

"It's this way!... No, that way!... wait, no, it's definitely over there!" Weiss said, moving around, having been doing this for several minutes now.

"So… when are you gonna admit we're lost?" Ruby asked in honest curiosity.

"We aren't lost! Just… misguided." Weiss answered after a moment to find another word.

"Ok, even I know that's just a synonym for lost." Ruby shot back dryly.

"We aren't!" Weiss restated, before marching directly in a specific direction "The ruins are that way!"

Before she could take too many steps, Gyro landed right in front of her, feet first and crouched down, before rising up to his full height, actually scaring her a bit as the sun was right behind him and shadowed him well.

"Actually, the ruins are in the other direction," he said simply.

The white haired girl, currently pale as a sheet, nodded mechanically and slowly turned before walking in the opposite direction she had been heading.

Ruby looked at Weiss, before looking at Gyro with a raised eyebrow "Um… how did you get here from the sky?"

In response, Gyro grinned as he held up his swords, still in their fan like mode "By combining these with my semblance, I can basically fly." he spoke proudly.

What he didn't say was that the fan like mode had originally been intended as a sort of defensive mode, and only became a wing appendage once he discovered his semblance.

Ruby's eyes slowly widenned, and Gyro saw as her pupils slowly took on a star shape as she grinned widely "That's so cool!"

He chuckled in response to that "Thanks, though, we should probably catch up with Weiss before she gets too far."

Ruby blinked at his words, before nodding in agreement as she got up and started following after her white haired partner.

Gyro spared a moment to look behind him, seeing a large black feather falling down, making him grin before he followed after Ruby. Once they caught up to Weiss, the white haired girl had a thought.

"So...how far away are the ruins from here?" she asked.

"At our current pace...we'll be there in an hour or two, assuming we don't get jumped by Grimm," Gyro said simply.

"Of course…" Weiss sighed. She didn't have any issues with the long trek, but she HAD hoped they were closer than that. However, Ruby had heard her...and happened to see the shape of a large Nevermore flying overhead...and that got the gears turning in the young reaper's head.

"Hm...guys, I think I have an idea," she said with a clever smirk.

"You do? Well, lay it on us," Gyro shrugged, hiding a knowing grin. This was going to be interesting.

* * *

"THIS WAS A HORRIBLE IDEA!" Weiss shouted as they hung on for dear life.

"NO WAY! THIS IS AWESOME! THIS IS WAY FASTER THAN WHEN I FLY ON MY OWN!" Gyro shot back just as loudly as he too held on tightly, though he had a large grin on his face.

"I KNEW ONE OF YOU WOULD LIKE IT!" Ruby shouted over the howling winds as the trio was holding onto a Nevermore that had been passing overhead, making liberal use of their semblances to reach its height and latch onto it.

"YOU TWO ARE INSANE!" Weiss accused.

"BUT IT'S WORKING, RIGHT? I CAN SEE THE RUINS ALREADY!" Gyro retorted. "WHAT NEXT RUBY?"

At that though, there was a sudden pause.

Gyro didn't even bother to look ahead, just sighing as he hung his head "She already jumped, just great." he said, before putting an arm around Weiss's waist and jumping off the Nevermore as well, though he added insult to injury by pointing his finger at it with a finger bang motion, and concentrated wind pressure slammed into it's back.

Weiss was practically screaming into his ear as she had her arms around his neck, making him roll his eyes as he shifted her to his back.

"Just relax, I have this covered." Gyro said as he went into a dive, using his semblance to push himself down faster, catching up next to Ruby, putting an arm around her shoulder as he once more used his semblance, this time to slow them down as much as he could without making it jarring and breaking their neck.

What surprised him though was a blur zooming past the air just below them after a certain point, seeing it crash into a tree right after.

'Huh, guess Jaune still got flung like a maniac.' he thought to himself, before slowing down their descent even further, thankfully Weiss had finally stopped screaming, so it wasn't murder on his ears.

With practiced ease, he touched down on the ground, Ruby doing so with a stumbled before getting scooped up into a hug by Yang, while Weiss fell down to the ground, hyperventilating.

"Well, that was a fun experience." Gyro said with a grin.

"You rode in on a Nevermore." Blake said dryly.

"You know it!" Gyro and Ruby said together, before high fiving each other.

Weiss however was glaring at them with murder in her eyes as she shakily got on her feet. She looked ready to begin verbally tearing into them, but before she could start…

A loud crash was heard as a tree was knocked over, someone being heard screaming while it happened, before everyone noticed that three figures were riding in on an Ursa, two of them holding on for their lives, and the third treating it like a joy ride.

Gyro stared dryly at the fact the two hanging on where Pierce and Ren, while the one who was laughing like a maniac was Nora.

Before the Ursa could get any further in its movements, a bullet tore through its skull, everyone turning to Blake in surprise as the now headless beast slumped down.

"What? It was an easy target?" the hidden faunus said with a shrug.

"...fair enough," the other shrugged.

"Aww, it's broken." Nora pouted as the grimm slowly disappeared under her.

"What the hell is her malfunction?" Pierce asked Ren haggardly.

"I haven't figured it out yet." Ren shot back as the two of them pulled themselves off the ground.

"Help." the two of them heard a voice beneath them rasp out, making them look down to see Jaune… though they both had their elbows in his face, squishing it up.

Immediately they got off of him and helped him up. "Whoops! Sorry Jaune," Pierce quickly said.

"It's...fine…" Jaune managed to say, albeit still looking a little dizzy.

"Well… that just happened." Yang said as she took in the scene.

Back to Ren, he sighed, turning to Nora, about to scold her, only to see nothing but a blinking outline of her, making him look around wildly as leaving her alone was never a good idea.

Fortunately, it seemed she was only looking at the Chess Pieces left around the ruins, particularly the Rook. As such, Gyro and Pierce, despite knowing it was coming, couldn't hold back the wry smiles as they heard her break into song as she balanced the Rook on her head.

Meanwhile, Weiss was looking around, making sure nothing would interrupt her this time, as she stood up, opening her mouth, about to verbally tear into the two adrenaline junkies she was partnered with-

And then a large and old Deathstalker ran into the clearing, chasing after Pyrrha.

Weiss's eyebrow twitched at the sight, while Gyro grabbed the remaining knight piece and tossed the remaining rook piece to Jaune, who fumbled for only a second this time before catching it and putting it in his pocket.

A beat passed, before several people had to back away from Weiss while the ground around her started freezing up.

'Huh, so apparently Yang isn't the only one who can do that.' Gyro thought with a sweatdrop as he looked at the white haired girl.

"Is everything QUITE finished adding more Grimm to our plate?" the white haired girl asked, her voice conveying the very image of tranquil fury.

Pierce WANTED to say yes, he really did. But one look upward told him otherwise. "Uh…." was all he could say, before pointing upward at the giant Nevermore now circling back for them.

Weiss's face was the definition of demonic as she pulled out Myrtenaster from her hip "We're eating chicken tonight!"

'Holy hell that's actually scary.' all the others thought in unison as they stepped away from her more. However, that was a sentiment the two large Grimm clearly didn't share as they continued to charge.

"Attack!" Ruby shouted, holding up Crescent Rose.

"Let's get to a bigger area so we have more space!" Gyro recommended as the ones that had means of attacking long range shot at the Grimm, not only to slow them down, but to keep the attention on them.

With the two Grimm coming after them, they quickly split up, Gyro running after Ruby, while Pierce went to assist Pyrrha who was still being chased by the Deathstalker. Shifting Pandora into its grappling hook function, he used it to first get himself up in a tree, and then fired it again, this time at the grimm, wrapping around one of its legs, he didn't waste any time at all, hitting a switch on Pandora, sending an electrical shock down the cable, and into the grimm, getting a screech of pain from it.

"Catch up with the others! I'll be right behind you!" Pierce shouted at the spartan, earning a nod from her as she ran towards the group that had been practically zig zagging around to keep the Nevermore occupied, quickly joining in on having its attention split between everyone.

At the same time, Gyro had used his wind Semblance to launch himself high in the air, and quickly used Ascalon to glide down so that he was grabbing onto the back of the Nevermore. "Thank you, Shadow of The Colossus," he couldn't help but chuckle as he began stabbing away at the Grimm's unprotected back, looking for any openings in the hard feathers. "We'll keep them busy!" He shouted to the others. "Get out of here and we'll catch up!" he said as he stabbed one of his swords into the right spot it seemed, as the Nevermore screeched and veered all over the place trying to get him off.

Ruby was about to argue, but Jaune was the first to stop her. "We have to go. They know what they're doing. Trust me, they'll be fine!" he said urgently. He didn't like leaving the brothers alone, but he also knew that they were tough, and this wouldn't be enough to stop them.

After a moment's hesitation, Ruby nodded, as the group of 8 ran on towards a ravine and a larger set of ruins.

It was minutes later, after they arrived, that so too did Pierce, the Deathstalker right on his tail "Keep going! Get to the bridge!" he shouted, the others doing so as they all ran towards the stone bridge over the ravine.

At the same time, Gyro was doing his best to try and steer the Nevermore somewhere else, but it seemed dead set on crashing through the ruins in the ravine "LOOK OUT!" he shouted at the top of his lungs towards those crossing it, which at the moment just so happened to be Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang, the eventual members of JNPR stopping short when they heard him.

As soon as it crashed through the bridge, Gyro jumped off, gliding to land next to Ruby "I don't think he's going to leave us alone."

"Then let's take him!" she shot back with a determined nod.

"Doesn't seem like we have a choice," Blake nodded, standing by her side.

"Well then, let's make it regret messing with us," Yang grinned as she stood by their side.

"I think I may end up enjoying this more than I should." Weiss added with a slight smirk.

"Well then, looks like we're in agreement. Time to roast this bird," Gyro chuckled. "Just a warning though, those feathers are HARD."

"Then let's hit it with everything we got," Yang grinned, as the four girls started taking advantage of the ruins and soon got on to varying vantage points, all of which gave them clear shots of the Grimm. Thankfully Gyro could improvise something as well, making various points in the air around the grimm pop like small implosions. The Grimm screeched angrily, the various attacks, while not doing much damage, were VERY annoying, forcing it to veer off course, avoiding any of its attackers as it soon tried to circle around again.

It managed to get to the other side of the ruins, the group not getting around fast enough to stop it as it crashed through them and toppled them, making them seemingly fall down into the ravine, before they all used various ways to get back up, such as Ruby literally wall jumping off the various stones, Weiss using her glyphs, Gyro flying back up, Blake using her ribbon, and Yang shooting herself up with shotgun fire.

"We need a plan if we're going to take this thing down." Weiss said with an aggravated sigh as she landed next to Ruby and Gyro.

Ruby looked around, trying to think of something, before seeing Blake swinging herself up, an idea sparking in her mind "I think I got one, Gyro, come with me, Weiss, cover us." she said, earning nods from her partners who did as requested.

Down below, while the future team RWBY and Gyro were dealing with the Nevermore, the future team JNPR along with Pierce were busy dealing with the Deathstalker. Strictly speaking it wasn't the HARDEST enemy, in that it was really kinda slow relatively speaking. The problem was that its shell was proving to be annoyingly hard to deal with. Not to mention they were running somewhat short on terrain as it charged at them with all the intent of a tank.

"Okay, hitting it isn't working! We need a new plan!" Pierce said as once again the Deathstalker shrugged off another volley of bullets.

"I know, gimme a bit to try and think of something." Jaune told him as he tried to find any weak points in the armor.

"It would certainly help if it had trouble finding us." Ren said idly as he kept shooting at it just to annoy it.

Jaune snapped his fingers at that "That's it! Pierce! Pyrrha! Stab it's eyes! We gotta impair it's sight!"

"Will do!" Pyrrha said in agreement as she and Pierce ran in, Nora grabbing it's attention with a grenade to the face which also served to blind it for a moment.

Taking the chance, Pyrrha and Pierce stabbed it's larger eyes first, earning a screech from the creature before hurrying to stab the smaller ones managing to get most of them before it tried to snip them with it's pincers.

Pyrrha had her shield to protect herself, wedging it between the pincers, but Pierce seemed to be a prime target… at least that's what the Deathstalker thought before Jaune came in and uppercutted it's pincer with his shield, keeping it's momentum and actually clamping down on it's other arm.

Let's just say the result earned an even louder shriek, as the grimm actually cut off one of it's pincers.

They all stared at it for a moment, confused at the turnout, Jaune looking down at his fist "Huh… that was lucky."

"That was freaking awesome!" Nora hollered out with a grin.

"It's not dead yet though." Pyrrha cautioned as she retrieved her shield.

"We need to find a way to break through its shell." Ren said as they saw the grimm try to rear itself up to attack them again.

"Our weapons aren't working though," Jaune said.

"Then what about we use another weapon?" Pierce pointed out, before pointing at the flailing stinger tail. "I hear scorpions can die from their own venom. Think that applies to Grimm too?"

"It's definitely worth a shot." Jaune said, before turning to Ren "Think you can get its stinger lose?"

Ren nodded wordlessly before running at the grimm, jumping over it's now lone pincer and quickly scaling up the stinger and unloading a whole clip from Stormflower into the point that connected the tail and the stinger.

The grimm seemed to be getting extremely aggravated, as it trashed around before managing to buck Ren off, though Pierce had gotten behind just in case and caught him, cushioning the impact. Fortunately, even if he hadn't cut off the stinger, it was already getting loose. Something Jaune noticed, and quickly looked around till he spotted Pyrrha's shield.

"Pyrrha! Shield!" Jaune shouted as he pointed at the loose stinger.

Pyrrha followed his finger, before nodding in understanding "On it!" she said and flung her shield like a discus, striking the loosed point of the stinger and cutting through it, making it fall on top of the grimm and finally break through it's armor.

"Nora! Coup de grace!" Pierce shouted to the girl who gave a salute, before rocketing off the ground, and with a small summersault, came down with the full force of her hammer, slamming the stinger into the Grimm. If being impaled in the brain didn't kill it, then the poison should, evident by how the Grimm stumbled a bit forward...before falling off the cliff.

"Well...if being stabbed and poisoned doesn't kill it, that drop sure will," Pierce couldn't help but chuckle, as this was starting to feel like overkill. However, any celebrations were put on hold, as the nearby sound of gunfire signaled that the others weren't done dealing with the Nevermore.

"Come on, we'd better see if they need help!" Jaune said, as Nora used her hammer on the remains of the bridge...and catapulted them all to the other side.

What they saw… well, it seemed they had a plan at least.

Yang was making sure to get it's attention on her, by firing her concussive blasts from Ember Celica, the grimm zeroing in on her standing atop a pillar, opening its beak to try and gobble her up, but instead, Yang grinned as she jumped a bit, getting caught in the beak, but kept it open with one hand and her feet, gaining a wicked smirk as she reared her free hand back.

"I! Hope! You're! Hun! Gry!" she said, punctuating each syllable with a blast from her weapon down the Nevermore's throat.

"That's gotta sting," Gyro commented wryly as the giant bird veered off course, Yang jumping out of the beak before it crashed into a nearby cliff. On cue, he and Weiss dashed forward, Weiss going low, while he went high, using his wind semblance to fire a blast of compressed air, knocking the Grimm back down again, to which Weiss took the opportunity to freeze its tail and legs to the ground, stopping it from going anywhere. "Slingshot now!" Gyro shouted, to which Blake tossed Gambol Shroud while holding on to part of the ribbon, Yang catching the tossed part and stabbing it into the pillar she was next to, making the ribbon go taut. At the same time, Ruby and Weiss jumped towards the ribbon, while Gyro went up the cliff over the struggling Grimm.

Ruby landed with Crescent Rose under her feet right on the ribbon, while Weiss got behind her, creating a glyph, which together, turned the ribbon into a giant slingshot, with Ruby as the ammo. "Of course YOU would come up with this idea," Weiss commented once Ruby was in a ready to fire position, though there was a notable hint of amusement in her voice, as while this plan was crazy...it was likely to work.

"Think you can make the shot?" Ruby asked, ready to go.

"Can I?" Weiss smirked confidently, though Ruby was less than confident with that answer.

"CAN yo-?"

"Of course I can!" Weiss snapped a little, before Ruby readied Crescent Rose, and Weiss turned the glyph red, launching Ruby straight at the Nevermore. Her flight path was true, and she landed on the cliffside, while catching the Nevermore by the neck on Crescent Rose's blade, before running upwards on a path of glyphs Weiss created, shooting her weapon the whole way to keep up momentum and drag the new helpless Grimm up the cliff. At the same time Gyro jumped off the cliff, using his semblance to speed up his fall while Ruby ran up. When the two were about to pass, Gyro struck, and in a flash of blades, the Grimm was promptly decapitated, its head flying into the air, before falling into the abyss below, Gyro landing on the ground, while Ruby landed on the top of the cliff, the now headless body falling to the ground.

"Well… that was a thing." Yang said as she wiped the sweat off her forehead, as Ruby started to speed back down the cliff, Gyro having to use his semblance to keep her on the wall of the cliff by having a strong enough wind push against her.

"That, was, AMAZING!" Nora shouted as she ran towards them, the rest of the group not far behind.

"Honestly, not sure who made it more badass anymore, you guys or us." Pierce said with a wry grin.

"Well, we did a double decapitation and Yang shot down its throat, what do you have?" Gyro shot back as Ruby arrived back down and sped up next to everyone.

"We made it cut off one it's pincers and then impale itself with its own stinger." Jaune said, deciding to get in on the playful banter.

Gyro blinked a bit, before nodding "Yeah, that does make it hard to decide."

Before anything else could be said, all of them shivered as a suddenly powerful, and COLD, gust of wind blew past them… followed by the cold staying as it started to snow, getting progressively faster.

"A snowstorm? NOW of all times?!" Pyrrha said incredulously, considering it had been sunny mere moments ago.

"What is WITH the weather lately?!" Gyro couldn't help but ask.

"You tell us! Even Atlas' scientists can't seem to figure out how we're getting heat waves when we're practically on Remnant's north pole!" Weiss said, as while she was used to snow, the fact remained this was Vale.

"We need to get out of this storm! If we stay out dressed in summer clothes like this, we might get pneumonia!" Blake had to say a little louder as the wind got stronger.

"The ruins over there!" Jaune shouted as he pointed towards the entrance to the ruins embedded into the cliff wall.

The group of 10 quickly ran into the ruins, brushing off any snow that had gotten caught in their clothes once inside. While it wasn't particularly warm or anything, it was still a large improvement compared to standing outside.

"So...now what?" Ruby asked.

"Well, I think it would be best if we waited out the storm, if not for it to stop at least until it lessens a bit." Gyro said as he looked outside, pulling the stone door open a little.

"I guess we're in gonna be in here for a while then." Yang said with a sigh as she moved her hands through her hair to try and get it back in place.

"Well, good thing I have cards then." Pierce said as he pulled out a deck of cards, though Gyro chuckled as he recognized them.

"Seriously, the promo cards from Agarest War 2? You still have those?" He asked with a small laugh.

"Hey, Azure's the perv who bought that game from that thrift store, I just wanted the playing cards because they have character art on them." Pierce said as he showed some of the cards which had artwork of some of the playable characters on them.

"Wait, I've never heard of that game before, why does it make your brother a perv?" Yang asked in confusion as a few of them brought out their scrolls and turned on the flashlights in them while Pierce started dealing out cards.

"Lots of fanservice." Pierce and Gyro said together dryly. "Part of the plot is literally choosing a bride since you later play as your future son...and of course what game like this DOESN'T have the harem aspect to it?" Gyro explained.

Everyone gave them dry stares, and suddenly, they all thought a bit less about the elder Vermillion sibling. Whatever the case, they decided to start playing to pass the time.

It actually took a few hours to pass before they heard the storm started to slow down. Peeking out the doors to see it had reduced to a calm snowfall, with the Emerald Forest now looking more like the White Forest now. They all sighed in relief as they stepped outside, the crunch of snow sounded under their feet.

"You really have to wonder what's the cause of all this freak weather these last months, I mean, Vacuo has had so much rains it's gotten to flood levels." Gyro said as he stepped out from under the roof on the entrance altar.

"Mistral has even had to borron tips from Vacuo because of how severe some of the sandstorms would get when they came out of nowhere." Pyrrha added as she rubbed her bare shoulders to try and warm herself up.

"Well, we'd better get back to Beacon. The last thing we want is to be caught in a blizzard or something," Gyro sighed, to which they all nodded in agreement. However…

"Whoa…!" Ruby suddenly said, before pointing at the sky when they looked at her questioningly.

"That...shouldn't be possible…" Weiss blinked. There in the sky...was an aurora, but not any aurora any of them had ever seen. Rather than a curtain like shape, it was swirling, almost like some kind of rainbow colored hole.

"Tell that to the aurora we're seeing right now," Ren couldn't help but say, as all of them were VERY bewildered by what they were seeing, especially the brothers, as they KNEW this...NONE of this...happened in RWBY canon. This was a divergence, and that could either be a very good thing or a very bad thing.

"Wait… I think I see something in there." Jaune said as he squinted his eyes, trying to peer into the many lights of the aurora.

At that moment, 10 small lights became visible within the aurora… before flying out and heading straight towards the group of teens.

"Get to cover!" Gyro shouted urgently as everyone dived out of the way, the 10 meteors striking down into snow covering the small entrance area of the ruins.

When the snow/smokescreen cleared, they poked their heads out of the cover. "Is it over?" Jaune asked shakily.

"Well...seems like the heavens have stopped trying to smite us so...probably?" Pierce said, looking around for anymore rains of death.

"Though...aren't meteors supposed to be...bigger?" Blake suddenly pointed out, as true enough, the craters in the snow were...very small. Heck, whatever was in them could probably fit into the palm of their hands judging by the size.

"Whatever it was, I want it as a souvenir!" Nora said, grinning widely as she ran up to one of the holes.

"You know, that's actually a good idea." Yang agreed as she copied the hyperactive carrot head.

"Yang, no! What if it's some kind of alien parasite that wants to take over the world!" Ruby shouted as she ran after her sister.

"Sometimes you have to wonder who's the older of the two." Blake said with a sigh as she followed.

"Well...nothing ventured, nothing gained I guess…" Gyro sighed as he and Pierce walked over to the craters. Whatever this was, he had a feeling they'd want to know what it is one way or another.

They were joined by the others who had still been hiding, figuring they might as well figure out what was going on as well. However, when they got there, things only became stranger. As if sensing them coming close, beams of light shot out of the craters, going straight up, and within those beams, something small slowly rose up, till they were at eye level of each of the gathered huntsmen in training. All of them looked stunned for a moment...except Nora who grinned and clapped whatever it was with both her hands. "Got it! Got it!" she said in a sing song tone, before opening her hands. "Ooooh, what's this?"

Everyone looked between each other, before following her example and grabbing whatever the objects were, looking into their hands to reveal…

"Are these… pagers?" Gyro said in confusion.

"What's a pager?" Ruby asked in confusion.

"Something older than all of us Rubes." Yang told her as she looked at the strange object with a raised eyebrow. "Still...since when do pagers fall from the sky? Heck, how'd they survive the trip?"

"Something I think we can find out after we're all back in Beacon," Weiss sighed. "We've wasted enough time as is."

"She's right, let's head back." Pyrrha said in agreement with the heiress, earning a grateful nod from her.

"Yeah, let's...go?" Gyro was about to nod...but the 'pagers' suddenly started glowing with a bright white light.

"Uh...guys? Something's happening to the aurora," Pierce suddenly said, as a light was shining from the aurora too...and then something that made them all wonder if this was all just a crazy dream happened. The sound of rushing water was heard...and a giant tidal wave appeared...from the abyss where the Deathstalker had fallen...which should have been dry land.

"What… the… FUCK?!" Jaune, surprisingly, was the one to swear rather loudly.

"Language!" Ruby found the time to shout, before things got even weirder, as the tidal wave seemed to open in the middle, yet instead of them seeing the forest behind it, it was like it went on into infinity… and then it rushed at them.

They didn't have time to react as the wave swallowed them all up, but instead of drowning, all they felt was like they were falling endlessly between the opening of the wave, shouting helplessly.

A moment passed, and the water receded, and not a single trace remained of the young hunters in training.

* * *

 **Yeahp, this time around the fights went a bit differently, and Gyro and Pierce did stuff that fits these versions of them better.**

 **Also, yeah, Gyro can fly, trust me, this is because he has focused on the 'muscles' of his semblance a lot, if we want to give him a class so you get an idea of what his best points are stat wise, he's a Rogue.**

 **And Pierce would be more akin to a Mimic considering how he's a jack of all trades.**

 **Oh? You want to know just HOW many forms Pandora has?**

 **Sorry, but my lips are sealed.**

 **But for now...**

 **The Adventure Evolves.**


	4. 3: Enter! The Digital World!

**And here's another already!  
**

 **This one's basically the true start to it all, considering it has an intro.**

 **Now, the one thing I want to say, don't complain about how things didn't go this way or that way in the original story, trust me, there is a plan to this, and it's all been mapped out... for the most part.**

 **But anyway, enjoy!**

 **MINI EDIT: Forgot to mention this, but it's the Tri version of Butterfly**

* * *

 _Stay shigachi na image darake no. Tayorinai tsubasa demo kitto toberusa Oh My Love!_

The scene opens to show a field with several weapons embedded into the ground, before the scene changes to show several footsteps as one by one the weapons are plucked by several figures, ending with the group, 10 teenagers in total, standing on a mountain cliff overlooking what is revealed to be File Island, before the scene shifts out and the title appears.

 _Gokigen na chou ni natte kirameku kaze ni notte imasugu, kimi ni ai ni ikou_

The scene changes to show the figures one by one, starting with Gyro holding his dual swords, Ascalon, as he slashes an X in the air; followed by Pyrrha with Miló and Akoúo̱ in their javelin and shield forms as she charges forward. Following her is Yang with Ember Celica winding up for a punch, with Weiss coming up behind her with Myrtenaster ready to summon a Glyph. Following her is Jaune with Crocea Mors in a defensive position, while Ruby comes up from behind with Crimson Rose at the ready. Following them is Blake with Gambol Shroud in Gun form aimed at an unseen enemy, while Nora comes up behind her with Magnhild in hammer mode ready to strike. Following closely behind is Ren with StormFlower ready to open fire, and bring up the rear is Pierce with Pandora in its default polearm mode.

 _Yokeina koto nante, wasureta hou ga mashisa. Kore ijou, syareteru jikan wa nai. Nani ga wow wow wow wow wow, kono sora ni todoku no darou. Dakedo wow wow wow wow wow, ashita no yotei mo wakaranai..._

The scene changes to show a quick shot of a field full of Digi-Eggs, before the scene changes to show Gyro training with Agumon in a rock field, before shifting to show Pyrrha sitting by a lake with Gabumon. The scene changes again to show Yang and Biyomon leaning against a tree, followed by Weiss reading a book with Tentomon by her side. Following that the scene changes to show Jaune sitting in a shallow pool of water as Gomamon laughs on the side, followed by Ruby lying alongside Palmon in a grassy field. The next scene shows Blake sitting under the shade of a tree with Patamon in her lap, followed by a scene of Nora running with Salamon on her shoulder. The scene then changes to show Ren walking down a path with Wormmon at his side, followed by a scene of Pierce in a foot race with Veemon. The scene then shows a quick shot of a Digivice before it shines brightly.

 _Mugendai na yume no ato no nanimo nai yononaka ja. Sousa itoshii omoi mo makesou ni narukedo. Stay shigachi na image darake no. Tayorinai tsubasa demo kitto toberusa Oh My Love!_

The scene changes to show a rock face being blown apart as Greymon emerges, Gyro standing on his shoulder with his weapons at the ready, as overhead Birdramon flies with Yang hanging on to her leg, before she jumps off with her semblance activated, while down below Ruby jumps off of Togemon as both aim to strike at an unseen enemy. In another part of the sky Kabuterimon flies with Weiss on his head as they leave a trail of glyphs in their wake, ready for an unseen enemy, while in the forest below, Pyrrha is riding on top of Garurumon, her weapons in rifle mode ready and aimed ahead. The scene changes to show Jaune falling as he lands on Ikakumon's back, before quickly drawing Crocea Mors and standing at the ready, while overhead Stingmon is seen flying towards an unseen enemy with Ren, Nora, and Gatomon in his arms as they look on ahead. Not far behind is Pierce riding on Veedramon with his weapon drawn, in the middle of changing modes, while on a nearby rock, Blake watches apprehensively as behind her Angemon lands.

 _*Music*_

The scene changes to show various characters from Ozpin and Glynda standing in front of the window of his office, to Tai Yang with Zwei, to Winter in the Atlas Military, to Qrow standing on a cliffside, to Azure assembling something, ending on a figure in white with a Renamon by their side and behind them are a Wizardmon, a Falcomon, and a young human boy. The final scene shows the 10 Chosen Children joining hands, before their Digimon partners join in, before they break apart and walk forward as a team.

* * *

 **Enter! The Digital World!**

* * *

Darkness was all he knew as he felt like he was floating somewhere between conscious and unconscious. What had happened? How did he get here? His head still felt fuzzy when he tried to even think. However, as much as he felt almost content to remain in blissful unconsciousness...something was cutting through it.

"Gyro…! Gyro…!" a voice said, calling his name almost urgently. It was strange...kinda high pitched, not matching anyone he had been with...yet it sounded so...familiar. Either way, it wasn't stopping, and that was enough to start to rouse him.

Gyro winced as he opened his eyes slightly, the light coming in, but once his vision cleared, what he saw left him stunned. There, sitting on his chest, was a small pink puffball with two long floppy ears, large red eyes, and a mouth full of teeth.

His brain stopped at the sight, having to take quite a few seconds to properly reboot, before his eyes started to water.

"K… Koromon!" Gyro shouted in glee, sitting up and embracing his old friend in a tight hug, which was easily returned thanks to his floppy ears.

"I missed you Gyro." Koromon's muffled voice said from his shirt, Gyro laughing as he pulled his friend away from him a bit.

"I missed you too Koromon. Where have you been though? It's been years!" He couldn't help but ask, he was overjoyed yes, but oh so confused.

"I don't really know, I hatched… a month or so ago I think? I was Botamon for a little bit and then evolved into Koromon." the pink ball said, scratching his chin with one of his ears.

"Botamon?... Wait, is that what that black fuzzy form was called?" Gyro asked, remembering the form his friend had been when he had first hatched.

"Yeahp! That's the one!" Koromon confirmed with a grin.

"Huh… so does that mean each form you take has a new name?" Gyro asked with a hand on his chin as he sat his friend down in front of him.

"That's right… I kind of don't know what those other forms I took are called though, like someone left me everything, but took out the names." Koromon said, crossing his ears in front of himself like arms as he closed his eyes in thought.

"Yeah well...that's not important," Gyro grinned hugging him again. "I'm just glad I finally found you again, buddy. Oh man, wait till Pierce sees you, he'll be over the moon as well!"

"He sure will! I'm sure DemiVeemon's gonna be even happier to finally meet him though after all I told him." Koromon's eyes lit up happily.

Gyro tilted his head after a moment "DemiVeemon?" he repeated the name in confusion.

Koromon nodded "Yeah! See, when I hatched this time, I had, huh…" Koromon looked around on Gyro, before seeing his pockets and sending one of his ears in them, pulling out the strange device from earlier "This thing! It told me you were my partner! And the one DemiVeemon had told him his partner was Pierce."

"Huh, is that so?" he said, surprised as he took the device from Koromon's ear "What is it anyway?"

"I don't really know what it does if that's what you mean, but I do know it's called a Digivice." Koromon said with a shrug of his ears.

"Digivice huh?" Gyro repeated the word, looking the object over, before smiling as he clipped it to his pants "Well, if it brought us back together, it's alright in my book."

Koromon nodded happily, before remembering something "Oh! Right, hey, I have other friends like DemiVeemon, they had Digivices with them too before they all went flying into the sky a couple of hours ago, and they told them names as well, think you know them?"

Gyro had a feeling he knew what those names were "Were any of those names people like Ruby, Ren, Yang or Jaune?"

"All of the above! And four others too, Weiss, Nora, Blake and Pyrrha!" Koromon confirmed with a grin.

"Had a feeling that was the case, the Digivices kind of came flying straight at us earlier, then a tidal wave kind of pulled, well, I guess everyone here… wherever here is." Gyro said as he finally started looking around, standing up with Koromon in his arms as he tried to identify the forest around him, though the trees looked rather weird for the most part. Overall though, they seemed to be in what appeared to be a lush, tropical looking forest. Honestly, this place seemed like a pretty nice place to be, if only he knew where this was.

"You're in the Digital World, and this place is File Island," Koromon supplied helpfully.

Gyro blinked, once, twice, thrice, then looked down at his friend "Wait, File ISLAND? No wait, more important than that, Digital WORLD?"

Koromon simply nodded with a smile in his arms.

Gyro looked at him, before sighing "You know what, let's hold off on the questions because you might have to repeat everything for the others."

Koromon simply nodded in agreement "So, we're gonna look for them?"

"You know it, gotta make sure their all safe, kind of annoying that we just got done with that exam though and didn't have time to even get our results." Gyro said, frowning in slight annoyance. Quickly shaking his head though, he decided to table that for later. First things first, he needed to find his friends, and he had a feeling that Koromon might be able to help him. "Hey, Koromon...do you know where your friends are?"

"Their a bit around on the plateau I guess, I don't know where exactly, but they should be close you know?" Koromon said, shrugging his ears.

"A plateau huh? Well, guess that's helpful to know, we'll have to get down eventually then." Gyro said, before, patting his hip, stopping as he felt something was missing "Wait… where's Ascalon?!"

"Asca-what?" Koromon said in confusion.

"My weapon. I had them with me before getting here." Gyro said, before sighing "Guess whatever happened sent them flying off somewhere… are there any grimm in the… Digital World?" Gyro had to ask just to be on the safe side.

"What's a grimm?" Koromon said, still confused.

"Well, that answers that at least, and a grimm is a kind of monster that likes to destroy stuff." Gyro said, deciding to put it simply for his friend.

Before they could get moving, the two heard some bushes rustling, turning towards them, before seeing a small green creature that looked like it had a budding plant on top of it's head with four stubby feet and big, red, unicolor eyes.

"Hey Tanemon!" Koromon said with a wave of one of his ears, Gyro relaxing since that meant this was one of his friends.

"Hi Koromon!" Tanemon greeted him back with a smile, before turning towards the bush "Ruby! Over here!"

Gyro blinked, before a bit deeper into the forest, seeing Ruby walking out of some foliage, turning to them and waving with a smile as she walked towards them, stumbling a bit as she jumped over the bush and bent down to pat the little leafy being on the head "Thanks Tanemon."

Idly, Gyro noticed that Ruby had clipped her digivice to her ammo belt, which at the least, still did have it's ammo… though there was a lack of Crescent Rose hanging onto her back… this wasn't going to be fun.

"So, did Tanemon explain everything to you too yet?" Gyro asked Ruby as she picked up Tanemon.

"Kinda, she told me about the Digivice and where we are, but we didn't go into details yet." Ruby said with a shrug.

"Right, we should focus on finding the others first… speaking of which…" Gyro trailed off as he looked at the trees around them, before grinning as he spotted a rather tall one and put Koromon down and walked towards it, turning back to him with a grin "Hey Koromon, check out what I learned to do." Gyro said, before quickly propelling himself up with a burst of wind and grabbing onto the highest branch of the tree.

"That's so cool!" he heard Koromon shout all the way from the bottom, making him grin, before pulling his goggles down over his eyes and pressing the buttons on the side, making them glow a bit to anyone who looked at him, but for him, that was because he had just activated the zoom function on them, looking around the area for any signs of the others, his eyes stopping on an impressive sight "Now THAT's what I call a tall mountain!" he said as he looked at what had to be the tallest mountain around. However, while he was surveying, he happened to see something. It was red, and judging by the distance, it was really big.

He turned back towards it, focusing on it, and saw that it looked like some kind of giant stag beetle… and it was heading RIGHT FOR HIM!

Quickly, he let his back go slack, falling backwards and hanging upside down on the branch he was sitting on as the beetle passed right over him, catching the top of the tree in his mandibles.

"In my line of work, that's a giant NOPE wrapped up in hellfire!" Gyro said as he let go of the branch with his legs and fell down, righting himself as he landed on his feet and scooped up Koromon, turning to Ruby quickly "Run!"

With that said, the two broke out into a sprint, unable to use their semblances at the moment due to how close knit the trees were.

"What is that thing?!" Ruby shouted in panic as the huge beetle continued to follow them.

"It's Kuwagamon! He's a big bully who likes to terrorize smaller digimon!" Koromon shouted, just as panicky as the others.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Kuwagamon_

 _Kuwagamon. Virus Type. An Adult level Insectoid Digimon. It's hard shell protects it from most blunt attacks. Known for its vicious temperament, it has a rivalry with another beetle shaped digimon. It's special attack is Scissor Arms, clamping down on it's opponent with it's powerful mandibles, it cuts them to shreds._

"How the hell do we get away from it though?!" Gyro shouted as he looked around for any way to escape.

"The trees! Some of them are hollow!" Tanemon whisper shouted at them so Kuwagamon wouldn't hear on the off chance he actually had a working brain under that feral rage.

"That works! Run now!" Ruby nodded as they ran for their lives from a giant killer insect.

"Over there!" Koromon suddenly pointed at a seemingly random tree, Gyro and Ruby not hesitating to run into it, believing Tanemon's earlier words as they passed through the holographic wall, panting as they pushed their backs against the metallic walls on the inside, before quickly clamping up when they heard the loud buzzing of wings.

After a few moments...and the sound of several other trees falling, the sound of buzzing finally went away. Taking a few extra moments to make sure it was really gone, the group of four finally let out sighs of relief. "Are all giant monsters THAT violent here?" Gyro couldn't help but ask, remembering the giant bird-like monster from 11 years ago.

"I hope they aren't." they all heard a voice say from outside the tree, making them blink, before poking their heads out, seeing none other than Ren standing there, one arm in front of himself almost like a waiter, as hanging off from it was what looked like an overgrown, green, bagworm moth larva, using a stem on the top of it's head to idly swing from Ren's arm.

Gyro and Ruby blinked, before stepping out of the tree "Good to see you Ren." Gyro said with a smile, happy they found someone else, and then noticing the creature on his arm. "So...I'm guessing he's another of your friends?" he asked Koromon.

"Yep! That's Minomon," Koromon and Tanemon nodded.

"H-Hi." Minomon waved shyly at them with one of his stubby arms, Ren smiling in amusement.

"He's explained a few things to me already, I assume it's the same for you?" the most stoic of the group asked with a calm smile.

"Yeah, we're just waiting to find the others before getting into the exposition… I'm guessing he's more calm to be around than Nora?" Gyro asked in amusement.

Ren chuckled a bit "Minomon is certainly a breath of fresh air. I don't hate Nora, but it's nice to be around someone calmer once in a while." he said, and Minomon blushed a bit and covered his face.

"By the way, considering she's not glued at your hip for once, and you're more likely to answer than she is… do you like Nora in THAT way?" Gyro asked bluntly.

Ren blushed a little bit as he looked away, before nodding "Yes, though I don't know if she's noticed… I can certainly tell she likes me at least, but she's too nervous to admit it."

Gyro smiled in amusement, before walking forward and patting Ren on the shoulder "Good luck with that."

"I don't really get romance personally, I've never really liked a boy in that way before." Ruby said idly.

"I guess it's just because you haven't found the right one yet." Gyro told her simply.

Ruby thought about that, nodding in agreement a moment later. "I guess so yeah."

"Well, we'd better start looking for the others. There's no telling when that Kuwagamon might return," Ren said, earning a nod from them. Fortunately, they didn't have to walk far, as they suddenly heard the sound of something hitting something, followed by a tree not far away vibrating visibly.

"...should we check on that?" Ruby blinked.

"Probably," Gyro and Ren nodded. As they walked towards the tree, the bushes shook and a number of small light blue round creatures with ear-like appendages, red crescent moon-shaped eyes with black irises and a mouth, all ran past them, looking like they had the hounds on their tail.

"Huh, wonder what has those jerks in such a hurry," Tanemon blinked.

"Jerks?" the three humans blinked.

"Those Pagumon like to bother anyone they find that they think they can pick on and get away with it. Especially when they have that bully, Gazimon, with them," Koromon explained with an annoyed look.

"Guess they finally bit off more than they could chew," Minomon said with a small chuckle, earning chuckles from his fellow mon.

"I wonder who scared them?" Ruby asked, before they all stepped pass the bushes, to a sight that made them stare a bit dryly "Ah, well that answers that I guess."

Standing with her fist still extended, her eyes red, and a small frown on her face was Yang, while in front of her, knocked out cold against the tree was who the others assumed to be Gazimon, a grey, canine like creature with long ears and very long claws on it's forearms.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Gazimon_

 _Gazimon. Virus Type. A Child Level Mammal Digimon. Despite it's small size, it has an extremely aggressive temperament, known for picking fights with other Digimon, even obviously stronger ones. The claws on its forelegs are perfectly suited for digging holes, something it does as it enjoys seeing other Digimon fall helplessly into them. It's special attack is Paralyze Breath, expelling a black gas from its mouth that stuns the opponent._

And, standing behind Yang's leg, was a small pink ball with big green eyes and several small feet, while coming out the top of it's head was a blue flower.

"That'll teach you, freaking moron." Yang said as she pulled back her fist, her eyes bleeding back into lavender as she relaxed.

"Thanks for protecting me Yang." the little creature said as she rubbed herself against Yang's leg with a smile.

Yang smiled back as she bent down to pick her up "My pleasure Yokomon, idiots like that always get what they deserve."

However, before Yang could actually pick Yokomon up, she was promptly tackle-hugged by a red blur.

Yokomon blinked, looking left and right for her partner "What just happened?"

"That would be my partner." Tanemon said with a sigh as she walked up to her friend.

"Hi guys," Yokomon said with a smile as Koromon came up behind Tanemon, Minomon disconnecting from Ren's arm and hopped over to where his friends were.

At the same time, Yang had finally managed to get her overeager sister off of her. "Easy there Rubes. I missed you too," she chuckled as she finally got the reaper to calm down a little.

"You're being pretty calm about this." Gyro said with a smile as he walked up to the sisters who stood up.

"Well, Yokomon told me her friends were probably out there looking for everyone, so I was able to relax a bit because someone would find Ruby eventually." Yang said with a shrug.

"But this is encouraging that everyone is alright," Ren nodded. "However, once we regroup, we'd better find a way to get our bearings on wherever this is."

"Actually, I managed to get a small bead on our location before Kuwagamon showed up," Gyro said. "The most notable landmark is this HUGE mountain that I think is in the center of the island."

"Wait, island? We washed up on an island?" Yang blinked.

"Koromon told me this place is called File Island, and a few more things, but I think we should wait till everyone is here before we go into details," Gyro said.

"Fair enough," the others all nodded. This situation was weird enough as is.

With that they continued moving on (getting some directions from a few of the local mon who weren't hostile), to which they were soon headed for what they were told was a lake. As they got closer, they heard the sound of someone talking in a rather panicked tone.

"Okay okay...just calm down. You set out to prove what you can do. To prove you can be a Hunter...oh who am I kidding? I was planning to go to a warrior school, not end up on an island with strange...but admittedly cute, creatures...who thankfully aren't anything like Grimm," the voice was starting to ramble on.

The four of them shared deadpan expressions at that. "Jaune," they all nodded in agreement.

With that they kept walking forward, hearing someone confirm their thoughts "Jaune, trust me, this won't be so bad, look, Koromon told me this Gyro guy he knows is gonna be here, and you're friends with him right? So at least you're not in this alone."

"I guess." a pause, or probably a sigh, but they couldn't hear it "Thanks Bukamon, at least you're trying to help."

"It's what I do." Bukamon stated proudly.

"Looks like he found his partner," Yokomon smiled. "Bukamon's always been a reliable mon."

"Well, hopefully he rubs off on Jaune then." Gyro said with a smile, knowing Jaune wanted to be someone like that as well. With that in mind, they got closer and… "Hey, Jaune!" he called out, making said blonde turn to them and...okay, the grin on his face was easily one of the happiest expressions he'd ever seen on him.

"Guys! Man, am I glad to see you're all alright!" he said as he walked over, the small grey and clearly aquatic creature with what looked like a tuft of orange hair on its head, Bukamon...floating...for lack of better words, right behind him. It was also then that Jaune noticed the creatures they had with them and blinked. "Huh...guess I'm not the only one."

"Well, I DID tell ya my friends were waiting for their partners too," Bukamon chuckled as he hung off of Jaune's shoulder.

"Yeah, guess you did," Jaune said with a wry chuckle. However, that's when he noticed something else. "Guess not everyone is together yet, huh?" he frowned, realizing they were still missing half their numbers.

"Don't worry, with how things are going, I'm sure we'll find them all soon," Ruby said with a reassuring smile.

"I just hope Weiss has cooled off enough when we find her." Gyro said, remembering how Weiss had been angry about the whole Nevermore thing and during the wait in the ruins entrance would give him and Ruby subtle looks of annoyance.

And then he realised his wording, making him groan "Ah great, it's like the universe wants me to do Pierce's pun quota." he said, making the others laugh a bit.

"What was that?" a voice said, and Gyro would forever deny he jumped in surprise from hearing it at that moment, nope, he totally didn't.

"Heart attack dammit!" he said loudly as he turned around to look at Weiss, who was looking at him dryly.

And in her arms was… well it was hard to describe, since it wasn't a ball, and it was so plain, but it was small, pink, and had two very short arms, longer than Minomon's stubby ones at least, and two big brown eyes.

"Hi Motimon!" The little ones all said.

"Hey everyone!" Motimon waved with a smile.

"So they're your friends?" Weiss asked him, a small smile on her face as Motimon jumped down and bounced over to his friends.

"Yep!" Motimon said happily as the others let the rest of the little ones bounce down to talk with him, with Gyro looking up at Weiss.

"Are you still mad though?" He asked honestly with a raised eyebrow.

"I've gotten over it if that's what you mean and don't hold it against you anymore." She said, sighing as she crossed her arms.

"I'll take it." Gyro said, sighing, glad she wasn't angry with him, because he knew she could hold a grudge.

"So how much do you already know?" Weiss asked. "From what Motimon told me, it seems not only were these little ones waiting for us…" she started, before leveling Gyro a small glare. "He also said 'Koromon', who I assume is the little pink puffball with ears, seemed to know about you and your brother. Care to explain?"

"Yes actually." Gyro said, unfazed, it hadn't been relevant until now, but since it was, he would gladly explain that amazing day "But how about we wait until we find the others so I don't have to repeat myself?" he added with a raised eyebrow.

Weiss stumbled a bit, caught off guard by his willingness, looking at him in some surprise "Uh… yes, that's fine." she eventually said with a nod.

However, before they could start discussing what to do next, a familiar buzzing was heard, causing Gyro, Ruby, and even Ren to pale. "Aaaand that's our cue to leave! Don't ask! Run before the giant killer bug comes back!" Gyro said urgently, to which Ruby nodded frantically, and they all started pushing their still clueless friends in a direction away from the buzzing.

"Wait, what?" Jaune asked.

"Don't ask! Let's go before Kuwagamon shows up!" Bukamon urged, all the little ones looking understandably afraid at the prospect of having to deal with the large monster.

Fortunately that seemed enough and all of them went into the direction, even if some didn't fully understand, and before long, the sound of buzzing wasn't as notable anymore. "I think it's gone now," Ren confirmed.

"Thank Oum," Ruby sighed. She didn't want to have to deal with that thing again...at least not until she found Crescent Rose again. Speaking of which… "Hey guys, did any of you…" she started, before realizing that yes, everyone else present was missing their weapons. "Oh…"

Yang looked at her, and realized why she'd started, seeing something important missing. "You guys too?" she frowned. "Sorry Ruby, looks like all of us lost our weapons when we were brought here."

"Probably the same for all the others if the pattern goes on this much." Weiss added with a sigh.

"And we have that monster flying around to worry about too. We'd better hurry and find the others as fast as we…" Ren started...until he heard a sound that made him sigh. It was...there was really no way of properly describing WHAT that sound was. "Nora, we're over here. You can stop now," he sighed, though he still had a wry smile.

"Ren!" Nora cheered...as she came out of a tree upside down...with a small yellow puff ball with a tail and noticeably cat-like features hanging on her shoulder, looking a little dizzy from having the blood rushing to its brain. "See Nyaromon, I told you that secret call would work."

"Can we get down now?" Nyaromon replied dizzily.

"Oh! Yeah, totally!" Nora replied, before… doing an honestly impressive backflip out of the tree, holding Nyaromon in her arms the whole time.

The others couldn't help and had to clap at the rather impressive display while Nora took a bow.

"Are you okay, Nyaromon?" Motimon asked, as Nyaromon bounced on the ground a little, eyes still a little swirly.

"I'm okay," she said, before shaking her head. "You're really good at that, huh?" she said, turning to Nora.

"Thanks, I do it plenty of times," Nora grinned, before turning to the others. "So...guess you all got one of these cute guys with you," she said, picking up and hugging Nyaromon.

Thankfully for the feline looking little creature, it was a gentle one.

"Yeah, they were pretty much the ones to wake us up." Yang said as they relaxed a little bit due to being under some forest canopy, and thus better hidden from whatever the others were spooked about.

"What WAS that weird call earlier though?" Gyro, even though he knew, had to ask, because really, what the hell was that?

"A sloth cry silly! Duh." Nora said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Gyro blinked "That's not what a sloth sounds like though."

Nora stopped moving completely as her eyes zeroed on him "What does it sound like?" she asked, as if it what she would hear the answer to what life was.

"Best way I can put it is like a human baby, just a bit more… from the throat I'd say." Gyro said, having to take a moment to word it properly.

Nora nodded, closing her eyes, taking a deep breath, opening her mouth and… letting out exactly what Gyro had described, which, yes, was a sloth's call.

"Yeahp, that's it, well, a baby sloth, but that's all I could find, haven't seen any adult sloths do a call." Gyro said with a nod, and, somehow, Nora seemed complete, as if everything was right with the world.

Nyaromon looked up at her partner, then back to her friends "I don't know how to feel about this."

"Confused maybe?" Minomon said, shrugging his shoulders helplessly.

"Best I can do I guess." Nyaromon said with a sigh.

"Don't worry, you get used to her," Ren said, patting the little creature on the head in understanding.

"Well, at least the gang's almost all together now," Yang said, looking around. "We're just missing Blake, Pyrrha, and Pierce."

"Well, with how our luck's been we should find them soon enough," Gyro chuckled...and as if on cue, the bushes suddenly shook...and a small rabbit-like creature jumped out, saw the others and with a smile came closer.

"Everyone!" the small creature said with a happy smile.

"Tokomon!" the others smiled back.

"Another of your friends?" Yang couldn't help but smile and add, "He's pretty cute, though...why is he alone?"

As if to answer her question, the bushes shook again. "Tokomon, don't run off like that," came a worried voice...one that belonged to Blake of all people. True enough, the hidden faunus came into view, stopping short when she saw them. "Ah...I see everyone's gathered," she said.

"Not quite everyone, but yes," Weiss nodded. "I assume you know the gist of what's going on?"

"More or less," Blake nodded. "Tokomon and his friends have been waiting for us, and we're on a place called File Island," Blake said...before looking uncertain. "He...also called this place the Digital...World…" she said, trailing off at the last bit.

"...I'm sorry, did you just say 'Digital World'?" Jaune blinked.

"Yes, that's what Tokomon said," Blake nodded.

"Yeah, Koromon mentioned that too. I'm waiting till we find everyone before having that get explained." Gyro said, rubbing his face as he tried to ward off the headache. Suffice to say in his mind, the carefully laid out plan to save Remnant had, even if unintentionally, went out the window...while on fire...before being trampled.

"...agreed," everyone nodded. This was something they'd rather they all be together to hear rather than separate.

"Guess we might as well start looking then," Nora said. "But since we found each other so fast, I'm sure we'll find Pyrrha and Pierce in a snap!"

"That's what we're hoping, yeah," Gyro couldn't help but chuckle. Nodding in agreement, the now party of 16 continued walking, having decided to try to find an opening so as to get their bearings, though they were also carefully planning how to do so in a way that avoided drawing Kuwagamon's attention again. Finding a relatively dense, but still thinner section, Gyro used his semblance to get up on a tree again, and cautiously poked his head out of the greenery to scope the area. However, what he didn't expect was to look through the trees, and see a familiar redhead in a clearing not too far away judging by his goggles' zoom function. It seemed she had gotten a similar idea to him. "I found Pyrrha!" he reported, before pointing in the direction.

"Great, let's meet up with her before she moves on," Weiss said, to which they all picked up the pace. It wasn't long before they found the clearing...and a small orange puffball with a horn growing out of its head.

"And this is…?" Jaune blinked at the sight of the odd creature, even if it wasn't THAT much different than the others.

"That's Tsunomon," Bukamon said, before he called out and waved at said mon.

Tsunomon heard his name being called and turned to see his friends and their partners. A wide smile appearing on his features, he turned up to the tree and said, "Pyrrha, my friends are here, and they have your friends with them!"

The moment he did, the tree rustled, and the spartan soon landed on the ground, though she landed a bit too close to Tsunomon, making him jump a little. "Sorry," she said, sounding a little sheepish, before picking him up. "I'm glad everyone is okay," she said as she walked over to the rest of them.

"Well, that's almost everyone, just have to find Pierce now." Yang said with a relieved sigh as everyone let their partners to the ground and they all grouped with each other and started chatting.

"Before that…" Weiss started, getting everyone's attention as she turned to Gyro "I'm going to assume Pierce already knows about Koromon, so can you explain now?"

"Gotta admit, I'm kinda curious about that." Ruby said as she looked at him.

Gyro shrugged "Sure, and yeah, Pierce does know about him already. Well, it's not really a long story though, basically, me and Pierce found an egg coming out of our brother's computer when we were kids, it ended up hatching in the morning and out came Koromon in his first form before he became the pink guy he is now. He got bigger a few times after that, and then by the next morning, he was gone. We didn't know where… but now, this explains it." Gyro said, turning his head to behind the group to look at the partners "Guess he's been… like in a limbo or something since then, considering how he just hatched again a month ago."

"Yeah, to me it feels just like yesterday I met Gyro and Pierce and we played games and stuff together!" Koromon added helpfully.

"So yeah, even if this is all a bit strange, I'm not complaining. I got to find an old friend again," Gyro grinned.

"Well… I guess that explains why you seem a bit more at ease than the rest of us, you're familiar with him." Weiss said with a sigh, finding she was suspicious for no reason, as Gyro had no ulterior motive.

Well, no evil ones at least, but she wouldn't learn about that till there was enough trust.

"That's so sweet though, getting to see a friend after a lot of years." Ruby said with a bright smile.

"It's nice to meet up with someone after a long time." Pyrrha agreed with the reaper with her usual smile.

"Yeah well, that's also why I wanna find Pierce soon. He'll be over the moon when he sees Koromon again, though I'm sure his partner is just as cool," Gyro chuckled. However, the lighthearted mood was shattered when a familiar buzzing could be heard again. "...oh come on, does that thing make it its life's work to torment us?!"

However, before they could make any plans to escape… "Outta the way! Outta the way!" came Pierce's voice...before said teen ran out of the bushes, a small blue creature that was easily the most humanoid they'd seen so far hanging on to his neck for dear life. Unfortunately they all didn't have time to even properly register this, as Kuwagamon soon came bursting out of the trees, scaring the shit out of any of the huntsmen in training who HADN'T seen it yet.

"RUN!" Ruby shouted, and nobody argued as they grabbed their partners and started running for their lives.

"Hey bro, glad to see you found a partner too," Gyro said as he caught up with Pierce. "Look who I found!"

"Is that Koromon? So this is where you've been! We were looking for you for ages!" Pierce said, still running for his life.

"Yeah, I missed you guys too!" Koromon nodded while still in Gyro's arms. "So what do you think, DemiVeemon? Told ya he was cool!"

"Yep, you sure did!" the blue creature that was DemiVeemon said happily despite the fact they were being chased by a killer giant bug.

"As touching as this little reunion is…" Weiss started, before everyone roared: "BUT NOW IS NOT THE TIME!"

"Force of habit!" the twins said together before focusing on running.

"Come to think of it, is it just me or is the vegetation getting less...dense?" Gyro suddenly said as they ran.

THAT caught everyone's attention, and considering they knew they were on a plateau, a thinning in the vegetation could only mean…

'A dead end!' everyone realized as they exited the vegetation...to find a cliff in front of them.

"...well shit," Pierce swore.

"Language!" Ruby couldn't help but say.

"Ruby, not now ok?" Yang chided her little sister, earning a wince and a nod from her.

"We're gonna die!" Jaune was starting to panic at this point...not that any of them could blame him. As if to punctuate how bad the situation was, Kuwagamon emerged, standing on its hind legs making it tower over all of them at a size that rivaled the Nevermore from the Emerald Forest. Opening its wings, it soon took to the air, and came at them with all the intent of a homing missile.

"Duck!" Blake managed to shout, to which they all did, just BARELY managing to avoid getting a haircut...from the neck down.

"Its coming back!" Pyrrha shouted as Kuwagamon soon did a mid-air U-turn and came back for another shot. However, before he could, suddenly all the little ones began to struggle and suddenly jumped out of their partners' arms, and started pelting Kuwagamon's head with a barrage of bubbles...not that it did much, as Kuwagamon soon knocked them all out of the way, though the bubbles did disorient it enough that it crashed into the foliage.

Despite the fact that this gave them a momentary chance to escape, none of them took it, far more interested in running to their partners' sides to make sure the little ones were okay.

"Koromon! You okay, buddy?!" Gyro asked frantically as he picked up the injured puffball.

"Don't be reckless DemiVeemon." Pierce chided as he picked up his little imp shaped friend.

"Are you hurt Tsunomon?" Pyrrha said in worry as she looked over her horned partner.

Everyone made sure their partners were ok, but before they could think of trying to leave before Kuwagamon got up… he did just that.

"Dammit, leave us alone you overgrown roach!" Pierce shouted in frustration and anger at this...thing...that just didn't want to leave them be for no apparent reason. That probably wasn't the smartest thing to say, but as it was, none of them were thinking any kinder thoughts of the creature.

Whether Kuwagamon heard him or cared was unclear, as he soon stepped forward, mandibles clicking menacingly, and if he had any visible eyes, they could have guessed it would be the kind of eyes a serial killer would have as he approached his soon to be victims.

"If we only we had our weapons." Nora said through grit teeth, able to see how serious the situation was the moment.

"...everyone still got their Dust ammo?" Gyro asked.

"I still have some," Ruby said.

"Same here," Weiss nodded.

"I think all of us do," Ren said.

"Good. Cause on my signal, I want you guys to toss EVERYTHING you have at that overgrown bug, then I'll trigger it with my Semblance. We're getting out of this alive even if we have to improvise an Oum damned bomb on this thing's ass," Gyro growled.

"You won't have to." Koromon said with a groan as he shook himself.

"We've waited so long, we're not going to let him hurt you like this." Nyaromon added.

"That's right, we need to teach him a lesson he won't forget." Tsunomon agreed as well.

"We just need one lucky hit, that's all." Motimon said with a wince.

With that said, the little ones started to struggle out of their partners arms, before jumping out and rushing at Kuwagamon one more time.

The young hunters called out to their partners in worry, trying to get to them in time, none more louder than Gyro.

"KOROMON!"

In that moment, several things happened.

The first, and most obvious, were the little ones suddenly slowing down their movements… while most of them were bouncing up in the air.

The second, the sky darkened as clouds swirled out from a single point.

And finally, but most importantly, the digivices the hunters had on them started glowing.

10 rainbow colored lights suddenly shot down from the heavens, surrounding the little ones, the hunters looking on in surprise "What the…?" Gyro muttered in confusion.

 **(Play Brave Heart)**

In the lights covering the little ones, they felt their power peak, and knew it was time, as all of them began to spin in place.

"Koromon, Evolution! Agumon!" Koromon's form changed, now once more in the larger reptilian form that he assumed that night 11 years ago.

"Tanemon, Evolution! Palmon!" Tanemon's form changed, shifting into a small somewhat humanoid plant with a pink flower on top of her head and purple claw like appendages at the tips of her arms.

"Minomon, Evolution! Wormmon!" Minomon's form changed, turning into a big green caterpillar with long antennae, his legs tipped with purple claws while the last section of his body had two small purple stingers, a small purple Y shape on his forehead.

"Yokomon, Evolution! Biyomon!" Yokomon's form changed, becoming a child sized pink bird with blue tips to her feathers, her wings tipped with three claws as red as her beak, a grey anklet on her left ankle.

"Bukamon, Evolution! Gomamon!" Bukamon's form changed, shifting into a land based sea creature, the exact kind hard to pinpoint, his fur white in color with purple markings adorning it, a pair of wavy ears sprouting on top of his head while the points of his four feet were covered in claws, a red mohawk starting at the top of his head.

"Motimon, Evolution! Tentomon!" Motimon's form changed, turning into a creature more akin to a ladybug, with the black spots on his shell actually being small spikes, two long orange antennae on top of his head, his large compound eyes staring ahead as his main arms were now tipped with a large black claw each, while a second pair of smaller, but more normal arms rested beneath them, his feet having three rounded claws on them.

"Nyaromon, Evolution! Salamon!" Nyaromon's form changed, becoming a small cream colored puppy with a golden ring around her neck, the form seemed harmless, but one never knew.

"Tokomon, Evolution! Patamon!" Tokomon's form changed, shifting into a guinea pig like creature that was brown on top with a cream underbelly, brown bat wings actually sprouting from the top of his head.

"Tsunomon, Evolution! Gabumon!" Tsunomon's form changed, turning into a yellow, almost reptile like creature with purple claws and a tail, a horn sprouting from the top of his head while his belly had a blue egg shape on it with a purple pattern on it, though covering most of his body was an icy white and dark blue wolf pelt.

"DemiVeemon, Evolution! Veemon!" DemiVeemon's form changed, becoming a larger, saurian like creature with a pointed nose, his scales seemingly becoming harder, but still blue, while his belly and mouth stayed white, small claws sprouted on the tips of his fingers of the now much larger hands he sported, a long tail at his backside and long claws on his feet while a yellow V was on his forehead.

When the light cleared, the huntsmen in training were left stunned at the sight. The little ones weren't so little anymore, all of them having seemingly transformed from generally cute but harmless looking forms to more defined, and seemingly built for combat, forms.

"This is…!" Gyro and Pierce gasped, remembering this same form that Koromon had taken that night.

"Let's get him!" Agumon said, as the 10 of them jumped forward and latched onto Kuwagamon, trying to bring him down. The larger creature seemed to struggle for a moment, before managing to knock them off, but they all quickly got back on their feet.

Kuwagamon opened his wings, about to try and gain the aerial advantage, but Palmon and Wormmon were faster, and soon got under him.

"Poison Ivy!" Palmon called out as her 'nails' extended to reveal vines that grabbed hold of Kuwagamon's legs, stopping him from taking off properly, while the toxins worked their way through him to slow him down...and actually reminding them of a similar plan they'd used not long ago.

"Air Shot!" Patamon declared as his body seemed to inflate before he shot a ball of compressed air from his mouth, knocking Kuwagamon off balance when it hit him on the side of his head.

"Sticky Net!" Wormmon called out as a net of webbing was released from his mouth, wrapping around Kuwagamon's wings, forcing him to descend back to the ground, but just as he was about to land, Gomamon rolled on the ground, and tripped him, causing him to fall to his knee.

...or he would have, if Salamon hadn't jumped in front of him and… "Puppy Howling!" she called out as the sound based attack hit Kuwagamon dead on, disorienting and paralyzing him further, causing him to fall flat on his face.

… Or, again, he would have, if Veemon had not been standing under him, and just as Kuwagamon started coming down, the little blue saurian braced his legs and jumped up, head first "V Headbutt!" he shouted as his superior cranium slammed into Kuwagamon's chin, sending him standing upright again, unmoving as he was still stunned.

Tentomon and Biyomon soon flew up towards the stunned monster and took advantage of this chance. "Petit Thunder!" Tentomon called out as electricity gathered from his wings and was fired at Kuwagamon.

"Magical Fire!" Biyomon called out as a spiral of green ethereal fire flew from her beak, both attacks hitting and causing parts of Kuwagamon's head to catch fire.

"Don't let up!" Agumon ordered as he and Gabumon stood before Kuwagamon. "Baby Flame!" he called out, shooting a fireball from his mouth.

"Petit Fire!" Gabumon called out, shooting a stream of blue fire from his mouth, both impacting and causing Kuwagamon's head to catch on more fire. However, it wasn't enough, as the monster angrily roared, the fires going out from the fast movements, but by then, all of them had regrouped.

"Let's finish this. Together!" Agumon said, as all of them with long ranged moves charged up.

Wormmon used Sticky Net again, to cover Kuwagamon's head in webbing to disorient the monster again, and giving his friends the opening they needed.

"Baby Flame!"

"Magical Fire!"

"Petit Fire!"

"Petit Thunder!"

"Air Shot!"

"Puppy Howling!"

The attacks all hit dead on, causing Kuwagamon's upper body to be engulfed in flames, the monster screeching in pain, as it thrashed around, managing to put out bits of the fire.

"One more time!" Veemon shouted, before he jumped over Agumon, the dino using his claws to give Veemon a springboard. "V Headbutt!" the strong strike hit Kuwagamon square in the head, causing the large insect to let out a choked gasp, before falling over into the foliage. A few moments later, the woods shook, as Kuwagamon flew out...and turned tail before flying away.

 **(End Song)**

Everyone stared at him for a moment, some confusion spreading at seeing him run away, before it lead to relief and cheer at the fact they'd won.

"Holy Oum! That was awesome Agumon!" Gyro said with a grin as he ran to meet up with the yellow dinosaur, having overheard the name upon him… evolving as it were.

"Thanks! Honestly we kinda surprised ourselves a little with how well that went." Agumon said with a sheepish laugh before Gyro high fived him, while everyone was starting to get reacquainted with their now changed partners.

"Damn, that was epic Veemon." Pierce said as he fist bumped the blue saurian.

"You know it was!" Veemon shot back with a grin.

Before anything else could be said… a small cracking sound was heard, making everyone stop and look around, before they heard it again, louder this time… and visible, as they saw the part of the cliff they were standing on start to crack all over.

"Maybe a little too epic." Weiss said worriedly as Tentomon was grabbing onto her.

"Sorry, we didn't want to do things halfway and have him just attack us back." Tentomon said apologetically.

And with that, the cliff finally shattered, leaving the hunters and their partners to fall down into the river below.

"Well, at least this means I can finally do my impressive thing." Gomamon said from Jaune's back.

"Do it now then please!" the blonde hunter said in a panicked tone.

"You got it! Marching Fishes!" Gomamon called out, nothing seemingly happening out at first, before the water bubbled up beneath them, and a moment later, a VERY large school of fishes breached the surface, practically being a rainbow of color as everyone landed on them, the rocks falling into the water around them or into holes through the school of fishes.

They all had to take a moment to catch their breaths as they were all either face first or down on their butts after landing on the fishes, looking around after the disorienting experience.

"So… you can summon a super large group of fishes?" Jaune asked his partner who let go of his back and layed down next to him, just as mentally exhausted as the others after that shocking experience.

"Yeah, but I can only do it near water, so that's a bit of a problem." Gomamon said with a sigh before smiling as Jaune pat his back.

"Hey, it just saved our lives, so it's definitely a really useful power." Jaune reassured him, earning a grateful nod from Gomamon.

"Uh, not to get in the middle of this...but we've got a BIG rock incoming!" Yang said frantically.

"Right, full speed ahead!" Gomamon said, as the Marching Fishes did just that, allowing them to avoid the worst of it all.

They all let out relieved sighs as they finally had a chance to relax.

"Oh man, that was really tiring." Ruby said while Palmon snuggled up to her, nodding.

"I'm so tired after all that." the plant based creature agreed with her partner completely.

"Even though we didn't do anything, just watching it and then falling down was certainly…" Blake started, stopping as she tried to look for the right word.

"Nerve-wracking?" Patamon supplied from her lap, earning a grateful nod from her and making him beam up happily.

"Thankfully, the probability of an event specifically like that happening again are so astronomically low, we should be safe as long as we proceed with caution." Tentomon said from next to Weiss.

"The wording thankfully bypasses Murphy's Law." Weiss said with a sigh of relief, while the brothers were glad they could curse Murphy here without being looked at weirdly.

"For now, let's just worry about getting back on dry land, we probably still have a lot ahead of us." Gyro said seriously, everyone nodding in agreement, but still decided to relax just a bit longer on the school of fishes.

There was no telling what else would happen after all.

* * *

 **Now, as everyone saw, I'm using english digimon names, the main reason for that, a good portion of the english names DO roll off the tongue better, that or they just make more sense in some cases, but, there are also times where I'll use the japanese name if it's the better sounding one.**

 **Don't worry, I'm not stupid guys.**

 **Also, yeah, attack names are japanese as well, with some exceptions, like Veemon's V Headbutt, which sounds better than V-mon Head in my opinion.**

 **Anyway, for now...**

 **The Adventure Evolves.**


	5. 4: Explosive Evolution! Greymon!

**I think by now you've figured out it'll be a while before I stop working on this.**

 **Because seriously, I've been planning this story for a while, and new ideas come for it everyday.**

 **Anyway, there's nothing to note at the moment, so let's start!**

* * *

 **Explosive Evolution! Greymon!  
**

* * *

"I've been cruising down the river, all the livelong day," Pierce idly sang as they were in the middle of doing just that on the raft made of fish that Gomamon had summoned.

"Would you stop already?" Weiss sighed in annoyance. "We've BEEN basically doing that for the last few hours or so."

"Yeah well, I was getting bored. After the whole thing with Kuwagamon...this is honestly pretty boring," he shrugged.

"Pierce, I swear to Oum, don't taunt the universe." Gyro told his brother in a bit of annoyance.

Pierce raised his hands silently and returned to looking ahead.

"I liked the song." Yang said idly.

"It was pretty fun." Biyomon said with a nod of agreement.

"What they said." Veemon agreed with a sage nod.

"Thank you. At least SOME people have taste." Pierce said with a grin aimed at his brother.

Gyro rolled his eyes, before casting his eyes to Blake, who, not only was she sitting right in the middle of the raft of fish, but was looking ahead, standing stock still except for her hand lightly petting Patamon.

Not only was she avoiding the water as much as she could, but she was also trying to ignore all the fish they were sitting on… when they hadn't eating anything for hours.

Definitely a major problem for a cat faunus who wanted to stay hidden.

Nothing they could do at the moment though, the water was pretty low compared to everything else, so they had to wait for the stone walls to get lower before they could remedy the food situation.

"So...I just realized, we never DID talk about this place," Gyro suddenly spoke up, remembering that detail and figured it would be a good a time as any to address the big question of where the hell they were...that and it could be a productive way to pass the time.

"Oh yeah, we never got to that since Kuwagamon was trying to kill us," Ruby mused.

"I second that idea," Weiss nodded.

"I'm surprised by how casually dying is getting mentioned. I mean, Digimon don't die permanently, but we still don't really like to talk about it." Salamon said from atop Nora's head.

"Then that just means Remnant is a lot more vicious than this world...wow, that just sounded a whole lot more messed up outloud than in my head," Pierce said. "But seriously, in Remnant, dying...isn't anything weird. People die pretty much everyday, mostly at the claws of the Grimm."

"What IS a grimm? You mentioned that earlier Gyro." Agumon said as he turned to his partner.

"Yeah, I did. How about this, we do some information exchanging and explain the differences of our worlds?" Gyro suggested, earning nods from everyone.

"You never mentioned the grimm the first time we met though." Agumon muttered.

"Ah, well, for starters, I was still a kid back then, and second, we were in the middle of the city." Gyro said with a shrug.

Agumon took that in, before nodding, finding that made sense.

It made Gyro's nerves relax, even if other worlds were now completely believable, he didn't want to know how the Remnant born people would react to what their future history was at the moment, he wasn't ready to become a bearer of bad news.

"I'll take care of info on Remnant." Blake said, everyone nodding and letting her start "Remnant is a place with two major sapient species, Humans, and Faunus, I'll explain about Faunus in a minute." she said as she saw some of the mons open their mouth to ask "They don't exactly live in peace with one another though."

"Well, the White Fang should put a stop to their actions then." Weiss said, and Gyro and Pierce twitched at the haughty tone.

"To be fair, Sienna Khan is a bit of an extremist and has different views from the previous leader from what I've heard. Honestly, if they had just followed the way he was doing things, they would have gotten results eventually, even if slowly." Gyro said, trying to stop any possible early clash between Blake and Weiss.

"Plus, your family is partially to blame for the White Fang getting violent Weiss." Pierce said, deciding to help by directing Weiss's ire towards him instead.

"What was that?" she said snappily.

"You heard me. Look, everyone knows your father is a... " Pierce trailed off, looking at Ruby and motioning she should cover her ears, which she did, figuring he was going to say something bad "A total heartless bastard who thinks of profit above everything else."

"Look, before you say anything, we're NOT trying to make you think your family is wrong and the White Fang is right. Hell, under Sienna, they're as much a part of the problem. But just...think about the kind of person your father is, and what he's done and ask yourself, 'Is the animosity to your family REALLY that unwarranted?'" Gyro said, halting any tirade Weiss may have started.

She looked at him for a good long moment, before looking down as Tentomon nudged her, eventually sighing as she put a hand on his head "Alright… I'll give it some thought."

"That's all I ask for Weiss." Gyro said with a nod.

"One last thing, not an insult don't worry, Winter Schnee, your big sister from what I've heard, was the heiress before you were… try and think about what that means as well." Pierce added, keeping it short, and Weiss took that part with a slow nod.

Despite herself, Blake couldn't help but smile a little. The fact Weiss was actually considering this was to her proof that Weiss wasn't like her father. But then she remembered they were still in a conversation. "Anyway, back on topic, yes, at the moment things aren't exactly peaceful between the two races. Humans are well...you can see a number of examples right here," she chuckled. "As for Faunus, they honestly look the same as humans, with the addition being a single animal trait on their bodies. For example, a tail, ears, scales, feathers, I've even heard of spider faunus with multiple eyes."

The partners all considered that for a moment, and wondered about the possibility of Faunus with body parts similar to their own, before nodding at her to continue.

Blake nodded a bit, internally happy to be teaching something like this to people who hadn't heard of it before and being able to give a non-biased account of it "As for what Gyro mentioned earlier, the Grimm… we still don't know exactly what they are, other than beings who wish to destroy anything and everything in their path. If you go near one, it's only if you're going to kill it, as they will want to do the same to you, for the sole reason that they can."

While they didn't say it vocally, the partners felt a bit afraid at such a thought, a beast on the hunt for them, not for food or anything like that, but just to kill them for the sake of killing. It wasn't a pleasant thought.

"Let's move on to something a bit lighter." Blake said when she felt Patamon shaking in her lap, starting to rub his back softly to ease him.

"Right, I think that'd be good," Patamon said, looking a little afraid.

"I'll explain," Tentomon said. "Anyway, as some of us mentioned before, this is File Island in the Digital World. The Digital World is well...our world," he started. "Hm...for starters, there aren't any humans or faunus here as far as we know. Only Digimon."

"Digimon?" the humans (and one faunus) asked.

"Oh yeah, we never told you," Gabumon said. "We're…"

"Digital Monsters! Digimon for short!" the now named Digimon all said in unison.

"Hm...Digital Monsters? Digital World? FILE Island? You're talking as if we're in a computer," Ren couldn't help but say, having noticed the trend in naming.

The Digimon looked at each other at that, before looking back at the humans and one faunus "Well, that's because we are." Wormmon answered for everyone since his partner had been the one to say it.

You could hear a pin drop at how silent the now slower ride became, everyone not native to the world looking at the Digimon in shock.

"So wait...you're saying we're LITERALLY inside of a computer?" Yang blinked.

"Well...we don't know about that, but we do know that our world was made from data that came from the human world," Biyomon supplied.

"In a sense you could say all of us are data based lifeforms," Wormmon added.

"But you're all sentient right?" Pyrrha asked, looking at Gabumon.

"Of course, each Digimon makes its own decisions about each and everything around it and about itself." Gabumon explained as best he could.

"Wait, if all of you are data, but you feel like flesh and blood… what about us?" Jaune asked, feeling a bit worried.

"Are we like a bunch of 0s and 1s now or something?" Nora said, tilting her head in confusion, surprising the brothers a bit she understood computers to a degree.

"That's… we're not sure about that one actually." Veemon said as he scratched his cheek.

"But if you ask me, it all depends on how you feel, and I don't mean emotionally, I mean physically." Tentomon said, clarifying his words without missing a beat.

"In my opinion, we're all real, and that's the only thing that matters." Gyro said after a moment of thought.

The others all halted their own thoughts at that, finding that while it was simple, Gyro was right, they were all real, they could all feel, and that's what mattered.

"At any rate, Digimon in this world vary. Some are big, some are small, and likewise some are peaceful while others, like the Kuwagamon, are violent or like to cause trouble," Tentomon continued.

"So you're just like us then," Ruby smiled.

"I guess we are," Palmon chuckled.

"I have a question though, speaking of Kuwagamon, what exactly happened back there? We heard you speak while in those lights, something about evolution?" Pierce asked curiously, and everyone realised they were indeed rather curious about that.

"Wait, what's evolution though?" Nora asked, confused.

"Evolution is the process wherein which a species slowly, over the course of centuries or even millenia, becomes better, each generation after the current one being better than the last, to optimize survival." Weiss replied as if she was reading straight from a dictionary.

"That's basically it yes, but for us Digimon, Evolution doesn't take that long, it can take years for some yes, but it's very much always within our lifetime. Such as earlier, the power from your Digivices pushed us up to what I suppose you could say is our basic form, as the others are usually only for newborns, or for when a Digimon has a considerable amount of power." Tentomon explained like a school teacher.

"Huh, that's actually pretty cool," Jaune blinked, before taking out his Digivice. "Wonder what else these things can do."

"Sorry, we can't help ya there," Gomamon said. "We didn't know they could do that until just now."

"Maybe pressing the buttons can help us figure it out?" Ruby said as she took her own out.

"One button at a time Nora." Ren said suddenly with a sigh, making Nora groan as her plan to push ALL the buttons at once was stopped in its tracks.

"Actually I don't think you should do that...at least not until we reach dry land," Pyrrha suggested. "You don't want to accidentally drop those."

The ones who had taken out their digivices all put them away sheepishly at that.

Gomamon suddenly perked up "Well you won't have to wait long, the fishes are telling me the ground level is meeting the water level soon enough."

"Good, I think my butt is getting cramps from sitting on it so weirdly for so long." Yang said, reaching down to rub said part part of her body.

It wasn't long before the group made landfall, and soon got off the makeshift raft, the fish soon dispersing, and the huntsmen in training doing some stretches to get the kinks out of their bodies from the limited movement for so long.

"Now, let's see what the Digivices can." Gyro said, grabbing his own and looking it over, before pressing one of the buttons on it, the screen suddenly showing him a radar of some sorts… though there didn't seem to be anything on it, he then looked at the two buttons that were on top of each other and pressed the one on the top, the screen zooming in, pressing it again, and this time, on top of his blinking dot, he could see 9 other visible ones, all in the same spots as the others.

"Well, looks like there's a radar function, we can use it to find each other at least." He said, the others nodding, accepting that.

"I found a clock, it's close to 5 PM right now." Pyrrha said, making them all blink at how much time had passed.

"Seems there's another radar but...I'm not seeing anything," Ruby said. "Don't think its broken though."

"Probably whatever it's supposed to pick up isn't in range," Pierce said with a shrug.

However, before they could discuss more, another more pressing matter came up. In the form of 20 stomachs growling. "Right...we haven't eaten anything since breakfast…" Jaune groaned. With all the excitement, he'd honestly forgotten about that until now.

"Well, we're on an island, so obviously there has to be some way the Digimon sustain themselves." Ren reasoned.

"And we did go downstream," Pyrrha added. "If we follow it, we should reach the ocean, and maybe we'll find something."

"Sounds like a plan. Okay, so we'll follow the stream, and while we're at it, keep an eye out for anything edible," Gyro nodded, before turning to the Digimon. "Can you guys help us look too?"

"Of course!" they all nodded enthusiastically.

With that decided, the group started following the stream, on the lookout for anything edible, and also for any beaches, only two of them weren't walking though, Gomamon swimming along next to them, and Tentomon flying, the two being the slowest walkers out of the Digimon.

"By the way, I've been meaning to ask about evolution, you guys all changed names when you turned into these forms, right?" Jaune asked, looking at Gomamon.

"That's right, I went from being Bukamon to Gomamon." he said with a nod, putting it to the basics.

The other Digimon all decided to follow his example, introducing themselves one by one in case some of the hunters hadn't heard their names earlier.

Once everyone was properly reintroduced, they continued on their way, making small talk as they did. Along the way… "I found something!" Patamon said, flapping up to a tree...one that what appeared to be honest to god apples...only for some reason they were colored a silverish shade of green.

"Wow, we must be in luck to find these!" Biyomon agreed as she flapped up to take a closer look.

"What are they?" Blake asked.

"These are Meat Apples. They're really hard to find," Patamon said.

A pause went through the collective huntsmen. "Meat...apples…?" they all asked, looking more than a little clueless at the moment, while the fliers immediately went to work harvesting the apples, with the ones who couldn't fly catching them as they fell.

"So uh...are these some kind of fruit?" Jaune asked, idly picking one up.

"Wait, don't eat it like-!" Gomamon tried to stop him but...too late.

"Bleeh! Are these even edible?!" Jaune gagged after one bite.

"I tried to warn you. You can't eat them raw. You need to cook them first," Gomamon sighed.

"Ok, Jaune, that blunder was all on you, that was pretty obvious." Gyro told him dryly, the others nodding in agreement… except for Nora.

"You can't eat meat raw?" She said innocently.

Ren had to refrain from very audibly palming his face at those words "No Nora, we've been over this before."

She paused, trying to think before snapping her fingers in remembrance "Oh yeah!"

"Oh dear angel digimon up above help me." Salamon muttered, shaking her head while Wormmon pat her back with one of his claws.

"There's a meat apple for every different kind of meat in the world." Tentomon said, deciding to move along while Jaune was dunking his head in the river water to wash out his tongue. "Though what kind of meat you get...there's no way of telling until you actually eat it."

"At least these aren't 'every flavor apples'," Pierce snickered.

"Oh dear god, I still gag at the thought of those things." Gyro muttered, trying to hold in his lunch at remembering the 'every flavor jelly beans' from Harry Potter. "I'll...go get some firewood so we can cook these when we get to the beach," he said, changing the subject.

"Wait… where are we going to put all of these?" Weiss suddenly realised as she looked at the pile the Digimon were STILL filling up, apparently, they had decided to clean the area of it's meat apples.

"Oh, that's easy, Azure is so smart, he made a camper's best friend." Pierce said as Gyro disappeared into the trees to gather firewood, pulling out a small pouch from his pocket, opening it decently wide, dropping an apple in it… and the bag stayed the same.

Everyone, the Digimon included, stared at it speechless.

"Yeah, he was able to make pouches with more holding space than their supposed to have, and when you drop something in it, it gets scanned, and sent somewhere appropriate, so meat apples get stored…" he trailed off, putting his whole arm through the opening of the bag "Judging by how cold it is, I'm guessing the freezer to keep them fresh."

"Geez, and I thought dad liked to over prepare us." Yang said, shaking her head in bewilderment.

"What else do you have in there?" Blake asked.

"Pretty much everything, a freezer, a fridge, other places I can't pronounce the names of because they were weird, and plenty of survival gear and first aid kits, there's probably stuff to sterilise water too." he said, suddenly sticking his head inside "Yeahp, sterilizing kit right here."

"You have all that… but no food?" Ruby had to point out.

"Our brother may be smart, but he's also an idiot at the same time." Gyro said as he came back, stuffing some firewood into his pouch."And to be fair, we were supposed to only be in the Emerald Forest for a day. Not end up on an island inside some kind of cyber world."

Everyone looked at each other, then nodded in acceptance. If ANY of them had expected anything beyond a day trip, they'd also have packed food.

It wasn't long before all the meat apples and fire wood was securely stored in the pouch, and they were on their way. They were hungry, but they also agreed it'd be better if they made it to their destination first before eating.

"Ocean ahoy!" Gomamon reported from his spot in the water, having a clear view of the approaching ocean.

"Alright, let's go!" Ruby said enthusiastically and ran forward...with her semblance.

"...huh, guess she's really excited," Jaune blinked as they stared at the blur that was quickly leaving them behind.

"Ruby, wait for me!" Palmon said as she started chasing after the girl.

"Well, she's got the right idea," Yang shrugged before they all chased after the girl. However, when they got close they heard the sound of ringing..which quickly stopped...then started again. Arriving at the scene, they were met with the sight of payphones, with Ruby going between them, picking up any that were ringing, but the confusion on her face made it clear she wasn't picking up and hanging up for fun.

Everyone stared at the scene while Palmon ran up to her, before it clicked in their minds "Scrolls!" they all said at the same time, digging into their pockets to pull them out and opening them, all of them trying to contact people back home.

As for what they got…

"You have reached the imperial shaq, please hold while we connect you to our waste disposal."

"It is currently 49:73 AM, please have a good night."

"This number is out of service in your clothes, please try again never."

And other nonsensical things.

As one, the hunters all ended their calls, annoyed in some form or another.

"Too bad. Would have been nice if you could have called Azure." Agumon said as he looked up at Gyro.

"Well, in retrospect it probably should have been obvious it wouldn't be THAT easy." Gyro sighed. "Still though...what the HELL was THAT?"

"Probably something we don't want to know," Blake deadpanned.

"I guess I can't deny that." Gyro said with a sigh, before looking back at the beach, seeing Ruby zipping past every phone… "Hey Yang? Can you call Ruby with your scroll? See if that works?"

Yang blinked, before figuring she could give it a try and went to her contacts before calling her little sister, who suddenly stopped moving and went to one of her ammo pouches, her scroll apparently in there and pulling it out, before they all heard Ruby's voice from Yang's scroll "Hey Yang, what's up?"

"We were seeing if our scrolls worked, we can't call home, but apparently we can call each other." Yang said, sagging in some relief that should they ever get separated, they could keep in contact, on top of finding each other thanks to the Digivices.

"Oh! That kinda sucks. Dad and Uncle Qrow probably know we're missing by now and are worried sick." Ruby said, the frown audible in her voice.

"Tell her to hang on so we can catch up. We might as well set up camp or something here since it'll be dark soon," Gyro said.

Yang nodded, telling her sister just that as she finally stopped moving, Palmon finally dropping down on the sand after following her so much.

It wasn't long before the group was sitting on the beach, a fire burning merrily in front of them, while a portion of the meat apples they'd gathered earlier now skewered on sticks, and roasting over the open fire. "You know, if someone had told me I'd be eating an apple that tastes like hamburger, I'd have called them nuts before today," Pierce said as he took another bite off the apple he had roasted.

"Somehow I think sanity went out the window a while ago," Blake said, taking a bite out of her meat apple, which was, much to her delight, tuna flavor.

"Eh, sanity's overrated," Nora said with a big grin as she took a bite out of her bacon flavored apple. "These are really good. You sure there aren't any pancake flavored ones?"

Everyone gave her a deadpan stare at her words "Nora… pancake isn't made from meat, even I know that, and I was basically born a month ago." Salamon said dryly.

Nora stopped, placing her finger to her chin "Oh yeah." she then grinned "Oops! Looks like I forgot again."

A few groans were heard at that. "At any rate, what are we going to do?" Weiss asked. "We need to at least have some kind of plan before we can proceed."

"Well, we know there's a big mountain in the center of the island. I was thinking we could head for it, if nothing else so we can see the whole island, and possibly find some clues along the way," Gyro shrugged. "Not the best plan I know, but anyone got any better ideas?"

They all looked at each other silently at that, before eventually shaking their heads at him.

"Well, guess that's our plan for now, hopefully we'll figure out how to get back home along the way?" he said with a sigh.

"You're going to leave?" Agumon said with a frown, something the digimon all mimicked at the thought of their partners leaving already.

"Why are you worried? We'll bring you with us when we do." Gyro said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"We didn't spend a decade looking for ya just to leave you again," Pierce grinned as well. "And no way are we leaving ANY of our friends if we can help it." he added, turning to Veemon as well and presenting him with his fist.

Veemon grinned as he looked at it and bumped fists with him.

"Gotta admit, it would feel pretty weird to leave you guys behind." Jaune admitted to Gomamon, earning a thankful smile.

"Would definitely be pretty awesome to bring you guys with us." Yang said to Biyomon, the bird digimon smiling as she leaned on her.

"So it's decided!" Ruby suddenly said. "Our next objective is to find a way back to Remnant AND bring our partners with us no matter what!" she said. "Any objections?"

No objections were raised at all.

However, the cheerful mood was cut short, when the Digimon all suddenly tensed. "Is something wrong?" Ren asked, not liking how they were behaving.

"Something's coming!" Wormmon said, and as if on cue, a massive spout of water suddenly erupted from the sand, before moving and soon launched the telephone boxes into the air, to which they soon crashed back to the ground.

"The hell is that?!" Gyro shouted as everyone quickly got up and ready to move in case things got too dangerous.

"I don't know, but it can't be anything good." Pyrrha said, regretting the fact they'd all lost their weapons now.

They soon got their answer when a large amount of sand was kicked up, and from the ground, at first glance what looked like a giant drill emerged, before that something was revealed to be a MASSIVE cone shaped shell.

"What IS that?" Weiss said in confusion.

"It's Shellmon! We must have gotten on his territory without realising it!" Tentomon said in a slightly panicked tone, as in front of them, something emerged from the shell. It was a pink saurian-like head with what looked like a weird light green mass of tentacles that almost looked like hair on its head, before a pair of large oddly shaped arms emerged from the shell as well, fully revealing the full creature as some kind of bizarre mollusk with how those large limbs somehow fit.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Shellmon_

 _Shellmon. Data Type. An Adult Level Mollusk Digimon. Although it has a turtle like appearance when settled into its shell, for all intents and purposes, it has a soft mollusk like body. It is known for being a rather dimwitted Digimon, though approach it with caution nonetheless. It's special attack is Hydro Pressure, shooting high pressure beam of water from the top of it's head._

"Well, I think that's our cue to run." Gyro said as he started taking a step back.

And then Shellmon shot a high pressure beam of water at the cliff behind them, and they all turned and saw how it gouged a trench in it, before turning back to Shellmon.

"Nevermind, looks like if we try he's going to hit us in the back with that." he said with a scowl. "Why do I feel like this is going to be a habit? Having to fight big guys like this, I mean."

"Probably cause just about every large Digimon so far has tried to kill us?" Jaune offered.

"Yeah, that sounds about right. Guys, if you'd please?" Gyro said with a sigh.

"Right, we'll handle him." Agumon said with a nod as he and the other Digimon got in front of the hunters.

Much like with Kuwagamon, the Digimon began their assault, working together, timing their attacks well in a way that would make many hunter teams proud. Unlike Kuwagamon though, Shellmon proved to be a more...difficult opponent due to his namesake.

"None of our attacks are working!" Wormmon reported as Shellmon easily broke free from his Sticky Net, before retreating into the shell to hide from a barrage of Magical Fire, Petit Fire, and Petit Thunder.

"Tell me about it…" Veemon groaned, holding his head. Suffice to say, he learned that headbutting something with a hard shell...not very smart.

"Puppy Howling!" Salamon called out as the attack hit, but Shellmon soon emerged not looking the least bit affected. "We need a new plan!" she said urgently.

Gyro looked around as the Digimon were starting to get in trouble, trying to find something that could give them an advantage, before seeing the wreckage of the payphones.

He waited until he wasn't in Shellmon's line of sight, and then used his semblance to dash along the sand towards the pile of broken frames, grabbing a broken off pole and then splitting it in half on his knee, grinning as he spun the two pieces in his hands.

When the others saw him grab the pole and breaking it in half, they understood his idea, with Pyrrha deciding to make liberal use of her semblance for once as her arms gained a bright black glow to them, the same happening to the wreckage as Gyro dashed out of the way of what was about to happen, before she swung her arms, sending it all flying straight at Shellmon and impacting his shell, at the very least, it seemed to have done something, as he turned towards where the attack had come from.

"Woah! What was that?" Ruby said in awe.

"My semblance, it's Polarity, meaning I can control metals." Pyrrha supplied with a smile, before turning to the Digimon. "We're not going to be sitting on the sidelines this time. You helped us, so we help you," she said, before grabbing a large chunk of metal, and managing to catch Shellmon on the side of the head, though all that seemed to do was enrage it.

"But Pyrrha…"Gabumon started, though whatever he was about to say was cut off when a red blur shot past them, Ruby using her semblance to start zipping around Shellmon, disorienting him.

At the same time, Yang turned to Nora. "Nora, give me your best shot," Yang said.

"Uh, sorry?" Nora blinked.

"Let's just say the harder you hit me, the better for my semblance," she explained.

"Ooooh. Got it," Nora grinned, before winding up, and punching Yang with enough force to send her flying a little into the fight...before she made use of the momentum and rolled under the now dizzy Shellmon, her hair seemingly on fire and her eyes glowing red. "Hungry? Well here's a knuckle sandwich!" Yang said, before delivering a savage uppercut to Shellmon's chin, causing it to stumble back, though its squishy body cushioned the blow a little.

"Let's keep at it guys! But don't be afraid to fall back if you're not sure!" Gyro called as he jumped up and striked the highest points of Shellmon's shell, trying to see if it had any weaknesses up high.

Apparently, the tip WAS weak, as when he hit it on this one trip upwards, Shellmon let out a roar, surprising everyone, before… launching one of his tentacles at Gyro, grabbing him while he was in the air.

"What the? Let me go dammit!" He growled as he tried to struggle free.

"Gyro!" Agumon shouted in worry as he started opening fire on Shellmon's head "Baby Flame!"

"Dammit! Come on work this time." Pierce muttered as he tried to help his brother, picking up some of the wreckage Pyrrha kept swinging around and threw it at the tentacle grabbing his brother… and it missed by just an inch "Oh come on!"

Meanwhile, Shellmon was starting to get annoyed by all the fire in his face, and slammed his hand down on Agumon, pinning him down.

"Agumon!" Gyro shouted in worry for his friend… and that's when Shellmon decided to squeeze, bringing a scream of pain from his mouth. His aura was keeping the worst of it at bay, but at the rate things were going, it would only be a matter of time before his aura broke...and likely more too.

"Gyro!" Agumon just couldn't take it anymore, his friend was in grave danger, and if he didn't do anything…!

 **(Play Brave Heart)**

At that moment, Gyro's Digivice began to shine, as it seemingly sent what could best be described as some kind of signal into the sky, summoning forth a light which soon released a burst of data like a waterfall.

"Agumon, Evolution!" Agumon started as the data entered his body, before it changed. "Greymon!" His form was now that of a massive dinosaur, the same one that he'd taken when fighting the Parrotmon from a decade ago.

Back in the fight, Shellmon was subjected to the simple physics of something suddenly growing big while they were under him, as he was thrown off of the Digimon he had been pinning, while letting go of Gyro in surprise, the young man hitting the ground with a groan as his aura broke from the strain, but he was okay. Looking up, his eyes widened when he recognized the form Agumon had taken.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Greymon_

 _Greymon. Vaccine Type. An Adult Level Dinosaur Digimon. It's cranial skin has hardened to the point of rivalling the toughest of shells, and it excells as a Combat Species Digimon. His special attack is Mega Flame, it fires the strongest possible fire ball from it's mouth.  
_

He couldn't help but grin as he saw him, replaying the name he heard him announce in his head "Hope you have more control on that fire this time Greymon." he said as he stood up.

In response, Greymon smirked "A LOT more control."

"Then kick his ass!" Gyro said with a wide smirk.

Greymon didn't need anymore prompting, as charged forward, Shellmon just barely recovering before he found a trio of sharp horns shoved into his face as Greymon's head armor impacted against his softer body, knocking him back. Glaring angrily, he fired his Hydro Pressure at Greymon, pushing him back a little, before Greymon managed to regain his footing and started to push back. Once he was close enough, Greymon grabbed hold of Shellmon and in an impressive display of power, proceeded to lift the large mon up, and slam him into the ground, before doing it again, then throwing him aside, causing him to fall near the water.

Struggling to his 'feet', Shellmon tried to counter with another Hydro Pressure, but this time Greymon countered with a stream of fire from his mouth, causing the water to evaporate while he stepped closer little by little. Shellmon tried as best as he could, but eventually he just couldn't keep up the pressure, and when his attack ended, he soon found Greymon's horns under him, before the dinosaur lifted his head quickly, flinging Shellmon into the air.

"Mega Flame!" Greymon declared as he charged up and fired a massive ball of fire from his mouth, the attack flying true and hitting Shellmon dead in the underbelly, causing the mon to roar in pain as he was soon launched FAR into the ocean, and was well out of sight.

 **(End Song)**

With the battle, and thus the danger, subsided, Greymon reverted back to Agumon, the yellow dinosaur being confused a bit, before hearing his stomach grumble, making him laugh sheepishly and turn to Gyro "Is the fire still going? I'm kind of hungry again."

Gyro looked at him for a moment, before smiling in amusement as the two walked back towards the others.

When they returned to the group, those born on Remnant all had faces of shock as they stared at Agumon, but Gyro was also sure he saw recognition.

"Um… guys? Everything ok?" he asked, a bit worried since they kept staring at Agumon with jaws hanging, the yellow dinosaur just being confused.

"Did I scare them?" he asked Gyro in worry.

"I don't think that's it." Gyro told him, though he was also starting to get confused.

Finally, someone, namely Ruby, decided to speak "That… that was the thing we saw… back when we were kids."

Gyro looked at her, even more confused "Hold on, what?"

"I know what she's talking about, because it happened at my home as well." Weiss said, getting both his and Pierce's attention "About 11 years ago, in the early hours of the morning, TV screens, scrolls, computers, anything that showed images, started showing a battle between a large orange dinosaur and a huge green bird. The news never addressed it the following day, and no one was ever able to find out where exactly it had taken place, because all people had to go on was a bridge being broken."

The two brothers were speechless at all that, to hear that people from Remnant had witnessed a battle from Earth was… shocking "All of you guys saw it?" Pierce asked for clarification, receiving 8 nods.

"Why didn't you see it though?" Blake asked, looking between them.

"Because we were right in the middle of it." Gyro said, drawing all eyes to him "Agumon had evolved into Greymon back then to protect us, he had been getting kicked around after that, and then a whistle literally fell on my head, and I was able to wake up Greymon with it, after that, he opened fire and just… disappeared."

"Wait! That was my whistle!" Ruby suddenly said, Gyro looking at her with wide eyes, before reaching into his shirt and pulling out the whistle hanging from a chain.

"Wait, so somehow Ruby's whistle travelled across the globe or something?" Jaune said, confused, while the brothers were hoping they would be able to work their way out of this sudden predicament without looking suspicious.

"What I want to know is where this took place." Weiss asked, looking at Gyro, and he was quickly trying to figure out what to say, which was difficult, his pause couldn't be too long and he had to figure out an answer and FAST.

He was pausing for too long, the others were starting to get worried, even Pierce didn't know what to say, before Gyro sighed "Dammit. I guess at the very least you're going to be open to believing me considering where we are."

They looked at him confused before he motioned for everyone to sit down, Pierce sighing as he saw where this was going, and understood there was nothing they could do to avoid it.

"First, we're all very acceptant at this point that other worlds are possible considering where we are, yes?" Gyro asked around, earning a few slow nods, but he also saw some eyes widening in understanding of why he was asking that, most notably Weiss, Blake and Ren.

"The simplest way to put it, is that me, Pierce, and Azure, are also from another world, one different from Remnant. We have higher tech than you do, so we were able to find a way to jump into your world. Honestly we wanted to blend in, and we were able to do that because, hey, we're also human, just from another world. But then this happens and, well, yeah." Gyro said, trying to avoid mentioning the really sensitive subjects.

Everyone was surprised, that much was obvious, as they all took time to digest his words, at the very least though, Agumon and Veemon were still sitting with him and his brother, giving them their silent support.

It took a few minutes before someone finally spoke up, Ren "Why did you come to Remnant though?"

"We found the world 6 years ago, and saw how bad things were, and eventually came up with a way to travel worlds, because we wanted to see if we could do anything to help, we thought maybe some advanced tech or something along those lines would do the trick." Gyro explained, being able to say the truth, while also not revealing everything, because that was an entire matter in and off itself.

Needless to say, everyone from Remnant was speechless at that revelation.

"That's…" Weiss started. She WANTED to say 'impossible'...but after today, her world view was already shattered beyond repair. This really wasn't THAT unbelievable.

"Crazy? Yeah, we know how crazy it sounds, but its the truth," Pierce shrugged. "We came here to see if we could try and make Remnant a better place, though we sure weren't expecting to get swept up in this either."

"Still, I hope nothing crazy happens while we're gone." Gyro couldn't help but sigh out, Pierce understanding he meant that they had better get back as soon as possible.

"So… basically, you came to Remnant to try and help the people there?" Jaune asked after some moments.

"Pretty much, yeah," Gyro nodded.

"Then, to me at least, it's fine, it doesn't matter that you're from another world, because in a sense, you're like all of us here, you want to help Remnant be a better place." Jaune said, smiling at the two brothers. The others soon joined in as well, though Weiss still seemed a little uncertain.

"I'll admit, I'm still a little...unsure about this," she sighed. "But you two haven't done anything hostile or anything, so I guess you're both okay."

The two of them blinked, before they smiled. "Thanks guys...it means a lot," Pierce grinned.

Gyro just sagged in relief, and everyone could almost swear it was like a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders "You don't know how good it is to hear that." he said, smiling.

The others shared a smile before… "Well, enough with the heavy stuff," Yang said. "Come on guys, we still got a campfire and the Digimon are probably hungry after that, so let's celebrate another win," she said.

With that said, everyone agreed with a cheer, none more so than the Digimon who needed to replenish their energy after.

Their first day was finished in the Digital World.

Only time will tell what the rest would bring.

* * *

 **Yeah, this was a bit more heavy than just an explosive evolution.**

 **But yeah, the brothers have had to reveal a large portion of the truth, but quite obviously, the most important part is being kept to themselves for now.**

 **Now, I'm going to let you know this now, there WILL be original episodes during the Adventures saga of the story, so that everyone can evolve into Adult by the time they reach Devimon.**

 **I'm not going to hide that we're following the storyline of Adventures, it would be stupid of me to do so.**

 **But for now...**

 **The Adventure Evolves.**


	6. 5: The Blue Wolf! Garurumon!

**AND ANOTHER!**

 **I do have something to talk about this time though.**

 **Would anybody be interested in doing a reading of this story?**

 **In fact, I'm asking for two readings, and no, not both from the same author.**

 **Unless of course you're a glutton for punishment, they hey, let me know and you'll be writing both of them.**

 **Basically, the idea is one of the readings has the RWBY cast reading this, but the other has the Digidestined from Adventures reading, probably plucked from a point in time between the finale and the epilogue.**

 **Now, just to make it precise, the RWBY cast means team RWBY, team JNPR, and at least Ozpin and Qrow.**

 **As for the other group, that means Taichi, Yamato, Sora, Koushiro, Mimi, Jyou, Takeru, Hikari, Daisuke, Ken, Miyako, Iori, and just because, Wallace.**

 **Yes, I use the names from the japanese version, got a problem with that? You won't like this story a lot then because it mostly uses the dialogue from the japanese version.**

 **So, yeah, if anyone is interested in doing either of those readings, or even both, let me know, I'll see what you have to offer in terms of writing style and see if you're good to go.**

* * *

 **The Blue Wolf! Garurumon!**

* * *

The next day saw the party of 20 up at dawn and were now on their way to the mountain in the center of the island, apparently aptly named 'Infinity Mountain' according to the Digimon. Currently though, due to abnormally dense vegetation, they were sticking to the cliffside path that would take a bit longer, but wouldn't be as tiring compared to if they'd tried to force their way through the dense vegetation. Along the way, Gyro had also returned Ruby her old whistle, which she accepted with a grateful smile as it hanged around her neck.

As they were walking, Gyro was looking at his Digivice, thinking of the previous evening's events.

"Is something wrong, Gyro?" Agumon asked, walking up next to his partner.

"Hm? Oh, it's nothing. Just thinking about when you evolved into Greymon," he said. "I guess I was just thinking about why you did while the others didn't."

"Yeah, that was pretty weird actually, I thought everyone was gonna get bigger personally." Nora said, putting a finger to her chin.

"It wouldn't have been fair to Shellmon." Ren said with a bit of amusement, which spread as they all imagined their partners being bigger and all wailing on Shellmon.

After the mirth died down, Gyro spoke up again. "About that, I've got a theory."

"Oh? And what would that be?" Weiss asked, honestly curious.

"Evolution normally comes from necessity. A better way to achieve a goal. The Digimon all want to protect us," he started. "So...think back. The FIRST time they evolved, ALL of us were in danger from Kuwagamon. On the other hand, yesterday the only one in real danger was me…" he winced at the memory.

"So… they evolve to protect us then." Yang said in realisation, looking down at Biyomon, who smiled back up at her.

"I guess it makes sense, we don't really understand the Digivices ourselves, but we do want to keep you safe." the pink bird said happily.

"Unfortunately it goes without saying that I can't prove or disprove this theory...not without at least one of us being in enough danger that our partners would HAVE to evolve to save us." Gyro sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Good point. I mean, you'd have to be pretty nutty or stupid to purposely put yourself in mortal danger just to get a power boost, right?" Jaune chuckled, something all of them, even Nora did as well.

"Yeah, danger is bad. Let's avoid having to confirm or deny your theory as much as we can," Pierce said, to which they all nodded.

Unfortunately, it seemed Murphy was in a trolling mood that day, as just as they said that, a rustling was heard, as a large quadrupedal Rhino/Triceratops-like creature emerged from the bushes and seemed to be walking towards them.

"Oh screw you Murphy." Pierce muttered angrily as they prepared to run.

"Hey, don't worry guys, that's just Monochromon, he's a friendly guy… well, as long as no other Monochromon are around." Veemon said, waving off their concerns.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Monochromon_

 _Monochromon. Data Type. An Adult Level Dinosaur Digimon. Monochromon are general regarded as peaceful Digimon that are easy to befriend, however, should another of their species be in the area, an intense rivalry with no regards for bystanders will commence. It's special attack is Volcano Strike, firing a ball of magma from his mouth that explodes on contact._

"Yeah? Don't turn around then." Gyro said with a twitching eyebrow, as Veemon did just that, and gaped at the second Monochromon behind them.

What soon followed was what all of them could tell would soon devolve into a mexican standoff...and considering what both opposing mon were packing, they sure as heck did NOT want to be in between when those horns started clashing. "Into the forest quick!" Ruby shouted, to which they all complied and jumped off the path and into the thick greenery, right as the two Monochromon charged and were soon ramming into each other in a territorial dispute.

"I vote we get away from here in case more show up and turn that dispute into a battle royale," Blake deadpanned.

"Seconded!" everyone agreed before they were running deeper into the forest.

Once they couldn't hear the sound of clashing Digimon anymore, they soon slowed their pace. "Geez, just our luck the one path we take, we just had to end up in a territory dispute. Hope this doesn't become a habit," Yang sighed. She may not be one to run from a fight, but she wasn't about to pick a fight with a random Digimon.

After that little incident, the rest of the day went by a lot more peacefully, as day soon gave way to dusk. "Hm...we'd better look for a place to set up camp soon," Gyro frowned, looking at the sunset coloring the sky.

"I agree," Weiss nodded, before turning to Tentomon. "Can you fly up and see if you can spot anywhere we might want to set up for the night?"

"Leave it to me," Tentomon nodded, before flying up. As he did, he got a whiff of something. "Hm...I smell water!" he reported, flying higher till he was over the trees and looked around. It was at that point he spotted something nice. "Hey! I see a lake!"

"Well, looks like we know where we'll be staying for the night," Ren nodded. A lake meant water and food, so they could restock on supplies and avoid having to dip into their current supplies unnecessarily...even if they still had a sizeable amount of Meat Apples left from yesterday.

"Well then, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Gomamon said enthusiastically as he made a beeline for where Tentomon was pointing.

"Hey, Gomamon! Don't run off on your own!" Jaune said, managing to grab him by the tail, stopping him from running off.

"Wohoo! Let's go!" Nora cheered, running past them.

"Not you too, Nora!" Salamon groaned as she ran after her partner.

Ren sighed, before looking at his partner who prefered to cling onto his back and peek from over his shoulder "Wormmon, if you could?"

"Of course." he said, before shooting a thread at Nora, giving his head a jerk and twirling it around her a few times, cocooning her up, her face being the only thing still visible once he was done.

"Alright everyone, let's NOT get separated as much as we can," Blake sighed. "The last thing we need is one of us to get jumped by a random Digimon."

"Hey, don't look at us. We weren't the ones who tried to run away," Pierce waved off while Salamon was dragging Nora back to the group.

"Traitor," Gomamon said, though there was no real heat behind it.

Eventually the group made it to the lake, and their eyes widened at what they saw. "Hey, is that an electric tram?" Gyro blinked at the sight of what was sitting on the small island in the middle of the lake.

"Seems like it," Pyrrha nodded, recognizing the shape and design from back in Mistral.

"Is this another thing that's from your world?" Gabumon asked.

"Yes, and much like the phone boxes before, its out of place. A tram can't be used without tracks," Pyrrha nodded.

"Doesn't help the lake looks weird with those huge electrical towers in it." Pierce added with a raised eyebrow.

"I get the feeling we're gonna be seeing a LOT of things that are out of place from now on," Blake said, coming up from behind them.

"But...maybe we can use that somehow," Patamon said, landing on her shoulder.

"Well...maybe. First things first though, we might as well check it out. The sun's still out, so we got some time before we need to set up camp," Gyro said.

"Okay, I'll be right back!" Ruby said cheerfully, having heard the whole conversation...and promptly zipped straight to the tram using her semblance, before coming back a few minutes later.

"And why did no one stop her?" Gomamon muttered dryly.

"Because she was still in sight and she's not you?" Palmon shot back at him.

"It's all clear, it even looks brand new." Ruby informed as she returned.

"That's good, guess we can use it as a place to sleep for the night." Yang said, before stretching her arms up high "God, sleeping on the sand made me all sore. It sucks your brother didn't pack tents along with everything else." Yang said the last part while looking at the twins.

"Tell me about it, he packs everything we need for a camping trip, except for the ONE thing we'd need the most." Pierce said, shaking his head with a sigh.

"Well, no point in complaining. At least we don't have to worry about carrying supplies thanks to him," Ren said, his voice lowering a little, while Nora for a second looked a little glum as she nodded in agreement.

"Fair enough," Yang conceded. "Well, since we've picked our camping spot for the night, let's get started on the campfire. I'll go get firewood!"

"I'll go gather some fruits!" Biyomon said enthusiastically as she flew towards the woods.

"I'll help," Patamon said as he flew after her.

"Hey, wait for me!" Tentomon joined in as well.

"I'll see if I can catch any fish," Jaune volunteered.

"I'll try and round the fish up for ya partner." Gomamon said as he followed after Jaune.

"Hey Ruby, can you help me look for edible plants?" Palmon asked, looking up at her partner.

"Sure," Ruby nodded. "Though...I've never done this kind of thing before," she admitted.

"No problem, I'll be sure to tell you which can be eaten and which can't," Palmon smiled.

"Well, in that case, I'll go help Yang with the firewood. Veemon, can you come too?" Pierce said.

"No problem! Let's gather plenty for tonight!" Veemon grinned as he and his partner walked after the blonde brawler.

"I'll go and see if the tram car can be made in any way more comfortable to sleep in." Ren said as he walked towards it.

"Maybe my nets can help?" Wormmon suggested, earning a nod from Ren.

"I'm coming too Ren! Come on Salamon!" Nora said with a grin as she picked up her partner and ran after the magenta eyed boy.

"I'll get the place set for the campfire," Gyro said. "Agumon, mind being our 'lighter' for tonight?" he joked.

"No problem," Agumon nodded.

"I'll go and lend Jaune a hand," Pyrrha decided.

"I'll help too," Gabumon said, following her.

"In that case, I'll see about getting some cooking utensils for the fish," Blake said, before turning to Weiss. "Mind helping me?"

"I don't mind...though I've never done anything like this before," the heiress admitted.

"Not a problem. We just need some skewers for when we're roasting the fish, and there are plenty of trees for us to use," Blake reassured, before a thought crossed her mind. "Gyro, do you happen to have a pocket knife in that pouch?" she asked...to which Gyro tossed her two in response. "Thanks."

With everyone working together, it wasn't long before they had managed to gather up plenty of supplies for the night in the form of fruit, mushrooms, herbs, with one VERY impressive haul of fish.

"You know, this is the first time I've eaten fish like this." Jaune said as he bit into his second fish of the evening.

"You might want to get used to it then. I don't think we're going to find a restaurant anytime soon." Gyro told him as he cleaned off the bones.

Everyone fell into silence as they continued to eat after that, until "I just noticed something." Blake cut through that silence while looking up at the sky.

"What is it?" Pyrrha asked, just as curious as everyone.

"None of the constellations are the same as the ones on Remnant." she said, making everyone look up into the sky, to see that she was indeed right.

"Huh, weird, it's not even the sky from our world, or else considering the climate we'd probably see something like the Southern Cross in the sky." Pierce noticed as they couldn't see any of Earth's constellations either.

"Speaking of that, what's your world like?" Yang asked, curious.

"Well, for starters, the year is different than on Remnant. Where as Remnant is in the year 2013 at the moment, our world, Earth, stupid name I know, is in the year 2068, though if that's because of a different calendar or something, I don't know. We have some pretty advanced technology back home, enough that we were able to leave our planet's atmosphere, and so far, we can travel up to the edge of our solar system, and have colonised some of the other celestial bodies there. Well, the solid ones anyway, can't set foot on the gaseous ones obviously, but we have a few colonies on Earth's moon, and the rest are mostly on a planet called Mars." Gyro explained as he picked his teeth with one of the bones.

"Wait, you were able to leave the planet's atmosphere? How? Dust loses it's properties each time we try and the shuttle just falls back down." Weiss asked, honestly curious.

"Well, sadly we had to use fossil fuels to power them, so our planet's atmosphere was kind of shot to hell till a few years ago when the use of a clean renewable energy source made cleaning up the atmosphere feasible. See, Earth doesn't have Dust, nor does it have Grimm… though I may have mentioned that last part last night, can't remember though. Anyway, the important part is, Earth is vastly different from Remnant, we don't even have the issue of race to deal with since we don't have Faunus, just people of different color. Thankfully in recent years that problem was fixed, especially when we were finally able to topple the last dictatorship on the planet." Pierce explained this time. "So yeah, it took a long time, but Earth is FINALLY well on its way to achieving a planet wide golden age."

"Wait, there was a dictatorship on your home?" Jaune asked.

"Yeah, bunch of crazies who thought they were gods, oppressing their people, took a while before the rest of the world decided to just straight up deal with them." Gyro said with a shrug.

"And by deal with them you mean…?" Pyrrha said, trailing off.

Pierce simply mimed putting a gun to his head and pulling the trigger.

Everyone decided not to ask anymore on that subject, looking decidedly uncomfortable.

"So… uh… you said there wasn't any grimm right?" Nora asked, even she wanted to change the subject after that strange atmosphere.

"Yeah, none at all, we also don't have Dust, and for the longest time our main source of fuel was gasoline and stuff like that, but in recent years we've been able to switch to a cleaner energy source." Gyro said with a nod.

The group continued to chat a bit more, asking a few more questions about the world the brothers had come from, before the long day started to make itself known. With that in mind, they cleaned up the campfire and moved to the tram.

"Hey, this place is actually pretty comfy," Pierce mused as he sat down on one of the cushions. "And we got a good amount of room too," he added, looking to the section they'd covered in leaves and a few makeshift hammocks thanks to Wormmon for the Digimon to use.

"Yeah, its almost a shame we can't bring this with us," Jaune commented, idly fiddling with the control in the front, but unsurprisingly, the tram didn't move at all.

"Hopefully it doesn't get too cold." Blake said idly as she leaned into one of the seats, smiling as Patamon went into her lap and snuggled against her.

"Some of the Digimon are going to be plenty warm at least." Yang said as she looked at the ones that had fur or feathers.

"Hey, Gabumon, think I can borrow your pelt?" Gyro asked jokingly as he made grabby hands.

"Please don't." Gabumon said as he moved away from Gyro.

"Relax, just joking." Gyro told him with an apologetic smile, not expecting that to be a sensitive subject apparently.

"Please don't do it again Gyro." Pyrrha asked him, with a stern look.

"Right, right, sorry." he said with a simple nod.

"At any rate, we should decide who goes on first watch, then decide on the rotation," Ren said.

"Yo," Gyro simply said, volunteering for the first watch.

"I'll take second watch then," Yang volunteered.

"I'll take third," Jaune said with a small smile.

"Then it's settled," Pierce nodded.

"I'll go settled up closer to the water." Gyro said, stretching his arms, before turning to Agumon "Think you can help me make a small fire?"

"Sure thing." his partner said with a smile as the two walked back outside, while the rest of the group turned off the lights of the tram and settled in for sleep.

Once outside, Gyro and Agumon soon got a merry little fire going, Gyro making sure to have enough firewood ready for the ones who'd be taking a shift after him. Exhaling a little, he was mildly annoyed to see vapor coming out of his mouth. Seems it was going to be a cold night. "Looks like it's just you and me for the next few hours, buddy," he chuckled lightly.

"Yeah, might as well get comfortable," Agumon nodded.

The next couple of hours passed relatively uneventfully, the fire thankfully helping to keep them warm in the chilly night, while a light mist had settled in around the lake. Never let it be said that Gyro wasn't brave, but even he had to admit this whole setting was giving him the creeps. One too many horror movies he'd seen on Earth coming to mind.

Nearing the two hour mark, he got up, starting to walk away from the fire.

"Gyro?" Agumon said his name in confusion.

"Bathroom." was all Gyro said, Agumon nodding in understanding as he let his partner walk away to relieve himself.

Though, Gyro didn't notice that as he stepped off a large red leaf imbedded into the stone, that it twitched a bit before settling back down.

A minute later, the goggle head sighed in relief as he zipped his pants back up and used the water from the lake to wash his hands, moving away from the spot where he had relieved himself obviously.

He twitched after a moment, hearing something behind him, before quickly turning around, about to attack… and almost falling on his face when he saw it was only Pyrrha, looking out at the shore.

"Dammit, what is it with people trying to give me heart attacks?" he muttered as he regained his footing.

"Sorry." Pyrrha told him softly, looking a bit morose at the moment.

Gyro frowned at the look. "Something the matter?"

Pyrrha seemed to be having a bit of a debate at his question, probably asking herself if she should tell him.

"Look, if this is about what happened with Gabumon earlier, I'm sorry about that. I didn't think he was sensitive about that pelt." he said, raising his hands apologetically.

Pyrrha shook her head after a moment "It's not that… it's just, I was having a nightmare earlier, about the day before I left for Beacon."

Gyro winced a bit "I'm guessing it didn't go so well?"

She sighed "It really didn't. Most people don't know this, but I have an older sister. She and I got along rather well when I was young, but as my fame grew, our relationship became strained, and just before I left, we...got into a fight and I...said something horrible to her. I never got to apologize before all this happened..."

Gyro was definitely thrown for a loop at that information, not expecting for Pyrrha to be the youngest sibling in a family, but figured that it could make sense. At the moment though, that wasn't what mattered.

"Well… I'm sure once we're back, you can apologize. Siblings get into fights all the time, but at the end of the day, they don't hate each other, so if you tell her how much you regret it, I'm sure she'll forgive you." He said, trying to comfort her as best he can, without overstepping boundaries either.

He didn't want to be seen in a higher light than Jaune after all, because there was no way he was getting into explaining how he thought that Jaune and Pyrrha made a cute couple.

Pyrrha smiled after a moment "Right." she said, letting out a bit of a sigh "Thank you Gyro, I think I needed to hear that."

Gyro nodded, before grinning a moment later "Well, if you ever want to repay me, how about we have a spar once we finally get back? I want to see if that title everyone gives you is really all that."

Despite herself, Pyrrha couldn't help but smirk at that. "I'll take you on anytime." With that, she got up and started walking away.

"Where ya going?" Gyro asked.

"I need to clear my head. Don't worry, I won't be far away," she reassured.

Gyro nodded, before walking back towards the fire and sitting next to Agumon, smiling as his friend was starting to doze off.

He did jump a bit when he heard a voice start to softly sing into the mist.

Plus he recognized that song.

"Wait… that's the third ending of Fairy Tail… huh, didn't think I'd hear that here." he muttered, before shrugging, not noticing the short figure walking out of the tram behind him.

As for the short figure, who was actually Gabumon, he'd woken up a few moments ago, quickly noticing his partner was nowhere to be found and then started to step out of the tram when he heard a voice sing within the mist.

"I hope this isn't a trick by some kind of Digimon we don't know about." he muttered as he walked towards the source of the voice, being relieved when he saw it was only Pyrrha, who was walking slowly while singing.

"Pyrrha." he called out her name as he walked up to her, halting her singing as she turned to him questioningly "What are you doing up?"

"I couldn't sleep. I had a nightmare about something that happened a few weeks ago." she said with a sad smile.

"Was it scary?" he asked, worried for her.

She shook her head "No, just something I regret happened." her smile then turned more genuine "But as soon as we get back, I'll work on undoing it."

Gabumon returned the smile "I'll help you if I can."

Pyrrha couldn't help herself, laughing a bit at how sincere he was "Thank you Gabumon."

Back with Gyro, he was idly poking at the sticks in the fire with a branch to keep it going, when one of them popped, jumping out of the flame as Gyro had to lean out of the way of the burning piece of wood "Shit!" he swore when it came close to burning his nose.

He was about to simply pay it no mind after that, idly noticing the piece falling a large red leaf, before EVERYTHING shook.

"Oh what now?!" he shouted as he had to scoot away from the edge of the water while Agumon woke back up completely.

"I'm up!" he said, before having to get on his hands and knees when he felt the effects of the shaking "What's going on?!"

"I don't know!" Gyro replied back.

Quite obviously, the constant shaking woke up everyone in the tram, some of them falling out of the seats due to being disoriented. "Is this an earthquake?!" Ruby blinked.

"I dunno, but something feels weird," Palmon responded.

After a moment of righting themselves, a few of them, notably Weiss, Tentomon, Jaune and Gomamon where able to get outside.

"Gyro what did you do?!" was the first thing Weiss said.

"Nothing! An ember in the fire popped and this started." He shot back, a little incensed at being accused.

"Then why is the island shaking?!"

They soon got their answer, when a large shape suddenly emerged from the water.

It was a long serpentine beast with teal colored scales and red stripes covering its body, its head covered in a yellow helmet.

"Oh no! Seadramon!" Tentomon gasped in a bit of fear.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Seadramon_

 _Seadramon. Data Type. An Adult Level Aquan Digimon. It uses its long serpentine body to wrap around its foes, and constrict them to death. It is, for the most part, simple minded, swimming away in the Net Ocean. It's special attack is Ice Arrow, firing an absolute zero breath from its mouth._

"Oh come on! Not another angry Digimon!" Jaune said, already starting to get annoyed.

"What has him angry though?" Gomamon questioned as he looked around, before noticing something "Ah! That's his tail!"

Everyone looked at where he was pointing with one of his flippers, before Gyro groaned as he saw the large red leaf "Ah dammit, the ember landed on that."

"So it really was your fault after all!" Tentomon said in a panicked voice.

"Hey, I didn't know our camp for the night was literally on top of a giant sea monster! So sue me!" Gyro shot back...right before the sound of rock breaking, before the island was literally being pulled along by Seadramon.

"Somebody stop the island!" Jaune shouted.

"We need to get Seadramon to either stop or get his tail loose!" Gomamon shot back.

"Easier said than done." Gyro said as he had to catch himself against the tram.

At the same time, back on the shore, Pyrrha and Gabumon had been caught off guard by the sea serpent rising out of the lake, trying to make it back to the small island quickly, before staring in shock at the remains of the pathway to it.

"No choice, we'll have to swim." Pyrrha said, before diving into the water, quickly starting to swim after the island being moved around by Seadramon.

"Oh dear, no choice I suppose." Gabumon said after a moment before jumping into the water and swimming after her.

Back at the island…

"I WANT OFF THIS RODEO!" Pierce shouted over the sound of rushing water, as Seadramon was now basically pulling them all over the lake in an almost demented water rodeo.

"I'm gonna be sick…" Jaune groaned, turning green.

"DON'T YOU DARE THROW UP WHERE YOU MIGHT HIT ONE OF US!" several voices shouted at his words.

Thankfully, it seemed someone up there was listening, as with one last sharp turn, Seadramon's tail came loose, allowing him to dive into the water, and the island to finally stop moving.

"Okay, we need to plan a counter attack," Gyro started. "But first…" he promptly ran to the edge, ignoring the fact that there was a sea monster in the water...and started emptying his stomach.

Everyone looked at each other...before promptly running to separate sides and doing the same.

"Everyone, are you-?!" Pyrrha started as she got close...then she realized what everyone was doing, and despite the danger, swam back a little in disgust. She'd rather NOT be swimming in their sick if she could help it.

Unfortunately, that ended up putting her in more danger, as she was suddenly yanked under the water.

"Pyrrha!" Gabumon shouted in alarm, grabbing everyone's attention as they turned to the water, seeing Gabumon swimming around trying to find his partner. He got his answer when Seadramon suddenly emerged from the water, Gabumon right under his head, resulting in the mon being launched all the way to the island. Once Seadramon was out of the water, they could also see what he had wrapped in his tail.

"Pyrrha!" Jaune shouted at the sight of the redhead tightly wrapped in the sea serpent's coils, and though she was struggling to break free, it was clear she neither had the leverage nor raw power to get free.

"This is bad! Agumon, can you evolve into Greymon again?" Gyro asked, hoping that first time would at least give his partner some kind of knowledge of how to do it at will.

Agumon responded by concentrating, looking like he was willing something to happen, but after a moment, he opened his eyes and shook his head. "I'm sorry Gyro, but I don't know how to do it again."

"Gomamon, can your Marching Fishes distract him enough for Pyrrha to get out?" Jaune quickly asked.

Gomamon shook his head at that. "Sorry Jaune, but Marching Fishes isn't really much of an attack. Sure they'd distract him, but Seadramon don't let go of something they have in their coils so easily."

"Palmon, can you maybe get Pyrrha out of there with your Poison Ivy?" Ruby turned to her partner..

"I can't, they're too far away!" Palmon said.

"Isn't there ANYTHING we can do?!" Pierce asked through gritted teeth, cursing the fact that they were in Seadramon's element where most of their partners and them for that matter, wouldn't be able to fight properly.

And that was when Seadramon finally decided to squeeze, HARD.

Pyrrha's scream of pain was like a knife cutting through the air.

And Gabumon couldn't bare to hear it.

"PYRRHA!" he screamed at the top of his lungs, he wanted to save his partner!

 **(Play Brave Heart)**

At that moment Pyrrha's Digivice shone brightly, and much like with Gyro's, it shot out a 'signal' into the sky, calling forth a light that released a stream of data.

"Gabumon, Evolution!" Gabumon called out as the data flowed into his body, and he soon transformed. "Garurumon!" Gabumon's form changed from a bipedal reptile to a large quadrupedal mammal that resembled a wolf. His fur was a mix of white, silver and blue, with sharp blades of fur on his back, his claws a magenta color.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Garurumon_

 _Garurumon. Data Type. An Adult Level Beast Digimon. His fur is said to be coated with the rare and legendary metal Mithril, making it sharp and turning his whole body into a powerful weapon. It serves as a great hunter no matter the environment, and remains loyal to those it calls friends. His special attack is Fox Fire, spewing a powerful blue flame from his mouth._

Garurumon dashed forward and did a might leap as he went straight for Seadramon's tail, his claws hitting the serpent fast and hard enough that it forced him to release Pyrrha with a pained screech, the girl immediately diving into the water and managing to swim to the shore of the island (the vomit in the water thankfully dispersed by now). When she got there, her friends immediately rushed to her side and helped her up, where she finally sagged in exhaustion from having the life nearly crushed out of her. When she could focus on the fight again, her eyes widened. "Gabumon evolved…!"

"Yeah, he did. Guess this is more proof for my theory, huh?" Gyro nodded.

Back at the fight, Seadramon tried to wrap his coils around Garurumon, but soon regretted it as he was met with the sharp mythril laced fur, causing him to recoil in pain, and giving Garurumon a chance to latch his jaws onto Seadramon's lower belly, bringing another screech of pain from the serpent who soon dove into the water and thrashed around in it in an effort to get the wolf off of him.

Garurumon held fast, and even started clawing at Seadramon's belly, earning another pained screech, before finally letting go after leaving the serpent with several new cuts and bite marks. Seadramon swam to get some distance and glared at the wolf, before opening his mouth and firing his Ice Arrow move.

Garurumon acted quickly and started to evade the attack, to which Seadramon followed. Garurumon managed some impressive dodges and maneuvers, but eventually Seadramon proved that this was STILL his element, and managed to catch Garurumon mid movement, causing ice to start coating him. After a few moments, he stopped attacking, thinking he'd managed to immobilize his opponent...only for the ice to shatter shortly after, Garurumon breaking free with little difficulty. Not giving Seadramon a chance to attack again, he opened his mouth, blue flames much like when he was Gabumon appeared, before being fired in a massive torrent. "Fox Fire!" he called out as the flames flew straight for Seadramon who countered with another Ice Arrow, the two moves clashing, kicking up a massive amount of steam, before slowly Garurumon's Fox Fire won out, and Seadramon was met with a torrent of blue flame to the face, the serpent pushed back, and soon fell back into the water, his face singed from the heat as he sank to the bottom, out cold.

 **(End Song)**

As soon as Garurumon jumped out of the water, landing in front of Pyrrha, he glowed as he reverted back to being Gabumon.

While everyone certainly wanted to return to sleep, they knew that it would be stupid of them to just go back into the tram, so thanking their luck that when Seadramon had knocked them away they had been pushed against the shore, all of them got off the island quickly, before moving into the trees to resume their sleep, Gyro tagging out his watch turn with Jaune early.

As they slept, Pyrrha was leaning against a tree with Gabumon by her side. "Gabumon?" she whispered, wanting to see if her partner was still awake.

"Yeah?" Gabumon asked, a little tired, but still awake.

"Thanks for before," she said with a soft smile.

"Anytime, Pyrrha," Gabumon said warmly.

* * *

 **And done!**

 **Again, don't forget to let me know if you're interested in doing a reading of this.**

 **But for now...**

 **The Adventure Evolves.**


	7. 6: Flashing Claws! Gatomon!

**We're on a roll people!**

 **And this is our first completely original episode, because obviously I need to add in events to make Salamon, Veemon and Wormmon evolve.**

 **However, due to all of this being completely original, it's a bit shorter, but we did our best to extend it as much as possible.**

 **As well, Timeless as informed me that coming Monday, we're going to have to slow down a bit due to personal reasons on his side.**

 **At the most, those reasons should last for roughly 2 weeks if not more.**

 **Now that the warning has been given so no one complains about a drop in posting speed, let's start the show!**

* * *

 **Flashing Claws! Gatomon!  
**

* * *

After the rather stressful night when they'd been attacked by Seadramon, the group was once more on their way to Infinity Mountain. Though it was clear the previous night's sleep wasn't as well rested as they'd like.

Salamon yawned loudly from her spot on Nora's head. "I didn't sleep so well last night…"

"Tell me about it," Patamon yawned as well. "Hopefully nights like that don't become a habit."

"Please don't tempt the universe you two," Blake sighed.

"Well...look on the bright side. Now we got two Digimon who can evolve to...uh…" Ruby started, then paused as she realized she had no idea what those stages were called.

"They're called the Adult Level," Tentomon supplied helpfully.

"Right, now we got two Adult Digimon on our team!" she said, giving him a grateful nod.

"Does it go above Adult Level?" Weiss asked, rather curious about it.

"It does, beyond Adult is the Perfect Level, and there are rumors that there's a level even above that." Tentomon added.

"Let's...hope we don't run into any of those soon," Jaune gulped. Adult Digimon were scary enough. He wasn't in a hurry to run into, and with their luck, fight, a Digimon that was at a level titled 'Perfect' of all names.

"And now we're almost definitely going to run into one of those," Ren deadpanned, causing the blonde to blanche when he realized what he did.

"Ooohh! This is new!" Nora said, getting everyone's attention as she looked at her digivice with raised eyebrows.

"What is it?" Gyro asked, it had to be either extremely mundane it went around to awesome, or just straight up awesome if Nora reacted like that.

"That radar that didn't have anything anymore has a black dot on it now." she said, before the others all pulled out their own digivices and went to the same screen, showing that there was indeed a black dot on it now, moving quickly.

"So… judging by this thing, that black dot should be… over there." Pierce said as he looked west, just in time to see something small, and black, move quickly across the sky.

"What the heck was that?" Veemon wondered, tilting his head in confusion.

"Dunno, but I get the feeling we'll find out," Gyro frowned.

"Why am I not surprised?" Weiss sighed. "With our luck, it'll lead us straight into another life or death situation at the hands of a violent Digimon...no offense to all Digimon in present company," she said, adding the last part quickly.

"None taken," all the Digimon waved off.

"Well, no use worrying too much. We might as well keep going while its still bright," Yang said.

"Then let's go!" Biyomon said enthusiastically.

"She's got a point," Blake nodded. "We've still got a long way to go."

"Hopefully we at least manage to find ONE group of civil Digimon willing to hold a conversation instead of outright attacking us." Pyrrha said with a sigh.

"I'm sure we will. There are lots of friendly Digimon on the island," Gabumon reassured.

"Make that hope we run into them when they AREN'T pissed off at something," Pierce commented.

"This is about the Monochromon isn't it?" Veemon said with a sweatdrop.

"What do you think?" Pierce told him dryly, earning a nervous chuckle from his partner.

Despite that, they continued on. However, after a while of walking, Yang felt the urge to address a growing elephant in the room. "So...anyone else wondering about all the road signs in this forest?"

"Yes," Everyone said. "But we've been trying VERY hard not to think about it," Blake said with a sigh.

"...I'm guessing it goes without saying we all agree they don't actually mean or lead anywhere, right?" the blonde brawler couldn't help but ask.

"Pretty much, yeah."

"Yeah, their kind of all over the place on the island and are just… there." Biyomon said, gesturing with her arms all around her.

"Stuff like this does show up a lot, huh?" Tentomon mused.

"Though I wonder why we never had any of that in the plateau we lived in," Agumon couldn't help but say, causing all the gathered Digimon to frown in thought...but ultimately shook their heads unable to answer that.

"Let's just… focus on moving ahead." Gyro said, rubbing his temples. He never considered himself someone who overly adhered to rules of logic, but the Digital World was just plain confusing some days.

"Hm?" Palmon blinked as they continued walking.

"Something wrong, Palmon?" Ruby asked.

"The soil seems more worn here. I think we're getting close to an actual trail," she reported.

"Ok, that's good. A trail means people walk here regularly, so that means we're close to a lived in area, meaning a place with civilized Digimon. I think we're catching a break today." Weiss said with a relieved sigh.

"Aw man, I was hoping I'd get to do something fun today." Nora said with a pout, while Salamon looked down at her dryly from her spot on top of her head.

Ultimately deciding to ignore the overly energetic girl, the group continued down the path, Palmon guiding them till they found it. What they soon found was a small village...literally.

"Huh...its a village, but the huts are all so small," Jaune blinked at the sight.

"That probably means whoever lives here isn't very big," Gyro pointed out. "I mean, we HAVE seen some pretty small Digimon so...I guess it makes sense."

"And I know what the villagers are." Wormmon said as he pointed at a hut where one villager was poking his head out his entrance to look at them.

It was roughly the same size as Wormmon, and in the same shape of a caterpillar, but it had a yellow carapace with a red belly, blue claws as legs with a blue beak like mouth and a long dark blue stinger on its rear end, it had a pair of long antennae, and covering its body were lightning bolt shaped black marks.

"Oh, it's Kunemon." Salamon noted in a slight tone of surprise.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Kunemon_

 _Kunemon. Virus Type. A Child Level Larva Digimon. Kunemon are among the more docile Virus Digimon, and serve as a reminder to never judge a book by it's cover, or in this case, type. While unclear, it's believed the lighting patterns on its face act as it's ocular organs. Its special attack is Electric Thread, spitting a thread of silk charged with electricity, which can knock out most large digimon when wrapped up for long enough._

"Why are you surprised to see it?" Ren asked her.

"Because usually Kunemon make their homes in trees." Gomamon answered for her.

"I'll see if I can convince them we're friendly." Wormmon said as he jumped off of Ren's shoulder.

"Let me help. I'm a bug too after all." Tentomon added as he followed after Wormmon.

With that said the group watched as the two Insectoid Digimon went into the village proper and started talking with the Kunemon who had been brave enough to peek outside.

And, after a minute or so of them talking, the Kunemon took a deep breath "Friendly people!" it shouted into the village.

"Always the quiet ones," Pierce blinked, the group wincing at the small creature's surprisingly loud voice.

It's shout though had the actual intended effect, as more and more Kunemon started coming out of their homes while Wormmon and Tentomon went back to the group.

"They won't be having any issues with us resting here for the day, mostly because this is the first time their meeting humans." Wormmon explained as he reclaimed his spot on Ren's shoulder.

"Glad to hear that," Jaune sighed in relief.

"Guess we finally got a good experience outside of our partners, huh?" Ruby chuckled, something they all shared, glad to finally have an actually good encounter with other Digimon other than their partners.

Everyone was relieved when they were able to relax in the village, even if the many Kunemon stared at them curiously, and some brave ones came up and poked them curiously.

After lunch had passed though, it seemed that their luck had finally caught up to them…

"Hm?" Gyro looked up, looking around confused.

"Something that matter?" Pierce asked him.

"You don't hear that?" Gyro shot back.

At that, Pierce rose an eyebrow, before simply trying to listen to what his brother had seemingly heard.

He could sort of hear… something, but he had no idea what it was supposed to be.

"What the heck is that?" Yang said, starting to hear it too.

"It sounds like… static electricity, or something along those lines." Blake said, obviously making use of her hidden advantage.

"It must be just some of the Kunemon. They do have electric energy charged into their nets," Tentomon said.

"The only problem with that is that none of them are using their threads near us at the moment." Weiss pointed, stumping Tentomon.

"So uh...should we be worried about that?" Jaune asked.

"Considering our track record so far...yeah, I think so," Gyro deadpanned.

"Oh don't worry, it's just Thundermon," a random Kunemon said. "He's kinda like our next door neighbour. He doesn't bother anyone." if the Kunemon could, he would be waving their concerns off by now.

"Wait… isn't that like that the second time we've been told something like that?" Nora noticed, blinking in realisation.

It took a moment for everyone to first process that 1) Nora was right and 2) that electric sound was getting louder and louder.

In fact…

"Hit the deck!" Gyro shouted as everyone dived down as something incredibly fast whizzed past their heads. The blur crashed into and through a few huts before going through a few trees, causing several of them to topple over, leaving a small trail of destruction in its wake. And as if to further hit in the point…

"Big trouble!" came a shout from the direction the blur had come, as several other Kunemon came 'running'. "Thundermon...Thundermon's gone crazy!"

At that, the humans all just shared deadpan stares at each other, while the gathered Digimon had HUGE sweat drops on their heads. "Uh…" they were honestly at a loss for words.

"Right, no point in trying to explain Murphy being a jerk I guess, but this is weird though if he's supposed to be friendly." Gyro said as the humans (and one hidden faunus) all had to stay low.

"It gets worse," one of the Kunemon said. "He's suddenly started rampaging through our game trails. Our village depends on those for our food supply."

"That's not good," Ren's eyes widened at the news.

"We gotta help them," Nora said suddenly, her voice losing the silliness it usually had.

"In that case, we need to find a way to stop Thundermon." Salamon said, a little part of her glad her partner was taking this seriously.

"But how do we find him?" Pyrrha pointed out. "He was moving almost as fast as Ruby with her semblance."

"Well, finding him is easy, seems like he wants to wreck the place. What we need to do is find a way to stop him." Ruby pointed out.

Everyone started looking around, hoping to get any sort of clue as to what might stop Thundermon, before Nora suddenly grinned as she darted towards the edge of the forest.

"Ok what the… hell?" Pierce started, before his voice turned into a whisper as Nora actually lifted up one of the tree trunks that had fallen down, hefting it over her shoulder.

"Suddenly, the randomness has become worth it." Salamon said with a grin.

Nora gave the tree a few test swings, almost like a baseball bat, pursing her lips in thought "Hey, can someone electrocute me a bit?"

That gave everyone pause as they looked at her, completely thrown for a loop.

Ren merely sighed, before turning to Tentomon "Just zap her a bit, her semblance will absorb it and make her stronger."

"Um… alright then." Tentomon said, still confused, but complying as his wings started buzzing and he gathered a charge between the two halves of his shell "Petit Thunder!"

Nora grinned as the attack hit her, her semblance activating as the electricity arced off her body and she started swinging the tree trunk much faster.

"I'm gonna knock you out of the park." Nora called into the area with a wild grin. "So come on Thundermon, show me what ya got!"

Against all odds….that actually worked, as the sound of static could be heard, and a familiar blur soon came back. Thundermon came at her with all the intent of a seeker missile...only to be met with a whole lot of wood in his face, before he was sent flying back, hitting a rock, finally revealing to them what he looked like.

In all honesty, the group expected something more intimidating, for all he was, was just a black ball with a yellow thunderbolt sticking out the top of his head, a pair of short arms and legs.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Thundermon_

 _Thundermon. Data Type. An Adult Level Mutant Digimon. Known as the Digimon Dynamo, it's a part of the Mamemon family of Digimon. His body is like a small magnet, constantly clad in electricity generated by his high speed. His special attack is Thunder Ball, discharging several spheres of electricity at it's targets._

Thundermon groaned as he pried himself from the stone, letting out a roar that was probably supposed to be intimidating. However, considering his size…

The humans (and one hidden faunus) couldn't take it anymore...and promptly started laughing. They knew they shouldn't, they knew that they should have been taking this more seriously, but after all the life and death situations they'd been through at the hands of massive Digimon, seeing such a TINY Digimon being their opponent...the novelty was too much.

Apparently, Thundermon took offense to that as he started rushing again…

Only for Nora to just bat him away with the tree again.

"This is almost embarrassing," Yang snickered as they saw the Digimon go flying like a baseball again.

"But it IS pretty funny," Biyomon chuckled.

"Shouldn't we figure out why Thundermon is going crazy?" Ruby asked.

"Sure we will," Gyro said...right as Nora knocked Thundermon back again. "Right after this stops being funny."

"Is it wrong that this is actually pretty fun to watch?" Patamon couldn't help but ask as he snickered at the sight of Thundermon being launched away.

"...maybe a little," Agumon chuckled.

"And here's one for the road!" Nora shouted as she gave one last mighty swing, and Thundermon was sent soaring beyond the trees.

They all waited for a moment for Thundermon to rush back again, that moment stretching on into seconds, and then a full minute.

It was at that minute that Ren deadpanned "We lost him."

"Ah...we...probably shouldn't have been enjoying that ball game too much, huh?" Pierce sweatdropped.

Gyro gave him a look at that "Now really isn't the time for your stupid puns."

"Wasn't even trying to this time," Pierce shot back.

"Okay you two, enough of that," Pyrrha said, breaking up the argument. "We need to find Thundermon first."

"She's right, we'd better hurry and find him before he causes more trouble," Veemon nodded, to which the two brothers did the same and the group immediately set their sights on the direction Nora had launched Thundermon.

Unfortunately for the group, this unsurprisingly, proved a bit harder than expected. "How far DID you launch him?" Weiss couldn't help but ask in annoyance as they trudged through what they assumed to be one of the Village's game trails considering the number of berry bushes and and various other fruit they noticed along the way.

"Uh….whoops?" Nora said sheepishly.

Weiss shook her head in annoyance, before turning to the Digimon who were helping with the search. "Any luck with finding him?"

"Not really. He's pretty small, and he was sent flying, so there's really not much to track," Tentomon shook his head.

"Hey, hold on… I think I got something." Pierce said, looking at his digivice.

"What is it?" Jaune asked, grabbing for his own just in case.

"Remember that weird black thing in the sky earlier? It's in range of the Digivices again." Pierce pointed out.

The others checked and, sure enough, the black dot was on their radar again, coincidentally, it seemed to line up with the area that Thundermon was knocked into.

"Whatever it is, looks like it may have latched onto Thundermon." Gyro noted.

"Do you think maybe it's the reason he's acting different from how the Kunemon describe him?" Ruby wondered.

"It makes sense, according to them last night he was perfectly fine, and we saw that black thing heading roughly towards the area he makes his home." Palmon agreed with the theory.

"So...what? Did we see some kind of parasite or maybe even a virus that causes Digimon to go berserk or something?" Yang frowned.

"That...might be pretty accurate actually," Blake mused.

"But also really scary," Wormmon shivered. "If there are more of these things, then Digimon all over the island could go berserk at any time."

"Then we'd better try and see what we can do about this before things get worse," Ren said.

"Right," everyone nodded in agreement. Using the radar as a guide, they were able to home in...and found a cliffside...with a small hole in the nearby rocks and the sound of something drilling.

"...wow, either he's trying to get into the rocks, or you REALLY hit him hard," Gomamon blinked at the sight.

"Well, let's see if we can get him out AND figure out what's wrong," Ren said, before turning to Wormmon. "Can you make your nets thicker and stronger than normal?" he asked, earning a nod from his partner. "Alright, we'll need those to try and catch him."

"Okay everyone, nice and easy now unless someone wants to lose a bodypart," Gyro gulped a little as they slowly approached the hole, Wormmon quickly spinning an extra strong net. Getting into position, they were ready to catch the berserk mon when he got out of the hole he was in, and evident by how the sound of spinning and electricity was getting louder, he was about to do very soon.

A moment later, he burst out, getting caught in the net, and everyone was about to cheer, before he continued forward, and everyone was holding on started getting dragged around by him.

The hunters all had a collective thought as they got dragged on the ground.

'Thanks god for aura.'

Although the Digimon… let's just say it was painful, because that was a rather cacophonous series of 'Ow's.

At the very least, the plan was having some sort of effect on him, as with everyone dragging behind him it stopped him from going too quickly or getting up high, and with all the twisting he was doing he was getting tangled up in the net more and more. Unfortunately, at the last minute, he hiked upwards, and the sudden jerk caused the Digimon to let go thanks to the leftover effects from all the dragging. The effects were soon known, as Thundermon started picking up some speed thanks to the lighter load, and was soon pulling them all over the place.

"Okay, this wasn't such a great plan!" Gyro admitted as they were now screaming through a small flight.

"Ya think?!" Everyone else shouted, before a shout happened...and Ruby let go from a sudden turn, the younger girl falling...and landing on top of Palmon who had moved to catch her.

"Sorry Palmon!" Ruby said, quickly getting off.

"...shit…" was all Gyro could say when he realized where this was going. The teens were soon screaming again when Thundermon renewed his attempts to shake them off, and one by one they were forced to let go, all of them thankfully landing safely thanks to their auras, but each time one let go, Thundermon became faster and faster, till finally only Nora was still holding on, the orange head actually biting onto the net to help keep her grip.

"Nora!" Salamon shouted in alarm seeing her partner in a rather precarious position.

Eventually it seemed Thundermon had gotten fed up with the girl's grip, and soon flew straight to the cliffside. Seeing the incoming rocks, Nora's eyes widened, and she immediately let go, falling through some trees, but ultimately landing on the ground, more or less okay, since her aura finally broke. "I'm okay!" she said quickly. Too bad at that moment, Thundermon rammed into the cliff, causing a strong tremor, which caused several rocks to fall...headed right for the girl.

"LOOK OUT!" Salamon shouted running towards her partner to try and save her.

 **(Play Brave Heart)**

At that moment, Nora's Digivice shined bright, sending the signal to the sky, and once more the light emerged releasing the waterfall of data.

"Salamon, Evolution!" Salamon started as the data flowed into her before she transformed. "Gatomon!" She hadn't changed much in terms of height, being just a half foot taller as she stood on her hind legs, but what had changed however was her species, going from a dog to a cat with a white coat of fur, her ears tipped with strands of purple fur, while her tail was very long and striped with purple. Hanging around said tail was a Holy Ring, a smaller one than had been around her neck in her previous form, but still something that showed how strong she was nonetheless. As for her forepaws, there were clad in a pair of yellow cat gloves with red stripes, and sporting large claws on their tips.

A white blur zipped between Nora and the incoming boulders, before those were promptly sliced apart, falling harmlessly around the girl, Gatomon landing defensively between Nora and where Thundermon was.

"Salamon, you evolved!" Nora said, her eyes widening a little in wonder.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Gatomon_

 _Gatomon. Vaccine Type. An Adult Level Holy Beast Digimon. Although small, Gatomon is the true definition of not judging a book by it's cover, as her small body holds a lot of power, most of which is concentrated to her legs, making her not only an excellent jumper, but also an extremely fast Digimon. The Holy Ring on her tail serves as the source of most of her power. Her special attack is Neko Punch, striking the opponent at high speeds with her sharp claws._

"Its Gatomon in this form, Nora," Gatomon chuckled lightly, before turning and glaring at Thundermon who'd just broken free of the rocks again. "Enough games, this ends now," she said.

Thundermon seemed to think the same, before he started zipping around the two, looking for an angle to attack...or he WOULD have if Gatomon didn't suddenly appear in front of him and promptly batted him away with a strike from the Holy Ring on her tail, causing Thundermon to dig a small trench on the nearby ground.

"Damn! She's fast!" Yang whistled at the sight.

"I've heard Gatomon are among the fastests Adult level Digimon, but this is something else," Biyomon said in agreement.

Back at the fight, Thundermon charged forward again, but Gatomon met his attacks blow for blow, and several times, landed her own strikes with punches and kicks. Eventually Thundermon got fed up of fighting the feline, and charged up his special attack, before throwing it at Gatomon, who smirked at the sight. "This one's for you, Nora," she chuckled before spinning in mid-air...and knocking the attack right back with her Holy Ring, causing Thundermon to shout in pain as his internal electricity was overloaded. Taking her chance, Gatomon jumped forward, fist reared back. "Neko Punch!" she called out as she landed a haymaker right in Thundermon's face, the impact launching the small mon back and through several trees, before finally slamming into a nearby boulder where he slowly slid down, and fell flat on his face out cold. When they all went to check, they arrived just in time to see something small emerge from his back, before flying into the sky and shattering to pieces, the signal on their radars going dead when it did.

 **(Song end)**

With the fight over, Gatomon glowed and reverted to Salamon, while Gyro was staring at the sky a little.

"Was that… a black gear of some sorts?" Gyro mused as he looked at where the gear at burst apart.

A groan alerted them all to Thundermon, slowly getting back up as he rubbed his cranium "Owww, what the heck hit me?" he whined at the pain he was still reeling from, before opening his eyes and looking at everyone in confusion "Uh… who are you guys?"

Minutes later, everyone had returned to the Kunemon village, where Thundermon explained what had happened this morning.

"I was just minding my own business, zipping around the trees like I usually do, then all of a sudden, this weird black gear thingy comes out of nowhere! I dodged it of course because, hey, I'm faster than it was, and I was able to keep on doing that for a good while, but then I suddenly felt something hit me in the back and the next thing I know, I'm waking up with a massive headache." Thundermon recounted, sitting on top of one of the huts so he was eye level with the hunters.

"So, it made you go berserk then? That's troubling, since there's likely more of those out there." Weiss said with a frown.

"Betcha we're going to have to deal with those more often now." Gyro said with a groan.

"Even I think that would be exhausting, and I ALWAYS have energy to spare." Nora said, having spent a lot of energy earlier, thus why she was remaining so still.

As the sun shone high in the sky, the Kunemon thanked the group, giving them a few bag fulls of supplies for saving both their village and Thundermon.

"Don't be a stranger if you come around these parts again," Thundermon said. "And if you ever need a hand, I'm your mon. I owe you guys one."

"We were happy to help Thundermon, hope we see you again soon." Pierce answered, the others nodding in agreement.

The little Digimon grinned at that, before floating off the ground "Well, see you guys some other time then!" he said, before turning to one of the trails "Beep beep!" and shooting off.

Gyro and Pierce both adopted deadpan looks as they saw him rocket off.

'Freaking Road Runner expy.' they thought in unison, as the group continued onwards, the heat of the sun blaring down at them. Despite it all, if one looked closely, Nora could be seen with Salamon sitting on her head, enthusiastically talking about the fight before, the little Digimon smiling the whole way.

* * *

 **And voila!**

 **Yeah, I took a few liberties with Kunemon, making them more docile then they actually are.**

 **But, yeah, this is the Gatomon episode, even though everyone was expecting the Birdramon episode.**

 **And she's REALLY fast here.**

 **Basically, if we were to use a video game, she has the highest speed stat amongst the Adult Levels.**

 **Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this, because...**

 **The Adventure Evolves.**


	8. 7: Red Hot! Birdramon!

**Have another!**

 **Yeah, it's pretty fun to be pumping these out so much.**

 **Anyway, not much to say today, so let's get started.**

* * *

 **Red Hot! Birdramon!  
**

* * *

"Fruits are really great for traveling. Easy to eat while we're walking," Yang commented with an apple in her hand as they continued walking through the forest, having left the Kunemon village a little under an hour ago.

"Easy on the supplies guys. We may have a lot, but when I asked for directions, they told me that we should be approaching a savannah soon," Gyro said, tossing aside a banana peel. "We don't know how long it'll take, so try to conserve as much food and water as we can."

"Right," everyone nodded in agreement.

As they walked though, Yang couldn't help but look at their destination in the distance. "...when we reach the mountain, then what?" she couldn't help but ask. "Think we'll really find a way back from there?"

"Honestly? We have no idea," Pierce sighed, walking next to her. "If nothing else though, its better than wandering around aimlessly.

"Though it's still fun," Veemon said with a grin, while Biyomon walked up next to Yang as well.

"I'm perfectly happy anywhere, as long as Yang is there too," she said, rubbing her head affectionately against Yang's leg.

"Heh, guess you're right," Yang chuckled, idly patting Biyomon. She honestly found how clingy the bird could be at times to be rather endearing, and it honestly reminded her of Ruby at times, so it was nothing she wasn't already used to.

Suddenly, everyone stopped, as they all heard a sound like something spinning, coming from the sky, catching sight of what it was for just a moment.

"Another Black Gear." Jaune said with a sigh as his shoulders slumped.

"Guess we're in for some trouble again." Gomamon said with a grimace.

"Considering its flying in the direction we're going, most likely," Ren confirmed.

"Well, look on the bright side," Nora said.

"What bright side?" Wormmon couldn't help but ask.

"If its going the same way we're going, we can beat it up along the way," she said simply.

"I mean… she's not wrong." Ruby said after a rather long pause had passed between the group.

"I guess it is better than just leaving whoever it infects to cause trouble," Palmon nodded.

"That's true. I mean, we're already on our way. The least we could do is lend a hand to anyone who needs it, right?" Gyro agreed. "At any rate, we can only go forward."

With a nod going through the group, they continued on their path. Though Yang was a little behind this time as Biyomon was rubbing against her again. "You're awful clingy today," she couldn't help but chuckle. "Something happen?"

"Nope, I'm just happy that we're all together," Biyomon smiled as the two continued on after their friends.

The group continued on their trek, and unsurprisingly they noticed the heat getting higher and higher until… "There's the end of the forest!" Blake reported as she and Patamon ran ahead a little, and soon winced as the bright sunlight hit them. What met them appeared to be a field of sand with a large number of bizarre poles all over that resembled the telephone poles of old, and some patches of grass standing stubbornly amidst the scorching heat. "Huh, this place almost looks like it could be part of Vacuo," she couldn't help but say.

"Vacuo? Where's that?" Patamon asked.

"It's a place back in Remnant that looks a lot like here… minus the telephone poles." Weiss said as she and Tentomon came up behind Blake, before Weiss idly wiped some sweat off her brow, looking rather uncomfortable in the heat.

"You okay? You're from Atlas, so I'm guessing the heat must be hard to get used to," Ruby asked in concern.

"I'm alright," Weiss reassured, a small smile on her face at the concern. It was nice really. "Thanks to the heatwaves Atlas has been experiencing lately, this isn't a completely new experience for me."

"Either way, we'd better get through here as fast as we can," Pierce said. "Wouldn't want any of us to experience heat stroke."

"Still though, this place sure is surreal with all the telephone poles and all that," Jaune mused, before a thought hit him. "You okay, Gomamon?" he asked, remember his partner was CLEARLY an aquatic Digimon even if he had no issues staying on land.

"I'm fine," Gomamon said with a smile. "I may like the water, but I can handle this kind of heat just fine."

"Still, it's kind of weird to suddenly see sand right after stepping out of a forest." Gyro noted as crouched and grabbed a handful, pausing as he looked closer at it "Nevermind, that's not sand."

"Wait, what?" Weiss said as she crouched down and looked at what he was holding, taking some from his hand to get a better look "You're right… this is powdered iron. Well, at least we know a compass would be useless here."

"Hey… hold on a minute." Ruby said, her face slowly lighting up as she turned to Pyrrha "How good are you with your semblance?"

Pyrrha blinked at the sudden topic "That depends on what you have in mind."

"Can you make a big platform from all the powdered iron for us to stand on so you can just move it around quickly for us to get around?" she asked, a bit excitedly, catching the curiosity of the others.

Pyrrha frowned in thought at that "I… don't know." she admitted after a moment, before stepping up onto the iron, her hands glowing black as she closed her eyes and focused, her brow scrunching up in concentration.

After a moments, several grains started to rise up, but the more that did, the more shaky they got, until they all fell back down as Pyrrha released her control, panting for breath.

Jaune winced as he went and helped her to her feet "Guess that was too much huh?"

Pyrrha nodded before explaining a bit further "I had to split my attention between all the individual grains of sand, it was giving me a headache."

"Good effort though. Still would have been fun if we basically had our own magic carpet," Yang chuckled lightly, to which they all shared a small chuckle at the mental image.

"Still though…this place is pretty big. It'd be a problem if we tried to go through it in one shot," Biyomon mused.

"Yeah, not to mention there's no cover or anything in case we're attacked," Gabumon nodded in agreement.

"Good thing the mountain is still visible," Nora said. "So we don't have to worry about getting lost...sorta."

"Heh, ya know, us trekking through a sandy area, with only a mountain in the distance as our guide. Its like we're in this game on Earth called 'Journey'," Gyro commented.

"Oh yeah, this DOES feel like that. Now all we need is to dress up in identical red robes, and we're literally reenacting the game," Pierce laughed.

"Oooh. Was it fun?" Ruby asked curiously.

"It was more for visuals than serious gameplay, but yeah," Pierce explained.

"Unfortunately this is a lot more serious than in a game," Weiss sighed as they continued on. "We'd better pick up the pace."

"Right right," the two brothers nodded, before they continued on their path.

A good hour passed after that and by now they were all feeling the effects of the heat.

"Easy there, take a few sips slowly. Wouldn't want to upset your stomach in this heat," Yang said as Ruby took a few sips from the canteen, before passing it on to Palmon, who then passed it along.

"Good thing we packed plenty of water before we came here," Blake commented before taking her sip. Despite the fact that they DID have plenty of water, everyone was only taking a few short sips every few minutes to try and maintain their supply for as long as possible, none of them knowing just how far this area spanned.

"Well, nothing to do but keep walking. We'll find something eventually, right?" Yang said as she walked ahead a little.

"Yeah, let's keep going everyone!" Biyomon said, sounding as energetic as ever as she caught up to her partner.

"Actually, can we all stop for a minute?" Gyro said.

"Hm? What's wrong, Gyro?" Agumon asked as his partner pulled down his goggles over his eyes.

"Just a sec…" he said as he activated the binocular function and looked around. "Aha! I knew I thought I saw something weird. There's this partially sunken ship over there," he said, pointing in a direction that slightly deviated from their current course. "And I see a lake...and a village!"

"Two villages in one day is a pretty good record." Jaune said with some relief.

"Of course, considering the Black Gear from earlier…" Ren trailed off, the others grimacing as they had the same feeling he did.

"We should hurry on over before whatever Digimon gets hit by the Black Gear has a chance to destroy the village." Pyrrha said, everyone agreeing as they picked up the pace.

When they arrived at the village… "Huh...last time it was Kunemon, now its Yokomon," Ren mused, as true enough, the village they'd arrived in was full of Yokomon, the little Digimon all looking up at them curiously.

"Well, at least they have plenty of water." Gyro said as he was refilling the water canteens at the fountain after being informed it was germ free, some of the Yokomon standing around him.

"What kind of Digimon are you?" one of the Yokomon asked up at Yang.

"I'm not a Digimon." the blonde girl said with a slight tone of amusement.

"That's right! Yang and her friends are what's known as a human." Biyomon explained to what was basically a village full of her previous form.

Needless to say, the Yokomon had a field day asking the group a whole bunch of questions.

"Curious little fellas aren't they?" Pierce chuckled as they humored the energetic mon for a bit. Of course, by far the one talking the most was Biyomon as she seemed all too happy to answer their questions.

"But it is a nice change of pace, huh?" Veemon asked.

"Never said it wasn't."

Back with Yokomon, Yang couldn't help but chuckle at seeing her partner interact with the younger Digimon. "Having a lot of fun?"

"Yep!" Biyomon nodded. "The Yokomon even invited us for a feast tonight."

"Really? Well, I'll tell the others then," Yang smiled, leaving her partner to continue talking to the little ones, before relaying the message to her friends.

"Yay! More food!" Ruby cheered.

"Probably not going to be stuff we normally eat though, and I say that even considering what we've been eating these last few days." Blake said idly.

"The Yokomon are small, so the food is probably something small too." Patamon said, throwing in his helpful two cents.

Meanwhile, Gyro was still busy filling up their canteens, but he could hear Ruby's little exclamation, and chuckled at that. "Heh, guess our luck's finally turned for meeting friendly Digimon," he mused...before he noticed the water had suddenly stopped. "What the…?" he blinked, pulling the canteens away. Good thing too, as a second after he got them away, a massive gout of fire suddenly erupted from the fountain. "HOLY SHIT!" he exclaimed, jumping back a little as everyone's attention was caught by the sudden flames.

"W-what's going on?!" one of the Yokomon shouted in alarm.

"Big trouble!" another one said as it came hopping into the village. "The pond's dried up!"

"But that's impossible," Jaune said as he heard that, before he and Gomamon went to look… and saw that it was now dry as dust.

"...where does water suddenly go in all of 3 minutes?" Gomamon asked in bewilderment.

"The well's on fire too!" Ruby reported, having just pulled a Yokomon away just in time to avoid the flames.

"This is crazy!" Weiss said in alarm...before a thought crossed her mind. "Hey, did something land around here a while ago?" she asked.

"Well...we did see this black thing land on Miharashi Mountain earlier. Its the source of all the village's water," one of the Yokomon said. "But that shouldn't have caused anything. Meramon is always protecting the mountain!"

At those words, all of the hunters and their Digimon shared a glance. "I think we found who the Black Gear infected…" Pyrrha said almost flatly.

"Black Gear?" one of the Yokomon repeated in confusion.

"It's this black wheel thing that makes Digimon go crazy when it touches them." Salamon explained in a simple matter to all the little ones.

"Considering how everything is on fire… and if I know my Japanese well enough." Gyro muttered, pulling his goggles over his eyes and zooming in on a glowing dot coming down the mountain quickly, blinking as he saw what could only be described as a man made of fire "Ok, that's definitely Meramon."

 _Digimon Analyzer: Meramon_

 _Meramon. Data Type. An Adult Level Flame Digimon. A Digimon shrouded in fire, born from from the hidden Firewall of the net. While it's a violent fighter, it is a peaceful Digimon in all other circumstances. It's special attack is Burning Fist, launching a ball of fire from his hand._

"I'M BURNING UP!" everyone heard Meramon's voice screech all the way from where he was sliding down the mountain.

"...sooo...who's up for getting out of the way before the giant man made of fire hits us?" Jaune said in a surprisingly calm tone. After all the stuff they've been through in the short time they were in this crazy world, he could honestly say this didn't bother him quite as much as it used to. A quick check of their radars confirmed that yes, a black dot was coming their way.

"Evacuate the village!" Gyro shouted loud enough for everyone to hear, as they quickly started on getting all the Yokomon onto the ship where their lake was a few minutes ago. Unfortunately, this in itself presented a slight issue, as the sheer number of Yokomon living in the village made evacuation take notably longer than they'd have liked. With that in mind though, they quickly split up into a few teams.

Jaune, Gomamon, Pyrrha, Gabumon, Blake, Patamon, Ruby, and Palmon were at the ship, helping the Yokomon that entered to get on board. Down by the entrance, Gyro, Agumon, Weiss, Tentomon, Nora, Salamon, Ren, and Wormmon were helping the Yokomon get into the ship. And up at the edge of the lake, Yang, Biyomon, Pierce, and Veemon were ushering the Yokomon out of the village and down into the lake bed.

However, even with this it wasn't enough, as by now Meramon was running through the savannahs at a rate that would have him reaching the village very soon.

Quickly enough, that last Yokomon went down the slope into the lake bed, being ushered onto the ship through the hole in the hull.

"Looks like that's everyone." Pierce said, before he and Veemon slid down the slope, followed by Yang.

Biyomon would have followed as well, but she looked around a bit at the village, before looking back at the ship and doing as quick a headcount as she could, sighing in relief when she saw everyone was indeed there.

Yang was a bit confused when Biyomon wasn't behind her as she neared the ship, before looking back and seeing her still at the edge of the lake.

Her eyes widened however as a tall, flaming figure started walking up behind her partner "Biyomon behind you!"

Biyomon heard her partner's shout, turning just in time to see Meramon start stalking up to her, quickly flapping her wings and taking off to get out of his reach.

"Magical Fire!" she launched her attack at him, hoping to at least stop him a bit, only for her eyes to widen as he just absorbed her flames.

She wasn't going to be stopped just with that though, as she started attack him more, only for her attacks to slow down when she saw him steadily grow taller from each flame.

"That's… bad." she said after a moment, her eyes wide in shock.

The shock proved to be her undoing, as Meramon created a ball of fire in his hand, and threw it at her, just barely missing her and singing her feathers before it blew up behind her, sending her forwards… right into Meramon's backhand.

"Biyomon!" Yang shouted in worry as she ran, diving to catch her falling partner as she hit the ground. She managed to do so just in time, Biyomon landing in her arms rather than on the hard rock. "Are you okay?!" she asked frantically.

Biyomon groaned slightly before looking up at her. "Yang, you came to save me…" she said.

"Of course I did! I don't leave my friends hanging!" Yang said before hugging Biyomon.

"Thank you, Yang!" Biyomon smiled as she hugged the girl back.

However, it seemed Meramon wasn't in the mood to leave them be, as up above, he created another fireball and looked ready to throw it again.

"Oh no you don't!" Gyro shouted as he used his semblance and concentrated it around Meramon's hand, making a tornado that sucked all the oxygen from his fireball.

"How'd you know that would work?" Agumon asked him in a bit of surprise.

"Honestly, I didn't. I was just banking on physics being normal." Gyro said with a sigh of relief.

"This is the time where a water attack would be really helpful." Pierce said, shaking his head in resignation at the lack of a quick fix.

Weiss slapped her forehead at his words "I have something that could possibly work, I still have a vial of ice dust on me."

"Give it here!" Pierce said urgently, Weiss throwing it to him as he caught it in his hand, winding his arm up just a bit before pitching it straight at Meramon.

When it sank into his chest, it didn't seem to do anything at first, before Meramon started coughing up a pale blue mist, his form shrinking just a bit.

"Well… better than nothing, right?" Veemon told his partner.

"I guess so yeah." Pierce muttered, glad at least THAT part went well.

"Come on, we gotta help them!" Agumon said, before rushing forward, Gabumon, Patamon, and Tentomon going after him.

"Try to avoid fire as much as you can!" Gyro told them quickly, just so they didn't make him big again.

"Right!" Agumon nodded, before they dashed into the fight.

"Air Shot!"

"Petit Thunder!"

Both attacks connected, distracting Meramon, while Agumon jumped forward. "Sharp Claw!" he called out, striking Meramon with his claws...though it didn't seem to be doing much damage.

"We gotta regroup," Gabumon said to Yang and Biyomon.

"But if we do that, the Yokomon will be in danger!" Biyomon protested.

"She's right. We gotta take this big guy down now!" Yang agreed, right as Biyomon got out of her arms and flew up.

"Hard Beak!" Biyomon called out as she started rapidly striking Meramon with her beak.

"Why don't we bring you down to earth a little," Yang said as she jumped to the top of the slope, and landed a strong punch to Meramon's leg, the force enough to make the Digimon reel a little, while the child digimon continued their attacks, Meramon roaring angrily as he tried to swat them.

"Keep up the pressure!" Agumon said, while Gyro was using his semblance to rob the oxygen whenever Meramon seemed to try to create a fireball.

Meramon growled as he lashed out almost randomly. Since his fireballs weren't working, he focused his flames to his fists. During one such lash, he got a lucky hit, knocking Biyomon out of the air.

Yang's eyes went wide as she saw her friend falling out of the sky, before they bled into red as she turned back to Meramon, roaring as she punched him straight in the chest, though she was surprised as she had to wince from punching something hard and metallic.

Meramon was just as pissed as she was though, as he grabbed her extended arm, lifting her up before driving his fist into her gut, knocking the air out of her, her aura thankfully keeping her from being burned by his fire, but he just kept punching her, ending it with a knee to her gut, and finally just throwing her away, right into the dried up lake, and from this height, with her aura in the weakened state it was…

Biyomon got up from her fall...just in time to see Yang being thrown off the slope. "YANG!" she shouted in alarm.

 **(Play Brave Heart)**

Yang's Digivice glowed bright like it did with the others, sending the signal into the sky, calling forth the light that released the waterfall of data.

"Biyomon, Evolution!" Biyomon called out as the data was absorbed into her before her body transformed. "Birdramon!" whereas before she was a small pink bird, she had now turned into a huge bird with feathers of flame, not quite a phoenix though as some parts of her were still normal. What made her different from normal birds however was that her beak was lined with razor sharp teeth, and she had 5 talons as opposed to the usual 4 on each of her feet.

Yang let out a small ooff as she felt herself land, but instead of the hard rocks, she found herself landing on something surprisingly...warm and rather feathery. When she got her bearings, she looked at what could only be her partner's Adult form, and boy was she surprised to see what Biyomon had become. "Damn, Biyomon, you look badass," was all she could say.

"Its Birdramon now, Yang," Birdramon chuckled.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Birdramon_

 _Birdramon. Vaccine Type. An Adult Level Bird Digimon. Sporting feathers made of a blazing flame, just like Meramon, she was born from the hidden Firewall. While Birdramon is a more peaceful Digimon, she doesn't hold anything back should she ever enter battle. Her special attack is Meteor Wing._

"I'M BURNING UP!" Meramon roared as he jumped down from the slope...or would have if Birdramon didn't grab him with her talons and lifted him up, before throwing him back to the ground with a thud. Getting up with a growl, he created another fireball and threw it at Birdramon's retreating form.

"Duck!" Yang said, allowing Birdramon to descend, evading the fireball, before going around, and managing to smash into Meramon, knocking him back a little.

Angrily getting up, Meramon created more fireballs and launched them at the large bird.

"Oh no you don't!" Yang frowned, pulling out one of her spare Ammo straps that she still had on her, and threw it into the air. The ammo hit the flames, and the ensuing explosions canceled out the fire.

Seeing the opening that her partner made for her, Birdramon got a bit of distance, and spread her wings in preparation.

"Birdramon, aim for his chest! The gear is in his chest!" Yang told her partner, remembering the feel of punching metal before.

Birdramon nodded and aimed. "Meteor Wing!" she called out, before flapping her wings forward, launching a volley of meteor-like fireballs at Meramon.

Meramon grinned maniacally as he puffed his chest out, expecting to be just fine. But when the attack hit, they went into his chest, and he gasped as something was wrong. Pain suddenly blossomed in his chest, forcing him to double over and shrink, before something emerged from his back and was launched out. The Black Gear flew into the sky for a moment before soon shattering from the force of the attack.

 **(Song end)**

"Awesome!" Yang cheered as Birdramon went in to land, and sliding down her back when they touched on the ground, as she reverted back to Biyomon just as Yang's feet touched the ground.

"Yang!" Biyomon said happily, before landing in a hug from her partner.

Minutes later, the sun had started to set, and thankfully, the water had returned to the village, as Meramon sat on the ground, rubbing the middle of his chest.

"It struck me right here, hurt like hell when it did, after that I kind of just blanked out on everything and the next thing I know I wake up and my back is killing me." he explained, wincing as he reached behind to rub the spot on his back where the gear had burst out.

"This is starting to get worrisome. First Thundermon and now you. These Black Gears are nothing but trouble." Gyro said with a frown.

Meramon grimaced in thought "You probably won't like this then, but a few days ago I saw one heading towards the factory, which is run by Andromon."

"Oh no." Gomamon said with a groan.

"What is it?" Jaune asked him in confusion.

"Andromon is a Perfect Level Digimon." Gomamon explained, and Jaune paled.

"Dammit Jaune! This one's your fault!" Pierce groaned in irritation.

"So just to be clear, if we had to fight him...he's gonna kick our butts at our current level, isn't he?" Ruby groaned.

"Pretty much, yeah," Palmon said with a sigh. "I've heard one Perfect is supposed to be as strong as at least 5 Adults."

"Well, we have 4… maybe something'll happen to even the odds, who knows, or we might get lucky and just hit the gear itself." Pyrrha said, trying to think positive.

"We can only hope." Blake said with a sigh.

"For now though, I think we'll stay around the village for the night and tackle the factory in the morning." Gyro said, sighing as he hung his head, he really wasn't looking forward to tomorrow.

"Hey, it's not all bad, there's still that feast the Yokomon promised us." Biyomon said, trying to cheer everyone up.

"Yeah… yeah, that's true, at least we get to end the day nicely for once." Gyro said with a smile.

Though a minute later, his face had turned into a dry stare as he looked down at the bowl in his hands.

"I feel like I should make a joke about birds...but I feel like it'd be in bad taste," Pierce sweat dropped, as considering Yokomon evolved into basically birds...it made the fact they'd been served SEEDS, akin to them being asked to eat bird feed...though the Digimon sure seemed to be just fine, and seemed to enjoy it.

"Honestly for once I'm trying, and I'm coming up blank on puns myself." Yang admitted as she looked at her bowl, glancing at Biyomon from time to time to see her really digging into it.

"Well… at least the color is normal." Ren said with a sigh.

"Hey! This is actually good!" Nora shouted around a mouthful of seeds.

"I know this is going to make me sound like a spoiled brat, but I could really go for something made by Klein right now." Weiss said with a resigned sigh as she started to eat.

"Who's Klein?" Ruby asked after swallowing her mouthful.

"The family butler." Weiss said as she kept on eating.

"Yeah, why don't you rub it in our faces that you're rich." Gyro muttered while rolling his eyes, reluctantly eating the seeds.

He REALLY wasn't looking forward to tomorrow.

* * *

 **And done!**

 **Yeah, now we're back on canon course, for now that is.**

 **Who knows when I'll deviate again?**

 **Oh wait, I do.**

 **Jokes aside though, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, because...**

 **The Adventure Evolves.**


	9. 8: Electric Shock! Kabuterimon!

**Sorry this one took a bit people, however, that's because Timeless is already on less available time.**

 **As such, the story is going to be slowing down it's releases a bit.**

 **But don't worry, we'll be back at full capacity soon enough**

 **For now though, just sit back and enjoy.**

* * *

 **Electric Shock! Kabuterimon!  
**

* * *

"Okay, so according to the Yokomon, the factory should be just over that hill," Gyro mused as they were walking in the early morning, having spent the night camping out by the Yokomon village. By now they'd exited the savannahs and were in grassy hills again.

"Still, its incredible how drastically the landscape can change here. Its as if we left Vacuo and suddenly ended up in Vale with how sudden the changes were," Weiss mused as they walked...until she idly looked at her scroll and blinked. "Huh?"

"Something wrong?" Tentomon asked.

"That's strange… it looks like my scroll is working perfectly fine again." she noted.

When they had found that they could at the very least contact each other, they also learned that it was pretty much the only option available to them, as apparently it took everything for their scrolls to do just that.

But now, it seemed to be working at full capacity.

"Well, maybe we can find something interesting then." Gyro said, about to pull out his own scroll.

"I'll handle it, most scrolls are manufactured in Atlas, so I've got a good idea how they work." Weiss told him with a raised hand.

Gyro blinked at that, before shrugging "If you say so." he said, before reaching into his pouch and pulling out a black marker and a notepad, handing them to her "Here, in case you need to take notes and it stops working."

"Right. Thanks," Weiss nodded, taking the offered items.

"Hey, I see smoke up ahead!" Salamon suddenly said, to which they looked and noticed that yes, there was smoke wafting into the air.

"Let's hope that that's the factory and not a forest fire," Jaune said as they continued walking.

Eventually they reached the edge of the hill...and saw their destination. "Whoa, that's one big factory," Ruby commented at the sight of the sprawling facility.

"It's so big you almost think there's a huge group of workers in there." Pierce said.

"There isn't though, from what we've heard Andromon is the only one here." Veemon told his partner.

"So he's living in this big place all alone? Sounds pretty lonely," Nora frowned.

"Keep in mind, if the pattern holds, this is a good thing," Gyro reminded. "He's probably infected with a Black Gear, so the fact nobody else is there, means we don't have to worry about innocent bystanders."

"We'll have to be careful going in." Ren said.

"Right, he could be anywhere in the factory." Wormmon agreed with a nod.

"Maybe we should split into two groups, and each group has two of the Digimon that can evolve with them, just in case." Blake suggested.

"Sounds reasonable to me," Yang nodded.

"Same here," Ruby agreed.

"Seems like a good idea," Weiss agreed as well.

"It's settled then. Who's going with who?" Gyro nodded.

After a short deliberation, the groups were divided into team A, consisting of Ruby, Palmon, Weiss, Tentomon, Gyro, Agumon, Blake, Patamon, Yang, and Biyomon; and team B, consisting of Jaune, Gomamon, Nora, Salamon, Pyrrha, Gabumon, Pierce, Veemon, Ren, and Wormmon.

The twins did find it a bit interesting how they had essentially been split into teams RWBY and JNPR, along with the two of them as tagalongs.

As the teams entered the factory, the first thing they found was what appeared to be a fully automated assembly line, though what it was making...was anyone's guess.

"Strange contraption," Blake mused at the sight of the object seemingly being put together.

"Looks like there are two sides of the factory. Guess we'll go this way then," Jaune said, to which his group started moving down one path.

"If anyone runs into trouble, give the others a call, and run back here, okay?" Ruby said.

"Yeah, that sounds fair," Pyrrha nodded.

"Later, bro," Pierce waved, before their group went deeper into the factory.

"Alright, let's see what we find on this side." Gyro said as his own group started walking.

"I hope if we find Andromon, the Black Gear didn't get to him." Agumon mused.

"I doubt we'll be that lucky." Patamon said.

"If we do find him, we'll have to think of a way to trap him somewhere so we can pull the gear out of him." Palmon threw in a makeshift plan.

"Or at least find out where in his body the gear is so we can do a precision strike." Tentomon countered.

"Yeah, just like I did yesterday with Meramon." Biyomon added with a nod.

"Let's just be glad the gears are an obvious weak spot," Yang said, pinching the bridge of her nose. "If it weren't for that, I think we might be in trouble here."

"Yeah, at least now we have a plan," Weiss said, before noticing a room labeled 'power room'. Curiosity taking hold, she opened the door...and blinked at the sight. "Okay...this is just getting weird…"

"What is it?" Tentomon asked as they all looked at what she saw...and the huntsmen blinked in confusion.

"Is… is that a giant battery?" Ruby said after a moment.

"Yes… yes it is." Gyro said, bewildered.

"So this entire factory...is being powered by a giant battery?" Yang said slowly, as if trying to wrap her head around the concept. Eventually she just lifted her arms in surrender. "I quit. I'm done trying to figure out how this world works," she deadpanned.

"Well I'm not," Weiss frowned, examining the battery. "There HAS to be a logical explanation for how this battery can somehow power this entire factory to the point of complete automation," she said as she started looking around the battery for any signs of what was making it work the way it did.

"You sure you want to look this over?" Gyro asked her, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Positive." she said, before turning to the rest "You can go on ahead, Tentomon and I will stay here and try to figure this out."

"Okay, but if anything happens, call us," Ruby said, earning a nod from the heiress before they left her and her partner to their own devices.

Meanwhile, Team B was walking through the other side of the factory, on their guard in case Andromon showed up out of the blue.

"You know, this place is kind of creepy with no one around." Jaune said, looking around worriedly.

"Tell me about it, you'd think the machines make it better, but they just make it creepier." Gomamon couldn't help but agree with him.

"As long as you don't say something like 'Let's split up gang', I think we'll be just fine," Pierce said with a light snicker.

Jaune quirked an eyebrow at that. "WHY in Oum's name would I suggest something so colossally stupid in this situation?"

"I'm not saying that. This just reminded me too much of an old saturday morning cartoon from Earth where the blonde leader of the team REGULARLY told his team to do that when they were investigating a HAUNTED house," Pierce explained.

At that everyone, even Nora, stopped and looked at him with a dry expression.

"Wow, that guy must have been a real idiot," Veemon said, summing up their collective thoughts very well.

"Considering how the cowards of the group were the only ones that reacted logically to everything, yeah, basically." Pierce said with a shrug.

"...how about we keep moving on?" Pyrrha suggested, earning a few nods of agreement.

After walking down what seemed like another endless hallway, they came upon a room full of machinery...an an odd being lying on the ground. "I'm guessing this is Andromon?" Ren guessed, looking at the literal android that was made up of mostly metal, though some flesh was also visible. It was interesting how his helmet and shoulder pads were in the shape of metal skulls however.

"Is he stuck?" Nora asked, noting that Andromon's lower body seemed stuck inside the machinery.

"Looks like it," Salamon said.

"Think we should help him get out?" Wormmon asked.

"Normally I'd say yes, but I'm honestly worried about what happens if he IS infected," Jaune frowned.

"Ah yes...the old sucker dilemma," Pierce nodded. "Help him or not help him. If we don't, we feel like douches. If we do, he might try to kill us."

Silence for a moment "It says a lot about me I'd rather have someone try to kill me than feel like an asshole." Jaune said with a sigh.

"Let's try and get him out then." Gabumon said as everyone grabbed onto whatever they could of the android and started pulling as hard as they could.

Unfortunately, in the midst of the struggle, Nora's hand slipped, and she stumbled back and accidentally hit a lever, which caused the machines to turn on...though it seemed the moving machines actually made pulling Andromon out a little easier.

"Thanks Nora," Jaune said as they started to be able to pull Andromon out more easily.

"Your welcome," she said.

Eventually they got him out completely, but he was still seemingly unconscious.

"Okay...now what do we do?" Jaune blinked.

"I'm guessing walking away while he's still unconscious isn't an option?" Gomamon half joked.

"Definitely not," Veemon deadpanned.

"Though...he's not really waking up," Ren commented, as he was currently poking the side of Andromon's head.

"Hold on, I usually do this for Gyro, so who knows, maybe it works." Pierce said with a grin, before standing up, clearing his throat, and suddenly stomping the ground, producing a rather loud metallic clang "GOOOOOOD MOOOOOOOORNIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!"

The group waited for a few moments...but nothing happened.

"Wow...he's a real heavy sleeper," Pierce said with a huge sweatdrop.

"Step aside, there's only one way to handle a machine that isn't responding," Nora grinned.

"Uh...Nora? I don't like that look on your face…" Salamon groaned. She had a feeling her partner was about to do something stupid.

"Hey! That's what Ren said when I tamed that Ursa the other day." She said with her usual bright grin.

"Oh dear Oum please don't remind me of that." Pierce said with a groan.

Taking a moment to just giggle, Nora started winding her fist up, before bringing it down on top of Andromon's head.

She seemed frozen in the pose for a moment, before quickly pulled her hand away and cradling it, whining to herself about how hard his head was.

"Nora, you shouldn't hit unconscious Digimon," Salamon scolded. "But is your hand okay?"

"I'm okay. But man, he's harder than any Grimm armor I've ever tried hitting," Nora said.

"That's not comforting at all," Jaune deadpanned...right before he felt something cold and metallic grab his leg. "...of course…"

He didn't even have time to look down, as he ended up being lifted into the air by his leg, hanging upside down and staring right at Andromon's chest armor.

"Why does that look like it opens up?" he said, noticing the hinges on the bottom of it.

"Intruders...detected," Andromon said, his voice completely drone-like.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Andromon_

 _Andromon. Vaccine Type. A Perfect Level Cyborg Digimon. Designed as a prototype for cyborg based Digimon, his technology would later go on to be used for other Digimon. He acts as a stoic guardian, and is known to not be the kind to seek out conflict. His special attacks are Spiral Sword, making his right hand spin into a drill which launches a wave of energy, and Gatling Missile, firing a pair of missile from his chest that hide gatling guns within them._

"All he needs is a leather jacket and we'd have a Terminator on our hands." Pierce muttered, mostly to himself. "But more importantly...hands off our friend tin can!" he said, grabbing a piece of broken metal and throwing it at Andromon, hitting him on the head. Unsurprisingly, all that did was draw the Digimon's attention to him.

Thankfully, he wasn't really attacked… unless getting Jaune thrown at him and having to catch him with Veemon's help counted as being attacked.

"If this was the plan...thanks…" Jaune groaned. While he wasn't a fan of being bodily thrown...it beat being held upside down by a killer robot.

"Yeah, well, hope someone has an ACTUAL plan, cuz I ain't punching him again, I'm not that crazy." Nora said as they all eyed Andromon warily.

"What do we do now?" Veemon asked.

"How about we run?" Jaune suggested.

"I can get behind that plan," Wormmon piped up, and with that, they all did an about face, and ran like hell, Andromon soon following after them...but not before Pierce noticed something.

"Pyrrha, metal bars!" he said quickly.

Pyrrha saw the bars dangling over Andromon, and nodded. "Got it!" she said, activating her semblance, and causing the bars to fall on Andromon, the Digimon pinned down, but didn't seem the least bit damaged. "I think it's safe to say we need to find where the Gear is infecting him. I don't think any of our attacks are going to be able to get through that armor," she said as they ran.

* * *

Back with Weiss, she was almost done observing the giant battery, not really finding anything of note, that is, until she reached the back of it "Is… is this a door?" she said incredulously.

"That's definitely not something you see everyday." Tentomon said as he hovered behind her.

"It definitely isn't," Weiss said, before prying the door open. When she stepped in she blinked at the sight that awaited her. The inside of the battery was completely hollow, but the walls were covered from top to bottom in strange symbols, and if she wasn't mistaken, more than a few computer codes.

"This... " she couldn't think of anything to say as she tried to wrap her head around it.

"Can you understand any of this?" Tentomon asked her.

"Some of it." Weiss admitted after a few moments of looking at it all, before standing in front of a specific section "Except for this part. I've never seen this before."

Tentomon hovered up, looking right over her shoulder "Well, I know WHAT it is, but not what it means. It's Digicode, the written language here… but none of us know how to write it, we were never thought."

Weiss frowned at that, but then she got an idea. "Wait, if you can read it, then maybe we can decipher it together. Mind lending me a hand, Tentomon?"

"Of course," Tentomon nodded as the two of them went to work. Weiss began compiling the data into her scroll, while asking Tentomon about the sections she couldn't understand, and deciphering them into her scroll as well. Before long, she found a program was being formed in her scroll based on the data they were acquiring.

"This is...really strange…" she couldn't help but say, taking a moment to look away from the data and examine the wall more closely. Idly brushing a hand against it...she was understandably surprised when the bit her finger touched was rubbed off. Then the lights went out.

* * *

"What the?!" Ruby said in alarm, as the light suddenly went out where they were.

"Someone or something must have cut all the power in the factory," Blake said in surprise, noting that even the production lines had stopped working thanks to her kinds' night vision.

"Everyone stay together. The last thing we want is to-"Gyro started, before…

"Ow! My nose!" Yang shouted as she'd accidentally bumped into a pillar when she tried to walk in the dark.

"I think we should all stay put till the lights come back on…" Palmon said simply, earning a few sounds of agreement from the others.

* * *

"...okay, someone turned out the lights…" Pierce deadpanned as they had been in the middle of running and suddenly the lights went out.

"Maybe without the lights he won't notice we're here?" Gabumon said hopefully.

"I wouldn't count on it," Pyrrha sighed. "It's fairly common these days for machines to have some kind of night vision."

As if in confirmation of her words…

"Spiral...Sword!" came Andromon's voice, and a section of the wall exploded from the attack.

"Run for it!" Jaune shouted, and nobody argued as they started running despite the darkness.

* * *

"Seems like all power in the factory has stopped," Tentomon said, peeking outside.

"Did this happen because I erased part of the code?" Weiss blinked in surprise, using her Scroll's light to find where she had erased the bit of code.

"Could be. You might have disrupted whatever about those codes was powering the factory. It might be best if you tried fixing it," Tentomon nodded.

"You're probably right," Weiss conceded, but then a new problem came up to her. How was she going to fix this? Then a thought crossed her mind. Taking out the marker that Gyro had given her, she carefully fixed the bit of code she'd erased by accident...and winced as the power went on instantly. "Huh…that was surprisingly easy…"

* * *

"Huh...that was fast," Biyomon blinked as the lights suddenly came back on.

"Wonder what could have caused it," Agumon blinked.

"If I had to guess, Weiss was fiddling with something," Gyro blinked. "I mean, she WAS in the power room."

"Should we head back?" Patamon wondered.

"We don't really need to, besides, if there was trouble, someone would have called." Blake said simply.

And any further conversation was halted as Gyro's scroll started ringing, looking at Blake dryly "Don't ever tempt fate again." he said, Blake looking away with a slight tinting to her cheeks as Gyro grabbed his scroll and brought it to his head as he opened it "And the problem is?" was the first thing he said.

"Andromon's after us and his hand can turn into a spinning sword!" came Pierce's panicky voice from the other end.

"That's not good." Yang said with a wince.

"Where are you guys?" Patamon asked quickly, flapping over to Gyro's shoulder.

A few screams and an explosion were heard before Ren started talking. "We're on a bridge in what looks like a chemical plant!" cue another explosion. "Follow the sound of destruction and you'll find us!"

And with that the call was abruptly ended.

The group looked at each other, before running in the opposite direction they were going. "Should we grab Weiss along the way?" Ruby asked.

"No time. We'll have to call her and ask her to meet up with us!" Gyro said.

* * *

Meanwhile, Weiss and Tentomon were continuing to try and decode the data, and before long, they'd almost finished. "You certainly seem to be having fun, Weiss," Tentomon said, and if he could, he would no doubt be smiling right now.

"I'll admit, this isn't something I usually do, but now that we've gotten this far, it's actually quite fascinating," Weiss said. "These codes actually act like a program to startup a system, which somehow translates to being the literal power source for the entire factory. In fact, as long as the codes are intact, I'd wager this factory could run by itself for an indefinite amount of time."

"Seems rather complicated," Tentomon folded his arms.

"It can be. But I'm happy that I'm starting to finally make sense of how this world works, and in retrospect, it should have been so obvious," Weiss nodded. "This is the DIGITAL world. If this world was made up of data and information, then it should make sense that codes and programs would have an affect on the world itself rather than just inside of machines. In fact, just a little more and…" she trailed off as she finished the code...and suddenly the data started to react, seemingly moving and shifting on the screen. However, before she could make sense of it…

"W-Weiss!" Tentomon's alarmed...and pained voice called her name.

Hearing the tone, her head immediately snapped towards her partner, only to find him flailing around, the small cracks in between parts of his carapace glowing and letting off some steam.

And then her attention was brought elsewhere, as she felt the Digivice hooked against the belt on the back of her dress start to vibrate, grabbing it to see that the screen had several full bars on it. She would be lying if she said she wasn't curious as to what was happening, but the more important fact was that whatever it was, it was clearly causing Tentomon pain, and that made it not worth trying to figure out at the moment. "Hang on, Tentomon!" she said, before forcing her scroll to restart, stopping the program, and with it, ending the phenomena happening to Tentomon and her Digivice.

"Glad that's over…" Tentomon said as he sagged a little, while Weiss was looking at her Digivice in suspicion. What was that? And why did the reaction happen?

However, before she could dwell on it, her scroll suddenly started to vibrate as a call was coming through from Ruby. Answering the call…

"Pierce and the others are in danger! Andromon WAS infected! We're going to help them, come quick!" was what Ruby said, not even giving Weiss a chance to say anything. Normally she'd have been a little annoyed at that, but considering the circumstances...she could accept it this time.

"Let's go Tentomon!" Weiss said as she quickly ran back out of the power room, Tentomon buzzing in the air right behind her, having quickly recovered from his brief ordeal.

* * *

"Oh jeez I can't believe that worked!" Jaune panted out as the group finally had a chance to rest, having managed to stall Andromon behind them for a bit.

When they'd been in the chemical plant area, then ended up in a rather precarious situation where they were hanging off by the rails on the bridge, Andromon stalking towards them to no doubt make them fall off, but thankfully, Ren had noticed something that ended up saving them.

A crane platform.

He'd jumped off the bridge and onto the platform, quickly figuring out the controls as he hooked Andromon and lifted him up, before leaving him dangling as far away from the bridge as possible.

"Yeah, well, I don't think we can expect it to work a second time." Gomamon said, hanging onto his back.

"Then we'd better meet up with the others before that happens," Pierce said.

"Hope they can find us. This factory is like a maze," Veemon frowned as they continued on their way, aiming to get as much distance from Andromon as they could.

After a while more, they found themselves in a rather spacious area, something a connecting area between sections of the factory. "Well...at least if we get into a fight here there'll be lots of room," Salamon commented.

"Hopefully it won't come to that though. At least not before we meet up with the others," Pyrrha sighed. She didn't want to send her friend or Salamon up against an opponent that was supposed to completely outclass them if she could help it.

"Hey guys!" they heard from a little ways up, looking to see the others, minuc Weiss and Tentomon, standing on a bridge just a few feet above them.

A moment later, the group landed down next to them.

"So, where are Weiss and Tentomon?" Gabumon asked as he looked around.

"Weiss ended up staying in the power room for a bit, she should be on her way though." Ruby answered, Jaune's group nodding in understanding.

"Alright, we managed to leave Andromon LITERALLY hanging, but I doubt its gonna stop him for long. Heck, for all we know, he's already…" Pierce tried to explain, but before he could finish, a section of the ground exploded and out came Andromon. "Nevermind. Mr. Terminator is back!"

"Not even gonna bother being angry because for once that's not a joke." Gyro muttered from next to his brother.

Sadly, Andromon didn't give them any more time. "Gatling Missile!" he announced, as his chest plate opened up, revealing two holes in it, which were quickly loaded with a pair of orange piranha like missiles.

"Okay, that's creepy and a little disgusting! Hit the deck!" Jaune said quickly as they dove out of the way of the missiles were launched. At first it seemed like they'd managed to avoid them...but then the missiles revealed that they were GUIDED missiles, and on top of that, the 'Gatling' part made itself known as the 'mouths' of the missiles opened, and out came a gatling gun for each, opening fire and forcing them to run to avoid being riddled with bullets. However, in the midst of the chaos, Agumon and Gabumon managed to break away from the gunfire, and ran towards the missiles.

At that moment both Gyro and Pyrrha's Digivices shined brightly, as their partners started to glow as well.

The waterfalls of data came down, but this time both showed an image of Greymon and Garurumon respectively, before they were soon absorbed into the corresponding Digimon.

"Agumon, Evolution! Greymon!"

"Gabumon, Evolution! Garurumon!"

The missiles were soon destroyed by a strike from the two Adult Digimon, and quickly turning their sights on Andromon, lunged for him...only for him to grab Garurumon, and throw him into Greymon, knocking them both over the edge and down to the ground below, before Andromon soon jumped down after them.

"Well, that's not good." Gyro said as he ran to the edge and looked down, seeing Greymon and Garurumon practically getting their asses handed to them.

It certainly wasn't helping that Andromon was cutting through their respective flames by simply swinging his arm through it.

"The power difference between their levels is too much!" Pyrrha said, worry on her face as she saw Garurumon take a Spiral Sword to the head.

"Maybe if we had more Adult levels things would be going easier." Ruby said as she frowned in worry.

Just as Andromon finished throwing Greymon by his tail, making him fall on top of Garurumon, his attention turned upwards, eyes locking onto the hunters as his chest opened again "Gatling Missile!" and once more the missile flew out, heading straight towards everyone.

Biyomon and Salamon both looked at each other, before quickly nodding as they jumped off the platform, at the same time as Yang and Nora's Digivices started glowing.

Once again the signal called for the lights that released a waterfall of data, images of Birdramon and Gatomon appearing for a moment before the data flowed into the two mon.

"Biyomon, Evolution! Birdramon!"

"Salamon, Evolution! Gatomon!"

One of the missiles was knocked away by a large wing, while the other was cut apart by sharp claws, as the two Adult Digimon descended to help their friends, Birdramon grabbing Andromon by the shoulder and lifting him up a little before throwing him aside, giving Greymon and Garurumon time to recover.

"You two okay?" Gatomon asked.

"Feel like we just got hit by a Monochromon, but we'll live," Greymon said.

"But thanks for the assist. I think it's gonna take all of us to even start to stop him," Garurumon added.

"Then let's do this. Together!" Birdramon said as the four of them charged at Andromon. However, while their attacks were once again being fended off with little difficulty, Andromon clearly was having a harder time trying to deal with 4 Adult Digimon at the same time, so they'd started to be able to land more hits...but overall it seemed like this had only become a stalemate.

"This isn't good. They can only go on for so long before they need to get tired. And if they do…" Gyro said through gritted teeth.

"Everyone!" They all turned as they saw Weiss running out of an open door, quickly catching up to them.

"Well at least everyone's here now." Jaune said with a grimace.

"Still doesn't help us deal with Andromon." Gomamon said with a frown.

"I doubt my net could slow him down." Wormmon said, trying to think of an idea.

Weiss looked down into the area below, seeing the 4 Adult Level Digimon they had on their side putting Andromon in a stalemate, but even she could tell this likely wouldn't be ending in their favor.

That's when an idea started to come to her, remembering the code from earlier, how her Digivice had started acting up, in a similar manner to how all the others did when they had evolved so far.

She had to seriously think about this before even suggesting it, but eventually, she turned to Tentomon "I think I have a plan, that program from earlier may be able to help us, but only if you're ok with trying to use it again."

"If you think it can give us an advantage, then I'm willing to try." he said, doing his best to assure her it was ok.

Weiss nodded after a moment, smiling at her partner, before bringing out her scroll as she started to repeat the process from earlier.

When the coding started twisting and moving all over the place on her screen, once more, the cracks in Tentomon's shell started to glow, as the Digimon grit his metaphorical teeth.

He was going to power through the pain, because this is what was needed to make sure his partner stayed safe!

 **(Play Brave Heart)**

In response to his determination, and the extra power the program was creating, Weiss's Digivice shined brightly, releasing the signal that called forth the light and the waterfall of data which soon entered Tentomon.

"Tentomon, Evolution!" he called out before he transformed. "Kabuterimon!" Gone was the little ladybug, and in his place was a large rhinoceros beetle, with a dark blue carapace covering his body, his head being adorned with a grey helmet that hid his eyes and had a single sharp horn on it, his four wings standing out in the open, no shell to cover them, but also allowing him to move at his fastest.

"Go! Kabuterimon!" Weiss called out, pointing at Andromon, something her now evolved partner was all too happy to oblige, as he rammed into Andromon, knocking him off balance a little before getting some range quickly.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Kabuterimon_

 _Kabuterimon. Vaccine Type. An Adult Level Insectoid Digimon. Possessing ant like power relative to his size, and the defensive abilities of a beetle, he's one of the strongest insect like Digimon. He swoops down on his enemies with no mercy, using his now metallic horn to attack them. His special attack is Mega Blaster, firing an electric ball at his enemies._

Kabuterimon circled around again and this time rammed dead on into Andromon, the force, while stopped by the Perfect Level, was enough to dig a small trench into the ground. After a few moments, Andromon finally moved a little to the side, allowing Kabuterimon to gain a bit more distance again, while his distraction had given his friends time to regroup a little, while Andromon's attention was now focused on Kabuterimon.

"Gatling Missiles!" Andromon declared as he launched two more missiles, though Kabuterimon proved to be a faster flyer than Birdramon, as he easily maneuvered around the missiles, causing them to collide into each other, exploding harmlessly in the air. At the same time, the other Digimon took advantage of Andromon's distraction, with Greymon ramming him from behind, causing him to stumble forward, while Gatomon landed a rapid series of kicks to his head, but he didn't seem to be TOO affected by it.

"Damn, all of them are ganging up on him and he's STILL barely feeling anything," Gyro growled.

"No choice then, we NEED to find where the gear is. With how strong his armor is, there's no other way," Weiss said.

"Wait...that's it!" Pyrrha said in realization.

"What's it?" Nora asked.

"His armor is so thick and strong...there's no way the black gear could have penetrated it normally," Pyrrha said. "That means, the only place it COULD have penetrated…" she trailed off as all of them looked at the cyborg Digimon...and noticed the only place that fit the criteria.

"His right leg! That's the only part of him without any armor!" Yang said.

"Then we know where to attack," Weiss nodded. "Everyone, the Gear is in his right leg!"

"Right!" the 5 Adult Digimon nodded, but this proved a little harder than planned, as the fact remained Andromon wasn't exactly standing around like an idiot.

"Well if he's not going to stop…" Garurumon growled.

"We'll just have to MAKE him stop!" Birdramon agreed.

"Kabuterimon, the shot's on you!" Greymon said, before the four of them charged at Andromon, Birdramon tackling him from the front, before moving away...revealing Gatomon coming up behind, who grabbed onto his face and didn't plan to let go anytime soon.

At the same time, Greymon and Garurumon grabbed hold of his arms and used their weight to keep the stronger mon from moving, before Birdramon came back and landed on his shoulders, adding her weight to the mix. The end result was Andromon was now unable to see nor move properly, a chance Kabuterimon wasn't going to pass up. Positioning himself for a clean shot, he charged up his special attack. "Mega Blaster!" he called out, firing a massive blast of electric energy, the blast flying true, and striking Andromon dead on the right leg, the energy which was soon traveling through him forcing the others to let go, right before a Black Gear emerged from his leg, before dissolving in the air.

 **(Song end)**

It was like a weight had been lifted from the Perfect Level Digimon, as his body lost all signs of tension, before falling to his hands and knees, his eyes finally turning to normal "The evil has been deleted." was what the Adult Levels heard him say, before all of them reverted back to Child Level.

"He's ok guys!" Agumon shouted up at all the others, earning several sighs of relief.

A few minutes later, everyone had gathered down on the same level the fight had taken place.

"We really got lucky back there." Gyro said as they walked up to Andromon.

"It is fortuitous that you did, had you not found where the Black Gear was hidden in my body, I fear to think what I could have done to you all." Andromon said, bowing his head in apology.

"Do you remember what happened before the gear got stuck in you?" Jaune asked.

Andromon nodded "I had noticed that certain sections of the factory where only operating at 50% capacity, as such I had to ascertain the cause of this problem, finding that the Black Gear that would infect me had gotten stuck inside a set of gears, halting their movement. Sadly, I ended up going offline when I started to ease myself into the set of gears, as while the gear didn't enter my body, having it so close to my body made me malfunction. Once again I apologize for what I had nearly done."

"Hey, its cool. You weren't yourself. If anyone is to blame, its wherever or whoever these Black Gears are coming from," Gyro said with a friendly grin, something the others also agreed on.

Andromon smiled and nodded in thanks.

A few more minutes passed, finding the group in front of a large open pipe "I have to apologize for my lack of relevant information in your search for your home, however, I do know of the fastest path to Mount Infinity." Andromon said, the hunters having explained their circumstances to him.

"I have a feeling it's through the sewers." Ren said dryly as he, and everyone else, were looking at what was obviously a sewer pipe.

Andromon simply nodded "It is, if you follow this path you will come upon Toy Town, where Monzaemon makes his residence, going through the town, you should end up finding a large hive after exiting. The hive is home to several FanBeemon, with a Waspmon acting as their guardian. A trail should lead you onto a mountain path afterwards, and finally, onto the base of Infinity Mountain."

"Right, we'll keep that in mind, thanks," Ruby said with a nod.

"But before you leave, I must caution you regarding the Black Gears. While I was under its control, I could feel a malevolent will moving them. These are not random occurrences," he said gravely. "I must implore you to exercise the utmost caution on your journey, for any Digimon you encounter may well be under their control."

"That's… definitely an issue, hopefully we can find whoever's controlling the gears before they do something a bit too grand scale." Pierce said with a frown.

"I pray that you do." Andromon said simply, before wishing them well on their journey, as they headed into the sewers.

A bit more walking, and the group found themselves marching on next to a river of waste… all kinds of waste at that.

"Well… this is far from pleasant." Blake said, covering her nose as she eyed what was quite literally a pink swirling poop floating on top of the water.

"Let's just get out of here fast ok? This place is really damp and that's bad for my hair." Yang said, her hands raking through her hair.

"Here, maybe this'll help a bit." Pierce said as he passed her his bomber jacket, which she used to cover her hair.

"Thanks, definitely better than just leaving it as is." Yang said with a grateful smile.

Meanwhile, Weiss was fiddling away at her scroll, something that was quickly noticed by Ruby "What's up?"

"Some of the normal functions of the scroll are gone, though all the coding I entered earlier seems to have done something, because from the looks of it, I have a sort of wireframe map of the surrounding area."

"Let's make use of it then, none of us want to be in the sewers longer than we need to." Pyrrha said, pinching her nose.

With that said, the group continued on, ready for what may come next.

* * *

 **Ta-Da!**

 **Yeah, we made the Andromon chapter a tad bit more interesting than in canon.**

 **Also, yes, I just revealed to you all another new location for File Island, a hive.**

 **Hope you'll enjoy these coming chapters, and that you liked this one, because now...**

 **The Adventure Evolves.**


	10. 9: Palmon's Angry Evolution!

**Welcome back everyone!**

 **Yeah, took a few days this time, but as I said before, that's because of Timeless having less working time available to help me with this.**

 **Don't worry though, the chapters will still keep on coming, that's not gonna change one bit.**

* * *

 **Palmon's Angry Evolution!  
**

* * *

"How long have we been walking down this way?" Ruby idly asked as the group was making their way through the sewers.

"Not really sure, but I think it's only been an hour at most," Palmon said.

"For a shortcut, this is really taking a long time," Yang groaned, wanting to get out of here as soon as possible.

"Don't complain, you're not the only one suffering through this dump," Weiss deadpanned.

"Feels like this tunnel just keeps going, doesn't it?" Jaune sighed.

"Hey come on guys, don't talk about stuff like that," Pierce said.

"Pierce is right. We should be focused on what's ahead," Pyrrha agreed.

"Easier said than done though since we can't really see anything," Ren sighed.

"Then how about we talk a little to pass the time?" Gyro suggested. "So, what do you guys all want to do when we find our way back to Remnant?"

"Cookies!/Pancakes!" Ruby and Nora said respectively at the same time.

Yang smiled at her sister, before tilting her head as she thought about the question "I guess for me… a nice shampoo really." she said with a shrug.

"A nice long bath in an actual bathtub." Weiss sighed out.

"Reading a book in bed." Blake said in her usual tone.

"I think I'd rather like to meditate." Ren said, smiling a bit.

"Looks like we all have something to look forward to when we go back," Pyrrha smiled.

"What about you though?" Pierce asked the crimson haired girl, earning a thoughtful hum from her.

"I think…" she smiled after a moment "No, I KNOW the first thing I'm doing is calling my sister."

"I'll probably do something like that myself." Jaune said with a sigh "Need to call home and apologize for just leaving like that."

"I think for me and Gyro it's pretty dumb though." Pierce said with a laugh.

"We mostly just want to kick back and play some video games for a bit." Gyro said with a smile, Pierce grinning in agreement.

"Hey, its cool," Yang chuckled. "But you had a good idea. I dunno about you guys, but I'm fired up now," she grinned.

"Okay then, let's race to see which side can reach the end of the tunnel first!" Veemon said.

"You're on partner," Pierce grinned.

Before they could start to race though, they all stopped as they heard a strange sound come from deeper back into the tunnel, making them turn around in a bit of confusion.

"Are… are there Digimon that live in the sewers?" Jaune asked after a moment.

"Honestly? Yes, only one type of Digimon at that." Gomamon replied, suppressing a shudder.

"Is it something strong?" Weiss asked warily.

"Oh no, it's very weak, it's just…" Tentomon trailed off, unable to bring himself to say it as he shuddered with a sound of disgust.

"Ok, what has you guys so spooked?" Gyro couldn't help but say, completely confused.

As the Digimon was about to answer, they, well, got their answer, as barreling down the tunnel towards them was a huge group of slug like Digimon with green skin and blue spots, it's eyes standing on stalks and unfocused, its tongue hanging out its mouth stupidly.

"Numemon." all the Digimon said with a groan.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Numemon_

 _Numemon. Virus Type. An Adult Level Mollusk Digimon. Among the different species in the Digital World, Numemon stands at the bottom of the barrel, truly, it is the weakest Digimon species to exist. However, most other Digimon prefer to avoid it, thanks to its special attack which… uh, which makes it throw its poop… I wish I was kidding._

"Let's get going. These guys aren't strong, but they're DISGUSTING," Biyomon said with a shiver.

"I'm afraid to ask, but how bad are we talking here?" Yang asked...and she got her answer when one of the Numemon threw something at her, narrowly missing her, but they could all see what had landed on the ground.

"...they throw their own poop…" was the flat observation by Gyro.

A moment passed, before it was broken by Pierce shouting "Run for your dignity!"

That set everyone off, as they started double timing it.

Eventually they took a sharp turn into what appeared to be like a side exit from the sewer system, running as fast as they could through the tunnel which slowly started to turn into a simple stone cave like area, until…

"I can see light, keep going!" Agumon shouted as everyone ran as fast as they could, and when they reached the literal light at the end of the tunnel, all basically jumped as they hit the edge of a thankfully low cliff, falling into the marshlands that could be seen for miles.

"We should be fine here," Tentomon said once they caught their breath.

"Why is that?" Weiss asked.

"Because Numemon hate the light," Wormmon supplied, and true enough, they found the Numemon cowering at the edge of the tunnel.

"Thank Oum for small mercies," Blake sighed. This was one of the more demeaning moments of her life for sure. A killer monster? They could handle. Being pelted with droppings...that was a line they didn't want to have to cross…

"Yeah...I think I'd have died of embarrassment," Jaune groaned, and that was saying something since him and humiliation were old friends.

"Let's just keep moving on," Pyrrha sighed, though she also hoped they didn't have to deal with those things anytime soon.

"Agreed," everyone nodded before continuing on their way.

It was after a good 10 or so minutes of walking that the group came upon yet another oddity of the Digital World.

"Is… is that a field of vending machines?" Nora asked, blinking, even she couldn't come up with this, and she had the craziest dreams.

"Yeah, I'm not even questioning this world anymore, and it's only been a few days." Gyro said dryly.

"...so...anyone wanna see if we can actually get a drink from one of them?" Ruby asked.

"I don't know…" Blake seemed uncertain.

"I agree. We probably shouldn't fiddle with anything we don't need to," Weiss agreed. "We don't even know what might be in the drinks if you actually got something."

"Good point," Ruby nodded in understanding.

"Yeah...but tell that to her…" Pierce deadpanned, causing them to turn and see Nora having put in a coin into one of the machines.

"Why is she just rolling with it?" Jaune said with a groan.

"Though you have to admit...aren't you all a LITTLE curious as to what's gonna happen?" Gyro chuckled wryly.

"The sad part is we can't deny that…" Ren muttered with a face palm.

After a few moments where Salamon had caught up to Nora, climbing up to be on her head again like usual, the carrot headed girl finally pushed one of buttons on the soda machine… only for the front of the machine to fall forward, Nora moving out of the way with a yelp.

And inside the machine was… a Numemon.

"Oh Oum dammit not another one." Pierce said with a groan.

Numemon blinked, seemingly a bit surprised at suddenly being found, before his eyes landed on Nora, blinking again, and then raising one of his stubby arms "Wanna go on a date with me?"

Back at the group, Ren could be seen with his eyes darkened and about to march forward before Gyro and Pierce held him back.

Nora looked down at the Numemon for a moment, before shaking her head "No thanks, you're not my type."

"Aw." Numemon sighed out, sagging his body down "At least I tried I guess." he then looked towards the group, and then back at Nora "Would any of the other girls be interested in a date?"

"I… don't really think so." Nora said, shaking her head slowly, she thought it would be best to spare the slug from getting a scalding remark courtesy of Weiss or a very unnerving look from Blake.

"Awww…" The Numemon sighed, but ultimately accepted the offer. "Well, can't blame a guy for trying. Thanks for actually being nice about it," he said, before picking up the front of the vending machine...and closed his little hiding spot up.

Nora blinked, before shrugging and walking back to the others.

"Huh...for once we settled something peacefully," Weiss blinked. After how their other encounters had gone, this was actually a surprisingly refreshing change.

"Let's be thankful for that and just move on then." Gyro said with a relieved sigh.

"I'm surprised the Numemon up top are more hospitable than the ones in the sewers." Gabumon mused.

"Maybe it's thanks to just that? Where they live?" Pyrrha wondered.

"I guess it could be something interesting to figure out… when we're back home of course." Weiss said, before adding the last part with a sigh as they started walking through a forest in the marshlands.

They fell into a comfortable silence after that, focused only on moving onwards, until…

"Is… is that a giant teddy bear?" Pierce asked with a raised eyebrow as he and everyone else looked up at the giant yellow teddy bear.

"That's Monzaemon, he's the mayor of Toy Town and just loves to play games with people." Veemon answered, relaxing.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Monzaemon_

 _Monzaemon. Vaccine Type. A Perfect Level Puppet Digimon. A Digimon in the shape of a large teddy bear, they aren't much of a fighter, and are usually the kind to look for peaceful solutions to conflict. This is reflect in it's special attack, Lovely Attack, which sends out hearts that trap it's targets and fills them with a feeling of happiness._

"Play games huh? What kind of games would he play if he had a black gear stuck in him?" Jaune couldn't help but ask dryly.

The Digimon all stalled at the question, as the possibility hadn't crossed their minds yet. "That's...a really good point…" Gomamon admitted.

"Sorry everyone, not to sound like jerks, but after the last few times, we'd rather believe EVERY Digimon we see might have a Black Gear stuck in them until proven otherwise," Pyrrha said. "It's kind of part of being Huntsmen. You either stay on guard, or you end up dead."

"Your world is scarier than we thought…" Gabumon shivered slightly.

"You have no idea." all the hunters said together.

Apparently, Monzaemon chose that moment to notice them, as his squinted red eyes moved down to look at them "Welcome to Toy Town children, allow me to welcome you."

"That sounds more ominous than it should." Ren pointed out.

"Split up and run!" Gyro shouted as everyone quickly did just that, running off in different directions, their Digimon partner at their side.

Apparently them suddenly scattering like that confused Monzaemon enough for a few moments that he didn't know where to go, before walking off after one of the pairs.

As it turned out, the pair he was running after was Ruby and Palmon.

"Oh come on, seriously?!" Ruby shouted in annoyance, before glancing back ahead, seeing there weren't that many trees in her path, nodding to herself as she grabbed Palmon and picked her up "Hang on tight!"

"Wha-?" was all Palmon had time to say before Ruby suddenly rocketed forwards with her semblance, leaving a trail of rose petals behind… which became useless to follow her when she cleared the forest and started to move around everywhere, scattering the petals all over the place so she'd be untraceable while she quickly tried to find a hiding spot.

Thankfully, she found one thanks to some help "Hey! Over here!" whisper shouted a Numemon from his hiding spot in a trench as Ruby zipped into it, quickly covering her mouth when she felt the ground shake under Monzaemon's stomping. A few tense moments passed, before finally they stopped hearing Monzaemon's heavy footsteps. Once they were sure he was gone, they all sighed in relief.

"I guess he really does have a Black Gear in him. Monzaemon don't usually behave that way…" Palmon said, sticking her head out to see the retreating form of Monzaemon in the woods.

"It's a shame though. He sure seems like he'd have been really nice…" Ruby frowned, peeking out as well.

"Oh yeah, he was the best," the Numemon agreed, poking his eye stalks out. "He was always so nice to us whenever we came into Toy Town for some fun, but one day he suddenly changed. Now he goes and catches anyone who so much as comes near the town," the Numemon explained sadly.

"Don't worry, we'll make sure he's back to being a good Digimon again. All we need to do is remove the Black Gear," Palmon assured.

"You will? Thanks!" the Numemon smiled, before adding, "By the way, wanna go on a date with me?"

Ruby sweat dropped a little at that. "Uh...thanks, but no thanks. I'm a little busy actually," she declined politely.

"That so? Bummer," the Numemon shrugged.

Thankfully, the Numemon was able to show them the way to Toy Town, though he didn't go further than the edge of the town so as to not risk being caught.

Ruby and Palmon didn't stay in the main road for long though, quickly ducking into an alley way as they started to move around through town, hidden behind the houses.

As they were passing a pair of trash cans however, the two stopped when they heard them rattle, getting ready to run in case it was a hostile Digimon, only for their faces to come up blank when the lids were lifted.

Inside the two trash cans, had been Gyro and Agumon. "Yo." the two said together.

The two girls continued to stare for a moment, before they sighed out in relief "Oh thank Oum. I was worried for a moment there." Ruby admitted as Gyro and Agumon climbed out of the trash cans.

"Yeah well, sorry for the scare. That was literally the only place we could hide in when fluffy the terrible tried to laser beam us to death," Gyro sighed, brushing off any dirt, thankful that the trash cans were actually very clean.

"You guys were right, he definitely has a black gear in him. Everything about him is wrong now," Agumon said.

"Tell us about it," came Biyomon's voice as she and Yang poked out from behind one of the nearby roofs.

"Never thought I'd see the day I actually had to dodge giant heart shaped bubbles," Yang added in agreement.

"At least all three of us got away safely," Ruby said as Yang and Biyomon came down to their level.

"Where is everyone else?" Palmon asked.

"We haven't seen them yet, but this town has gotten strange," Agumon said.

"Strange how?" Ruby and Palmon asked.

Instead of answering, the others pointed to a nearby square, where they saw several Digimon playing with toys...or rather, it honestly looked like the roles were in reverse, as they were being chased by a number of toys, going on and on about how happy they were...in voices that honestly sounded more brainwashed than actually happy.

"...that's just disturbing…" Ruby shivered.

"Doesn't help when they just look tired from all the running they've been doing." Gyro pointed out, as the Digimon were very clearly exhausted.

"We gotta save them." Ruby said with a firm nod after a few moments.

"Yeah, but first we should find where the others are, I think it would be better if we all came up with a plan together so we don't all suddenly launch different plans at the same time and we just end up hurting ourselves." Yang said, earning a nod from Ruby.

"We'd better get moving then. And stay out of the streets. The last thing we want is for Monzaemon to find us," Biyomon said, earning a nod from her friends.

The trip though the town was a tense one, as even though they were in a town that looked like it came out of a fairy tale, the presence of various mon who were being played with by toys served as a reminder of what the black gears could do to even the nicest of Digimon. This was honestly starting to feel less and less like a search through a town, and more and more like some covert spy mission with how they were constantly on guard, and kept checking corners to make sure it was all clear.

Unfortunately, they eventually reached a point where they were forced to move out in the open for a little, so they tried to do so as fast as they could. "How is it, Biyomon?" Yang asked as her partner was currently flying up to get a peek.

"I don't see him, so we should be clear," she reported.

"Okay everyone, let's go!" Ruby said, as they all quickly went through the square. Unfortunately, they were only half way through when they heard a familiar stomping coming their way.

"Uh oh, he's coming!" Palmon gulped.

"In here, hurry!" came Jaune's voice as they turned to see their friend coming out of a nearby manhole. Deciding not to think too much about it, they dove in after him, closing the lid along the way. Just in time too, as Monzaemon stomped through the square, looking around, and idly scratching his head. He'd sworn he thought he saw something, but ultimately shrugged and moved on.

A moment passed, Gomamon peeking from the manhole, before lowering it with a sigh "We're in the clear, he didn't notice you guys."

"Oh thank Oum." Gyro breathed in relief, looking around to see who else was present.

There was Jaune and Gomamon obviously, as well as Pyrrha, Gabumon, Blake, and Patamon.

As well as a few Numemon.

"Been hiding in the sewers huh?" Yang asked, wiping some sweat from her brow.

"The Numemon have been rather helpful in staying hidden." Blake said with a simple nod.

"At least they aren't from the same group that threw poop at us earlier." Patamon said from Blake's arms.

"They keep asking for dates though." Pyrrha said with a strained smile.

An awkward pause went through the group at that. "Ah...yeah, that other Numemon did the same for me," Ruby chuckled awkwardly. "At least they take rejection well...as long as you're polite about it…"

"I'm gonna punch him." Yang and Gyro said together darkly before nodding at each other.

"No punching the annoying, but helpful Digimon," Blake said, though a little half heartedly. Clearly she was also getting tired of the persistent slugs.

"Well, enough about that. Did you guys happen to find the others?" Agumon asked, quickly defusing the situation.

"Not yet. Fortunately these sewers stretch through the town, so we've been using them to search," Gabumon explained.

"Aside from the smell, this is actually pretty good," Patamon said.

"Right," Gyro nodded. "So...any places you haven't seen yet?"

"Haven't been on the east side of town yet." Jaune said with a shrug.

"That's probably where the others are then." Palmon voiced her opinion.

"Let's go!... Which way's east though?" Ruby said, before pausing and asking more quietly a moment later.

"Follow us," Pyrrha said with a light chuckle, before turning to the Numemon. "Thanks again for all the help."

"No problem. If you can bring Monzaemon to his senses, we're happy to help," they nodded, before scampering off.

"Oh thank Oum they didn't ask again." Blake said with a sigh.

It ended up taking a few minutes to get to the east side of town, as they had been on the west side when they went under, having to go all the way across to the other end of the place.

After a few checks in various locations, they didn't find anything, having had to quickly retreat when they heard the familiar stomping. However, eventually they came out of a manhole...which was inside of a house for some reason. "Huh...strange place to put a manhole," Biyomon commented.

"Tell me about it." Pierce said as he peeked from behind a large treasure chest, relief in his voice that it was them.

"Oh hey, is everyone else here?" Yang asked as she came out of the sewer, helping Ruby up.

In response, the rest of their group either came out of unlocked chests, or moved out from a pile of toys.

"Good, everyone's here then." Gyro said, being the last to come out of the manhole.

"Yeah, and Pierce has been busy picking locks." Veemon said with a grin.

"Um… why?" Jaune asked after a moment.

"There are Digimon trapped in some of these chests." Ren said, which earned a few muffled noises from a few chests.

"Right, let me give you a hand." Blake said after a moment, reaching into her pocket, and honestly, no one showed any ounce of surprise when she pulled out a simple bobby pin.

"So is it true that every woman has like, hundreds of these?" Gyro asked in amusement.

"Ruby has none, but she doesn't care a lot about her hair." Yang said with a shrug.

"Yeah, cause I'm not crazy about it like you are miss I-punch-everything-that-touches-it." Ruby shot back.

"This coming from the girl who calls her weapon her baby?" Yang added with a smirk.

It basically ended with Ruby pouting, and Gyro having to try not to pat her head because of how adorable it made her look.

"Okay, hair aside," Weiss sighed in mild annoyance. "What are we going to do about Monzaemon? Clearly he's also infected by the Black Gears, but as we've all had close calls with his 'Lovely Attack', a head on attack is inadvisable."

"Well, he has a zipper on his back right? Let's just pull it down and get the gear out." Nora said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Everyone paused at her words, before groaning as they realised they hadn't thought of that "I still don't get these sudden bouts of wisdom she has." Salamon groaned while shaking her head.

"You get used to it," Ren shrugged.

"Plus they can be pretty helpful," Gyro admitted.

"At any rate, our first priority is to avoid the Lovely Attack," Veemon said, breaking the awkward air. "When me and Pierce happened to find him using it on some Digimon, he said something about their 'emotions being erased', which probably explains the weird behavior of the mon out in town."

"And got it." Pierce muttered, the chest he was working on finally unlocking, opening it as a group of Digimon similar to Palmon popped out of it, only they had purple flowers on their heads.

"Thanks for getting us out of there," one of them said. "We were trapped for hours!"

"No problem. But I think you all might want to lay low for a while. At least until Monzaemon is back to normal," Pierce said.

"How come you guys… and girls," Gyro said when some of them shot him a mild glare "Got locked up in here?"

"Monzaemon's Lovely Attack didn't work on us." came a voice from the other chest in the room… which had what looked like a green Kunemon, a purple Patamon and a Gabumon with a pink body instead of yellow.

"What is this, recolor city?" Jaune muttered as he eyed the Digimon that had come out of the treasure chests.

"A lot of Digimon kinda look like each other, only with different colors," Gomamon said.

"Yeah, and I'm probably one of the Digimon with the most versions out there, I know there's a Black variant, a white variant called SnowAgumon, and even one that exists specifically as a teacher at a school somewhere out there." Agumon counted off his fingers.

"Oookay, that last one was weird," Gyro blinked. "Still though, why didn't the Lovely Attack affect them?"

"We honestly don't know. For some reason it just didn't, and when we woke up, we were locked in these chests," some of the Digimon said.

"Strange… I wonder what the difference is between you and the others?" Pyrrha mused, looking at them curiously.

"Well… maybe it has to do with toys?" Ruby said, bringing attention to her "I mean, this place is TOY town, and all the other Digimon were being chased by toys."

"I dunno, I mean, I take care of my toys, and some of my friends who didn't are out there… could that be it?" the purple Patamon wondered.

"I suppose it makes sense… if the same is true for the rest of you?" Weiss asked the other trapped Digimon, earning nods from all of them "Then that's the most likely case."

"Okay, so that's one mystery solved," Yang sighed out.

"The problem is it doesn't really help us much," Ruby sighed.

"I think no matter how you look at it...some of us need to be the bait," Pierce groaned in annoyance.

"Oh man this is gonna suck." Gyro said, rubbing his forehead.

"Maybe we should also figure out who pulls down the zipper?" Jaune suggested.

"I can do it. I'm pretty fast, so he won't see me coming." Ruby said, grinning just a bit.

"That's fair. I'll be one of the distractions," Blake volunteered. "My Semblance is quite useful for these kinds of situations."

"I'll do it too, I can probably annoy him a bit by throwing stuff at him from the rooftops." Pierce grinned after a few moments.

"I think I could probably do it as well." Ren said after a moment.

"Okay, so we got our distractions. Now, not saying Ruby won't do her job, but I think we should have some backups for that part too," Jaune said. "You know, just in case something goes wrong."

"I'm almost as fast as she is when I'm in the air, so I think I can have that part covered, even though I can't fly at the moment." Gyro said after thinking about it.

"Okay, and everyone else be ready to attack if things go pear shaped then," Jaune nodded.

"Look at you, taking charge like that." Gomamon said as he nudged Jaune with a grin.

Jaune smiled bashfully as his partner said that "Well, I wouldn't go that far, I'm just giving suggestions really."

"Jaune, it's fine, every group needs a leader, and honestly, I think ours has a few in it." Pyrrha told him with a smile as she put her hand on his shoulder.

The brothers shared a quick knowing look at the sight, but the situation made it so they had to hurry. "Okay everyone, we'd better get ready. We'll likely only get one shot at this," Gyro said with a nod.

"Right," everyone nodded.

"You guys might want to lay low for now. If this doesn't work, we may need to come up with a new plan," Nora said to the freed Digimon, none of them objecting to that idea.

Minutes later, everyone was moving through town discreetly, this time to try and find Monzaemon so they could start the plan.

"Do you see him Wormmon?" Ren asked his partner who was hidden on the roof of the house they were hiding behind, having drapped a cocoon over himself which could hide him well enough due to the roof being white.

Wormmon looked over the area silently, narrowing his eyes when he saw a pair of yellow ears peeking from the top of a house a few streets over, before he crawled back down to Ren "I found him."

"Alright, let's do this." Pierce said, holding a few things he was ready to throw while Veemon held two trash can lids in his hands. Once Monzaemon was nearby… "Hey you! Build-a-Bear knockoff! Is that fur supposed to be corny or are you just that cheap?!"

Monzaemon promptly whirled towards them at the words, and his eyes started to twitch as he received an old banana peel on his nose while two trash can lids were being clanged together.

Pierce and Veemon grinned at him, before quickly running and turning down a street as Monzaemon started chasing them. "Pooh Bear is after the honey!" Pierce shouted.

On cue, Ren and Blake darted out of their hiding spots, Wormmon and Patamon peppering Monzaemon with their moves, Ren using the terrain to confuse the large Digimon, and when he tried to strike at Blake who was seemingly moving less, his paw met empty air as Blake seemingly vanished, the thing actually being one of her clones.

Thankfully, because of how much he had to bring his attention somewhere else, he didn't have time to use his Lovely Attack, so the group was able to lead him along while only having to worry about his laser eyes.

As for Monzaemon himself, he didn't realise he was being moved along towards the center of town, he was too focused on trying to get everyone to just stop moving and for the noise to cease. However, before he could make any headway, Biyomon, Tentomon, and Patamon were soon in his face, firing their attacks from various angles, forcing him to start swatting almost blindly at the fliers. Little did he know, he was leaving himself wide open, as Ruby dashed and jumped off a building, aiming for his zipper like a guided missile, and grabbed hold.

"I got it!" she called out victoriously, pulling it down….only for it to get stuck a third of the way down. Her eyes soon shrank till they were pin pricks at this snag in the plan...and it seemed Monzaemon had finally realized what was going and he wasn't impressed. "THE ZIPPER GOT STUCK!"

"I'm not going to just leave it so easy to pull down." Monzaemon said, before he started shaking his body from left to right, Ruby getting swung around as she was still hanging onto the zipper.

"Ruby!" Palmon said in worry, before her eyes turned up to Monzaemon's head, her mouth forming into a snarl "You… you… let her go!"

 **(Play Brave Heart)**

At that moment, Ruby's Digivice glowed bright, sending the signal and calling for the light that released the stream of data.

"Palmon, Evolution!" Palmon called out as the data flowed into her, before her form changed. "Togemon!" instead of the small humanoid plant she was, she now stood as, quite literally, a giant cactus on two legs, boxing gloves on her arms as three holes where on her face, two to represent her eyes, and one for her mouth, a tuft of orange colored grass on top of her head.

Ruby felt her finger slip as she was forced to let go, and was soon flying in the air, but instead of landing on the hard ground, she felt herself being caught in an oddly soft pair of hands. Blinking, she looked up and saw the form her partner had taken. "P-Palmon?" she blinked in surprise, partly at seeing her partner evolve...and also due to the form itself. A cactus wasn't quite what she was expecting.

"Its Togemon now," Togemon smiled before putting her down gently on the ground, then turning her gaze to Monzaemon with an angry glare. "You're gonna pay for what you tried to do to Ruby," she said as she lumbered towards Monzaemon. Despite the situation, any onlooker might have found this scene to be almost comical though, considering it was about to be a fight between a giant teddy bear and a giant cactus with boxing gloves.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Togemon_

 _Togemon. Data Type. An Adult Level Plant Digimon. She can store nutrient data in her body just like a regular plant, capable of using it to survive for long periods of time in a desert. It's impossible to discern what she's thinking from simply looking at her face, but once angered, her intent is very clear. Her special attack is Needle Spray, launching hundreds of prickly needles from her body in whatever direction she desires._

"Okay, this is probably one of the stranger matchups we're gonna see," Gyro blinked at the fight that soon unfolded. Togemon showed that her boxing gloves weren't for show as she landed a few strong jabs and hooks on Monzaemon's face, but the large teddy bear showed he was no slouch in a fight either, managing to pull off some strong counters. The exchange soon became rather back and forth.

"Uh...shouldn't we help?" Agumon blinked as he walked up next to Gyro.

"Not sure if we wanna get in the middle of that…" Gyro sweat dropped as Togemon landed a particularly savage strike. He knew a grudge fight when he saw one.

"So...we just sit here and do nothing?" Yang asked, sounding a little skeptical.

"Of course not," Pierce said, before taking off his jacket. "Go Togemon go! Punch that bear's stuffing out!" he cheered while waving his jacket.

"...that's one way to help I guess…" Ruby sweat dropped.

Whether Togemon heard them was debatable, but either way, she was all too happy to oblige as she landed a rapid fire punch on Monzaemon, forcing the bear back, and even when he tried to use his eye beams, she punched him with an uppercut, forcing the beams into the air.

Finally getting fed up of this, Monzaemon got some range, and jumped up. "Lovely Attack!" he called out, releasing a flurry of blue heart shaped bubbles. However, Togemon smirked as she saw the opening she wanted, and bringing her arms together, called out, "Needle Spray!" before throwing them to the sides, as a barrage of needles was launched from her body, aimed at Monzaemon while popping all the bubbles in the middle of he way. Monzaemon had only a moment to widen his eyes, before he was soon turned into the world's largest pincushion, crying out in pain, while his zipper was forced open and the Black Gear inside was violently thrown out, before he finally collapsed on the ground unconscious.

 **(Song end)**

After a moment of making sure he wasn't getting back up, Togemon's body glowed as she reverted back down to Palmon, sighing in relief that it was over.

She didn't have much time to relax though, as Ruby quickly had her arms around her in a tight hug "That was so awesome Palmon!"

"Ruby… can't breathe…" Palmon gasped out as her legs flailed.

Several minutes later, the sun was starting to set, as Monzaemon had woken up, his body shrunken down slightly as now that he was sitting down he was roughly the same height as the hunters. All around them the Digimon that had been captured or manipulated were gathered.

"I'm terribly sorry for what I did," Monzaemon apologized. "As the mayor of Toy Town I had only wanted to increase the standing of toys. Toys are to be played with, not toyed with after all, so its important to take good care of them. I only wanted to teach that lesson," he said, bowing deeply. "However what I did was going too far, and even if the Black Gear pushed me to that extent, it was still wrong of me."

"Don't worry too much about it, you weren't fully in control of your actions. Trust us, we've seen a few cases already so we have an idea of how it works." Gyro said reassuringly.

Monzaemon smiled, a warm and kind smile this time. "Thank you. I truly appreciate that," he said, before a thought crossed his mind. "Ah, while it's not much, I'd like to at least offer you all a reward for all you've done for Toy Town," he said as he stood up.

"What kind of reward?" Ruby asked curiously.

Monzaemon laughed, a jolly one as opposed to the more sinister ones the others had heard from him earlier in the day "The REAL Lovely Attack." he said, before he released hearts from his body, pink this time as opposed to the previously blue ones.

Everyone was a bit surprised, but when the hearts wrapped around them and started floating up, they couldn't keep the smiles off their faces as a sense of joy filled them all.

As everyone floated around in the heart bubbles, one of the manhole covers was lifted up, a Numemon poking his head out "Hey! One of your girls interested in a date?"

"No thanks!" was the resounding answer from all the girls, even as they were still smiling.

Numemon sighed as he slumped forward "Some things never change."

* * *

 **Alright, I'm already seeing it coming.**

 **Togemon's attack, yes, I know, in japan it was Chikuchiku Banban, but, tell me, how well does that work in english?**

 **Not a lot right? So, instead, we decided to make this attack one of the rare cases where it uses the english name, as it's more to the point *ba dum tss***

 **Jokes aside, don't expect to see a lot of english attack names, though sometimes there might be mixed names for an attack as the english version came up with a good idea, but the original japanese version as a good one as well.**

 **Anyway, I hoped you enjoyed, because...**

 **The Adventure Evolves.**


	11. 10: Flying Shadow! Stingmon!

**This one certainly took a bit.**

 **We had a bit of trouble getting ideas for this one, but in the end, we pulled it off.**

 **Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

 **Flying Shadow! Stingmon!  
**

* * *

"Great weather today, huh?" Jaune idly said as the group was once again on the road in the morning, having stayed the night in Toy Town, which was honestly one of the funnest things they'd done. The twins had even said it was like spending a night in some place called Disney Land back on Earth, which someone apparently nicknamed the 'happiest place on Earth'.

"Surprisingly yeah, it felt a bit more humid this morning so I thought we wouldn't have this much sun out." Gomamon added his own bit.

"I'm just glad it isn't too cold out today." Wormmon said, shaking a bit as he imagined how freezing it could get the closer they were to the middle of the island.

"I suppose the temperature has started dropping somewhat recently." Ren noticed.

"Think it's cause we're getting closer to the mountain?" Veemon mused.

"Can't say for sure...but I wouldn't say it's impossible," Gyro said. "Still though...our next landmark should be the Fanbeemon Hive...considering they're probably big bees, you'd thinking finding a hive would be easier…"

"It doesn't help that it's not showing up on the map." Weiss said with a sigh of annoyance.

"I'm sure we'll end up finding it soon." Tentomon tried to reassure her.

"I hope we do, maybe we could take a bit of honey if we ask them nice enough?" Ruby wondered.

"Well, at least you'll be directly asking them and not stealing." Palmon said with a shrug.

"Still, we won't be able to do much if we don't find them first," Pyrrha said...right before the sky seemed to darken. "Huh, must be a cloud."

"Actually...that's not a cloud," Gabumon said, pointing upward and all of them looked up to see that it was a large Digimon.

The best way to describe the Digimon that was flying above them, was a giant, mechanical wasp, it's lower abdomen lacking a stinger and looking to have a long range weapon instead, while instead of wings it had thrusters on its back and on its shoulders.

"Ok… what Digimon is that?" Pierce asked, while eyeing his brother, who was twitching while looking up.

Right… he'd almost forgotten Gyro had a fear of wasps.

"That's Waspmon, he's kind of like a security guard in a way." Agumon said, while making sure his partner was ok.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Waspmon_

 _Waspmon. Virus Type. An Adult Level Cyborg Digimon. Guardian of the hive, it's antennae have high reconnaissance ability, making him the perfect sentry to search for intruders. If any Digimon comes close to the hive, they should expect to be quickly interrogated by this fast Digimon, as his four thrusters allow him to move in any direction in quick bursts. Its special attack is Turbo Stinger, which rapid fires the cannon on its abdomen._

"Ok, what's wrong with Gyro?" Yang said, finally noticing how the goggle head was acting.

"Is he dancing or something?" Biyomon said in confusion as he kept twitching.

"Gyro's afraid of wasps, mostly because when he was a kid he ended up stepping near a full hive, and, well, let's just say it hurt like hell." Pierce explained.

The other humans winced in sympathy at that.

"Halt! In the name of the hive!" Waspmon shouted as he descended near them, and everyone blinked as Gyro was suddenly behind Pierce.

An awkward silence descended, before Ren decided to step forward. "We're sorry for the intrusion. We won't be here long if that's alright."

Waspmon looked at all of them, humming in thought "How do I know I can trust you?"

"Well, besides the fact my brother is scared of you and wants to leave?" Pierce said dryly as Gyro was still behind him, looking from over his shoulder, though he had to wince as one of his ears was suddenly flicked and he could feel the glare on the back of his head.

Waspmon would probably have blinked at that, if he had normal eyes that is "Why is he afraid of me?"

"He was stung several times by something that looks very similar to you." Pierce said, giving the short version.

The mechanical wasp paused a moment at that, before lifting up his abdomen slightly showing a blaster type of weapon "I have no stinger on my body."

"Oh thank Oum that actually helps." Gyro sighed out as he stepped back from behind his brother. Clearing his throat a little, and with some difficulty, looked at Waspmon. "So...uh...you're the guardian of the Fanbeemon hive, right?"

"That is correct, though it is not a hive per say, as we are currently building something far more glorious than a simple hive." Waspmon spoke, pride evident in his voice.

"What are you building?" Blake asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Is it something big?" Patamon added, curious.

"It is our grand masterpiece, the glorious aerial Royal Base, from which we will soar through the skies of the Digital World." again, the pride was obvious in his voice.

"Wow, you're building something like that? Cool," Ruby said.

"If it's alright, could you show us where it is? Your hive is one of the landmarks we were told of to get to Infinity Mountain," Ren asked.

"That is reasonable. Our hive IS one of the closest landmarks, yes," Waspmon said, before giving them all an appraising look. "You all seem honest enough. Very well, I shall help you. However, if you so much as TRY to do anything out of line…" he left the threat hanging, his tone nothing short of menacing. "Is that understood?"

"Crystal," everyone gulped.

As Waspmon turned, hovering ahead, the others followed behind him, still a bit nervous.

"Think he'll let us take some honey?" Nora whispered.

"I think now REALLY isn't the time to be thinking with your stomach Nora." Salamon hissed quietly at her.

Fortunately it seemed either Waspmon didn't hear them, or he heard them but didn't care, as he continued onwards. It wasn't long before the group saw their next destination as they made it out of the woodland areas.

"That… is a very big hive." Weiss said slowly, looking up at the huge mechanical hive that appeared a quarter finished around a tall and wide oak tree.

"Very impressive. It looks like their even using Chrome Digizoid to make it." Tentomon said as he eyed the hive.

His words caused a few blinks "What's Chrome Digizoid?" Gyro asked with a raised eyebrow.

"The strongest metal in the Digital World, it's even tougher than Titanium." Tentomon answered easily.

"Wow. Wonder if we could get some of that," Ruby said in awe.

"Thinking of upgrading Crescent Rose even more?" Yang half-teased. She had a feeling if that wasn't what Ruby was thinking, it would be now.

"Obviously, and hey, if we get enough, maybe I could try to upgrade all of your weapons too." Ruby said, jumping a bit on her feet with a grin.

"That… that sounds like it could be pretty damn awesome." Pierce said as he grinned at the thought.

"Well, don't get too excited yet. Chrome Digizoid is...well...its not overly rare, but its not something you just give out," Palmon said, dampening her partner's mood a little.

"Well...we'll see how it goes," Gyro said reassuringly. "Maybe we can try to mine some of it ourselves."

"I'd appreciate if you refrained from doing so," Waspmon said. "It is hard enough to find Chrome Digizoid on File, so we were fortunate to find a mine that met our needs."

"Well…" Pyrrha started, looking at everyone as she may have an idea "Do you know any other places that might have some?"

Waspmon paused at that, bringing one of his hands to his chin "Perhaps… yes, maybe on the continents. Most likely you may find some on the likes of Folder, WWW, and Server. Truth be told, they're more abundant than this island, but they're also more dangerous at the moment, hence why we chose to build here. Though, WWW might be a somewhat safer option for you all, as it serves as the home for the Digimon known as the Olympus 12, a group of protectors if you will."

"Huh...that's interesting," Jaune blinked. "Wait...so we're in a SAFE Island?"

"Yes, why would you think otherwise?" Waspmon asked.

"Oh...nothing much…" Jaune sighed, his face now one that screamed lemons at the thought that all the times they were in danger...and they were in what is considered SAFE by this world's standards.

"Yeah...the idea that we're in the 'Prologue' or at least 'Chapter 1', isn't the most comforting huh?" Pierce said, patting his back.

"Yeah, I think I wouldn't be surprised if we had to go to those places." Veemon said with a frown.

"Oh boy this isn't gonna be fun." Gomamon said with a sigh.

"Not like we'll have much choice though," Yang pointed out.

"...let's just keep walking…" Pyrrha suggested, to which they all nodded in agreement, the Hive soon coming up into their close up view...and they couldn't help but stare at how big it was. "Wow...I knew it looked big from afar, but this is REALLY big…" Pyrrha marveled.

"Of course. Once completed, this will be a self sustaining aerial base. Large enough to account for the needs of all the residents," Waspmon nodded.

"...so uh...is there a door, or do we need to fly up there?" Nora asked, noting a few openings up top, where they could see some small figures going in and out, no doubt the Fanbeemon that lived in there.

As if to answer her question, a hatch opened and unfolded into a ramp.

"...neat," Nora blinked.

With that the group went inside, ushered in by Waspmon, but when they got inside…

"Ah! Waspmon, you're back!" a young voice sounded from up top, as an overgrown bee with large green eyes and a serrated stinger flew down from somewhere up top, a red scarf around his neck.

 _Digimon Analyzer: FanBeemon_

 _FanBeemon. Virus Type. A Child Level Insectoid Digimon. A strong, dedicated worker of a Digimon, always willing to assist others with its cheerful personality. It gets along the most with plant Digimon, and has the duty of bringing back data to assist in the construction of it's home. Its special attack is Gear Stinger, firing several tiny serrated stingers from it's abdomen._

Idly, the group noticed he was the only FanBeemon to carry an article of clothing on him, as they payed attention to him.

"FanBeemon, Worker 0948, what progress have we made since I left for patrol?" Waspmon asked, completely serious.

"Sector 8 has gone from 24% completion to 30% in the hour since you left, the boost was thanks to a travelling group of Floramon who pointed us in the direction of a nearby meadow where we were able to acquire more data." the FanBeemon said with a salute.

Waspmon nodded in acknowledgment. "Very good. That puts this weeks progress a good 3.7% faster than before."

While Waspmon was talking, the Huntsmen and their Digimon were talking amongst themselves. "Wow, they're rather...efficient," Weiss blinked.

"Well...they ARE bees, so I guess that makes sense," Jaune scratched the back of his head.

"Yeah, Fanbeemon are amongst the most efficient workers in the Digital World," Tentomon nodded in agreement.

"Hey, Gyro, are you ok?" Agumon asked his partner, nudging him.

Gyro looked down at him "Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm fine." he shrugged "Bees are a completely different thing for me, so I'm not afraid of them."

"Though the bees aside...man, feels like we walked into a sci-fi set all of a sudden," Yang remarked, noting how high-tech the hive looked inside.

"That's because the Fanbeemon are actually borderline cyborg Digimon, though they still count as insectoid," Gabumon explained. "They're also really good builders."

"I...guess that makes sense," Jaune scratched the back of his head. Honestly, he didn't really fully understand, but he felt it'd be better not to ask too much.

"Excuse me." they all heard, turning their heads to see the same FanBeemon standing close to them "Waspmon told me to act as your guide while in the base, to make sure you don't step into an area that's still under construction." he said, giving them a small salute.

They all nodded at that, before looking between each other, trying to figure out where to go from here.

FanBeemon seemed to notice how confused they were, and they could see amusement in his eyes "I'm just gonna say this now, you don't have to worry about me being uptight or anything like that, I'm probably the most relaxed worker in this place."

"Well… good to know you're easy to talk to then." Gyro said after a moment.

"So...anyway, Waspmon said you're headed for Infinity Mountain. Nice place from what I can tell, not that I've ever been there. The cold doesn't really agree with us and all that," Fanbeemon said, starting to ramble off.

"Okay...so he's a lively one…" Veemon sweatdropped.

"Uh...Fanbeemon?" Ruby asked, stopping the Digimon that was now rambling off in his own little world.

"Yes?"

"So...you were gonna give us a tour or something?" she asked, remembering what he'd said earlier.

"Oh yeah. Right this way," Fanbeemon said happily, before leading them on what soon became a grand tour of the place.

The base was certainly even bigger on the inside then they had expected, several times going up or down different floors.

"First on our stop is the sleeping quarters, as you can see some of the others are sleeping in here, that's because their the night workers."

"Cafeteria right here, we mostly serve honey, but we also have plenty of vegetables and fruits."

"Welcome to the engine room, don't touch anything, but you can look since only us workers understand how this all works."

"Next up, engineering bay, this is where we build most machines that are going to be making this base work when it's finished."

"Down here is the cargo room, just a simple area where we store everything."

"Wow, you were serious when you said this was a self sustaining base," Weiss couldn't help but say. The efficiency of this hive was on the level of some of the Atlesian factories.

"Of course. We have to plan and do this all properly, or we'll be in big trouble later if something goes wrong," Fanbeemon nodded. "But all this wouldn't be possible if it weren't for Waspmon keeping the perimeter safe so we could focus all our efforts on building."

"Speaking of Waspmon, is he always so… militant?" Blake asked, pausing to find the right word.

"Pretty much, he was always like that even as a FanBeemon apparently, his first priority was always security." FanBeemon said with a shrug. "But under that he's a real nice guy. Always looking out for the hive's best interest."

Ren silently thought about Waspmon, and couldn't help but notice a few similarities that gave a nostalgic look to his eyes as he thought of someone.

Wormmon noticed how Ren's pace had slowed, twisting his body to look at his partner's face "Ren? Are you ok?"

"I'm fine. It's nothing," Ren reassured his partner. It wasn't exactly nothing, but it wasn't important at the moment, so as it was, they were better off not knowing.

"Now then, how about we head back to the cafeteria? It's almost time to eat after all." FanBeemon suggested after a moment, earning nods as they all went back there, and now that they were actually stopping and not just quickly moving on, the smell of honey was easily noticeable in the air.

"So, how does this work?" Weiss asked as she looked at the various machines that seemed to be food dispensers.

"It's pretty easy, just put in a number, and then type in the kind of fruit or vegetable you want, and if you want honey, grab a bowl, put it under, and then just hold that button until you have enough." FanBeemon explained as he pointed to each button on one of the machines.

"Do you have any Diginoir?" Tentomon asked in front of one of the machines.

"Oh wow, now that you mention it, I could go for some too." Palmon said with a smile.

"We do actually, we harvested some Diginoir trees and planted them in a green room, that was going to be the next thing I would have shown you." FanBeemon said.

"What's Diginoir?" Nora asked, though the main thought on her mind was how edible it was.

"It's… uh… how do I explain this?" Salamon wondered.

"Diginoir is a pretty sought out food in the Digital World," Agumon said. "They're...well...it'd be easier if we just showed you," he said as he soon got his claws on a container. "These things grow on Diginoir trees, which grow in various locations all over the world."

"It...looks like some kind of biscuit or snack container…" Gyro blinked, looking at the object.

"That's because it is a container," Gabumon added, picking up one, and opening the top. "The Diginoir is inside of course," he added as he started pouring out what looked like small ring shaped grains/bits, and once he had a small handful, he tossed them into his mouth and started munching. "And they taste REALLY good too."

"They're also really easy to eat," FanBeemon added. "You can cook them in all sorts of ways, from frying them up, to even boiling them into a soup or stew."

"I suppose we should try and find any of these trees then out in the wilds." Pyrrha said as she accepted one of the grains from Gabumon, tasting it and finding it did taste rather good.

Gyro hummed as he looked at the can Agumon had in his hands "What happens if you plant one of the cans, would a tree grow?"

"That makes no-" Weiss started with an exasperated look, before being cut off.

"Of course, from what we've seen, the tree sprouts from the lid of the container a few days after being planted, it starts out small of course, but give it time and you have a nice Diginoir tree." FanBeemon answered easily.

Weiss was trying to find words as her jaw moved without a sound, before finally settling on "This world has no logic."

"Yeah, that's kind of why I figured something weird might be possible." Gyro said as he took a few cans from the machine and put them in his pouch to plant them later.

Overall, the food in the cafeteria was rather good, and nothing went wrong as the group ate… well, except for a lot of FanBeemon staring at Nora as she placed her head under dispenser and pushed the honey button and just kept on swallowing everything.

"How is she doing this?" The FanBeemon guiding them asked as he looked on.

"Trust us, we tried to figure it out already, we still don't know." Yang said, palming her face.

After finally pulling Nora away from the machine before she emptied it of all honey, they had just stepped out of the cafeteria, when the hunters all stopped as they heard their Digivices start to beep.

"That's probably not a good sign." Veemon said as the Digivices were on the Black Gear radar and one was close.

"Emergency! Emergency!" another FanBeemon shouted as he flew past them and into the cafeteria, the group stepping back in to hear what he had to say "Waspmon has gone berserk! He's attacking everyone and destroying the base!"

"Called it," Veemon deadpanned. It was a little worrying how easily they'd gotten used to having to deal with Black Gear infected Digimon that hearing about one didn't even phase them anymore.

"We must hurry though," Ren said, urgency present in his voice.

"Hopefully we stop him before he does too much damage." Wormmon added as the group headed back out of the cafeteria.

"Hey! Hold on! You're going to fight Waspmon?" the FanBeemon that had guided them asked in shock.

"We know what's causing him to go crazy, so the least we can do is try to help out." Gyro told him.

FanBeemon was a bit surprised, before looking thoughtful, nodding to himself after a moment "Follow me, we'll head to the security room and box him in an area he won't be able to escape from."

"Right. Lead the way," Blake nodded.

Just a few minutes later, the group found themselves in the security room, where they could see several cameras were monitoring the base.

"Alright, first, where is Waspmon?" FanBeemon muttered as he flew up to the console and started looking at each of the cameras.

"I'll take the upper left side." Tentomon said as he buzzed up to the corner and started looking.

"I'll go down here." Patamon added as he settled in the lower left corner.

Biyomon looked at them, before shrugging "Guess I'll take the other side." she said as she flew up to the upper right corner, leaving FanBeemon with the lower right.

It only took a few moments before… "There he is!" Patamon exclaimed as he pointed at one of the screens.

"Okay, so what's the plan?" Gomamon asked.

"For now? We aim to box him in then try to remove the gear," Gyro said.

"In that case, I'll handle the boxing in part, we have controls here that lets us bring down walls between areas." FanBeemon said as he settled in front of the console.

"Right," everyone nodded, before moving towards the location. The location in question was a sealed up launch bay. The area was large enough that they would be able to fight without much difficulties, but was also sealed up due to it being damaged recently due to an accident, thus making it perfect for this situation, as Waspmon wouldn't be able to escape unless he blasted his way out...but even than would take a lot of time, giving the Destined time to get there and stop him.

When the did finally reach the launch bay, they made sure to hide behind some of the equipment scattered about so they weren't noticed too easily. When they arrived, they were met with the sight of the crazed Digimon randomly attacking everything around him, the once dutiful and uniform guardian now reduced to a berserker who couldn't tell friend from foe.

"Well, at least no one stayed down here." Ruby said as she peeked over the box she was hiding behind, before getting pulled back down by Palmon.

"I really wish we had our weapons right now." Yang said, eyeing her wrists in annoyance.

"I may have an idea to sneak up on him though." Gyro said, before looking at Weiss "Your semblance, how good are you at using it without your weapon as a conductor's baton?"

"Good enough, what do you have in mind?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Make some of your glyphs appear in random spots on one of the walls, it should catch his attention." Gyro shot back, with Weiss nodding as she took a deep breath, before starting to do just that.

Several Glyphs appeared around the hangar, catching Waspmon's attention, and in his crazed state, he didn't think at all and aimed his weapon at the Glyphs.

They all watched him as he kept constantly firing his weapon at the glyphs, slowly spreading around the hangar as they tried to cover all possible angles of attack.

Though now there was the issue of what to use to attack with, as they could see the gear sticking out his back, so they just needed something to hit it with.

Eventually, someone did find a weapon though, as Ren held up a welder, looking around the crate he was hiding behind, glaring the gear stuck in Waspmon.

To meet someone that reminded him of the past, only to see them go berserk, it wasn't something he liked.

"Ren." he heard his partner whisper, turning his head to see Wormmon "Be careful, he's fast."

Ren looked at him for a moment longer, before he took a deep breath, letting it out slowly "Right, I will. Think you can make sure he keeps staring at that wall over there instead of turning all over the place?"

"I'll do what I can," Wormmon nodded, before using his Sticky Net as an impromptu grappling hook, getting to a higher position so he could have better aim. Once he was in position, he started firing a small barrage of Sticky Nets, soon covering several locations with the sticky substance. As expected, with how Waspmon was thrashing around, he was soon getting some of it on him, the effects slowly slowing him down a little as he tried to shake it off. Naturally the others weren't about to let THAT chance go to waste.

"Get him now!" Agumon shouted, as the various Child levels fired their attacks at the slightly disoriented Waspmon.

The attacks didn't seem to be doing much, but at the very least, they were keeping his attention splintered as he kept turning only to be hit in the back.

It was then that Ren took his chance, darting out from his cover, and when Waspmon was low enough, jumping up and grabbing onto the black gear with one hand, bringing up the welder with the other as he started using it on the gear, hoping to melt it off at the very least.

Waspmon's roar of pain was definitely unexpected, but if anyone had to guess, the Black Gear was possibly very sensitive to pain, like one big nerve cluster that stayed out in the open.

Though staying on wasn't easy, as Ren was getting tossed around so much he was reminded of the Seadramon incident.

Eventually, his grip slipped, getting flung into one of the crates scattered about in the hangar, wincing a bit at the hit to his back, but thankful his aura took the hit.

But sadly, Waspmon took that moment to finally concentrate on something, namely Ren, and levelled his blaster at him.

Wormmon's eyes widened in fear when he saw this, before jumping down right as Waspmon fired "No!" he wasn't going to let his partner get hurt!

 **(Play Brave Heart)**

Ren's Digivice started to shine in response, the signal being sent out, calling for the light that released a stream of data. "Wormmon, Evolution!" Wormmon called out as the data flowed into him, before he transformed. "Stingmon!" His body was now humanoid, covered in dark green and black chitin armor, his with spiked growths on his shoulders that resembled shoulder guards, his forearms were shaped like large black gauntlets, with each finger looking more like a claw, with a hole on top of the gauntlet for something to come out of it. His head looked relatively normal, like a helmet in a way with large ren compound eyes, a yellow Y on his forehead, red hair coming out the back of the helmet, two very long antennae, and finally, on his back were four long insect wings that seemed to be able to retract into his body.

Waspmon fired his blaster, but before any of the shots could hit, they were all knocked aside by Stingmon using the armor on his gauntlets. "Are you alright, Ren?" Stingmon asked.

"I'm alright…" Ren nodded, though he trailed off when he realized he hadn't actually heard his partner's new name.

"It's Stingmon," Stingmon said with a light chuckle. After what happened the last few times, he wasn't really surprised. But with that done, he turned to...well...it was hard to tell, but he was probably glaring at Waspmon. "I know you're not in your right state of mind, but get ready, because I don't plan on letting you off easy for nearly shooting my partner."

 _Digimon Analyzer: Stingmon_

 _Stingmon. Virus Type. An Adult Level Insectoid Digimon. An unusual Insectoid Digimon due to his humanoid appearance, Stingmon is nonetheless worthy of his skills, boasting a tough carapace, and being a swift flyer. He excels as an assassin, using precision strikes to take down his opponents after analyzing their body thanks to his natural calm nature. His special attack is Spiking Finish, extending one of the hidden spikes in his gauntlets and charging it with energy before piercing his opponent._

Waspmon didn't stand still as he aimed and began firing at Stingmon, but the nimble Digimon evaded the attacks with ease, before getting close and delivering a rapidfire kick, knocking Waspmon back.

Waspmon growled before trying to ram him, using his thrusters at full blast, before rocketing towards Stingmon. Stingmon saw it coming, but as Waspmon was getting a bit too close, braced himself, catching the berserk Digimon and getting pushed back a little, but eventually managed to stop him, before grabbing hold of him and spinning around and around, and bodily throwing him into a nearby wall. Waspmon painfully pushed himself out of the small crater he was in, and soon began charging up power in his blaster. Taking aim, he let the power charge up more and more, aiming right for Stingmon.

Seeing the obvious attack coming, Stingmon got some distance and decided to end this fight. His shoulder armor extending, "Spiking…!" he started, rearing back a little. "Finish!" he called out as he flew forward, the spike from his right arm extending into what appeared to be a purplish spike of energy. At the same time Waspmon fired, the beam meeting Stingmon head on, but he soon powered through the beam, and before long, stabbed Waspmon in the abdomen. Waspmon screeched in pain, before the Black Gear embedded in him was violently ejected, smashing into a nearby wall where it shattered completely.

 **(Song end)**

Stingmon nodded silently to himself as he retracted his spike and his shoulder pieces, before his body glowed as he reverted to Wormmon.

Minutes later, the group was back outside of the base, Waspmon in front of them with a few FanBeemon, their guide included, flanking him as they were carrying silver cubes of metal with them.

"You have my deepest thanks for freeing me of the influence of that strange gear, were it not for you I do believe the base would be nothing but ruins, setting us behind by several years. As such, I would like to offer something to you all for this great service you've done us." Waspmon said formally, before motioning the FanBeemon to move forward, handing the cubes to the hunters, the group looking at them curiously.

"What are these?" Ren asked, turning the cube over in his hands a few times.

"These are cubes of Chrome Digizoid, we decided that, since you saved the base as a whole, a fitting reward was called for." Waspmon said, clasping his hands behind himself.

"So cool." Ruby whispered in awe as she practically had stars in her eyes while looking at her own cube.

"It was our pleasure to help," Ren said with a gentle smile.

"But the token of appreciation is really appreciated. We'll be sure to put these to good use," Gyro grinned, idly wondering what Azure could do with these when he sees them.

After everyone stored the Chrome Digizoid in Gyro's pouch, they all got back on their way, heading towards the mountains, the peak of Mount Infinity casting its shadow over them.

However, as they walked, Wormmon crawled over on Ren's shoulder. "Hey Ren...you were really happy when we helped Waspmon back there. Why's that?" he couldn't help but ask.

Ren blinked, but smiled a little. "You really want to know, huh? Well...he reminds me of someone I looked up to a long time ago," he admitted. "I guess in a way I saw a bit of myself in the residents of the hive in that way."

"Well, then I'm sure they'll be alright then," Wormmon smiled, something Ren did as well as he and his friends continued on their way.

* * *

 **And there we go!**

 **Only three left to reach the Adult level now.**

 **Which means we're getting closer and closer to the Devimon battle.**

 **Hope you're all ready for that, because for now...**

 **The Adventure Evolves.**


	12. 11: Scarred Dragon! Veedramon!

**And the next chapter!**

 **Quick note before this one starts, the chapter title refers to scars, not to being afraid, because I know this word can be confusing at times.**

* * *

 **Scarred Dragon! Veedramon!  
**

* * *

The group continued to make their way towards Infinity Mountain, the Hive now no longer in sight as they went through a rocky pass. "The temperature is dropping, isn't it?" Tentomon said with a light shiver.

"Guess it really is cause we're getting close to the mountain," Weiss frowned slightly.

"Hopefully it doesn't get too bad though," Pyrrha frowned.

"Let's be glad we have the pouch Azure gave us, so we're set for supplies even if we get to an area where we can't find food," Gyro sighed. "I've got a few heaters in here too, so camping shouldn't be too bad."

"Yeah, we should really thank your brother when we get back," Ruby nodded in agreement.

"Still, we should be careful. This pass seems like it'll be slippery to get through," Palmon said, noting some of the snow on the ledges.

"Maybe I could melt it off?" Agumon suggested, already prepping a flame in his mouth.

"Nope!" Gyro quickly said as he clamped Agumon's jaw shut, the flame going off inside his mouth, making smoke come out his nostrils a moment later "You might cause a landslide down below for all we know, let's not take any risks."

Agumon's eyes widened, and he quickly nodded, albeit with a few tears escaping his eyes cause even if Gyro had done it for a good reason...it still hurt. "Sorry buddy," Gyro said apologetically.

"But maybe we could still try and see what's ahead," Yang suggested.

"Leave that to us," Biyomon said, as she and Tentomon flew upward to act as scouts. They weren't gone long, as they frantically came back, looking VERY worried.

"I don't like that look." Pierce said as he watched their faces, even Tentomon was able to have some expression on his face, surprising for an insect honestly.

"We just saw a huge amount of Black Gears, all coming from Mount Infinity, they seemed to be flying out of a temple at the top of the mountain." Tentomon quickly explained.

"That's… really, REALLY not a good sign." Jaune said, swallowing nervously.

"I'll say, hopefully those gears don't find any other Digimon to infect." Gomamon frowned in worry.

"With our luck, they likely will." Blake said with a sigh, before looking back at everyone "Though this probably means that whoever is making these gears is on top of the mountain."

"We have to stop him." Patamon said with a determined nod.

"Oh yeah! Time to go and kick some butt!" Veemon said, pumping his fists.

"You won't see me disagree with that idea." Gabumon added, rolling his shoulders for emphasis.

"Let's go break their legs!" Nora almost shouted with a grin.

"I like that plan!" Salamon grinned in agreement.

"Okay everyone, looks like we're in agreement. We need to get to the mountain as soon as possible, and put a stop to whoever is making these things," Gyro said, earning nods of agreement from them all. "But at the same time I think we can all agree that that doesn't mean we should rush through and possibly end up falling to our dooms in the hurry."

"Yeaaah, that'd definitely help," Blake deadpanned. "We can't really help anyone if we're a broken pile of bones at the bottom of a cliff."

"Dear Monty you're morbid." Pierce said dryly.

"She's not wrong though." Ren agreed with Blake.

"Could have worded it better if you ask me." Wormmon muttered, trying to banish the mental image THAT gave him.

Blake shrugged slightly at that, but ultimately they all agreed that they needed to keep going.

The trek through the pass was...slower than they'd like. The colder climate and higher altitude meant that snow was a problem, and on top of that, they had to carefully maneuver through some of the tighter passages. To make matters worse…

"An earthquake? Now?!" Pyrrha said incredulously as they all grabbed hold of something when the ground started to shake.

"It's not an Earthquake! It's…" Gabumon said, right as a large tortoise-like Digimon fell over a ledge overhead down to the ground below.

"Don't tell us. Territorial Digimon live on this pass, don't they?" Ren sighed.

"Yeah, Tortomon," Wormmon nodded.

"...so let me get this straight? We're on a pass that is narrow and treacherous as is...and on top of the fact that we're headed straight to whatever maniac has been making the Black Gears, we also have to worry about a group of overgrown tortoises fighting over territory that can cause the area to have small earthquakes?" Weiss said, her voice calm. Too calm.

"Uh….pretty much?" Tentomon gulped.

"...is anyone else in the mood for turtle soup?" Weiss asked, her voice frigid.

"Well… I hope none of you guys have a turtle like evolution down the road." Gyro said as he glanced at all the Digimon.

"She can't be mad for THAT long...right?" Gomamon said sounding a little nervous.

"And now you just jinxed us," Veemon deadpanned, earning a nervous chuckle from the aquatic Digimon.

"Let's just keep moving and keep a lookout for any other of those Tortomon." Pyrrha said with a sigh. Something they all agreed on.

The path was...it was honestly a mix of more dangerous yet more boring, compared to what they'd been through so far. Dangerous was due to the less than stable terrain, boring due to how lacking in life this area was compared to the others before it.

"This is is honestly a little tedious," Ruby sighed as they were once again pressed against the cliff walls, carefully inching across while every now and then a few rocks they bumped against fell down to the ravine below. "Though there's a lot of incentive to do it right…."

"Yeah...even I wouldn't do anything crazy right now," Nora nodded with a light gulp.

"Let's be sure to pass this way quickly then," Pyrrha said quickly.

"Sometimes I hate having a long tail." Veemon said as he was pushing his stomach flat against the cliff while having to grab onto his tail so it didn't balance him backwards.

"I think we're gonna be good for now though." Pierce said, looking towards the top of where they were walking.

"Why is that?" Blake asked.

"Its to do with my Semblance," Pierce said simply.

"That reminds me, what IS your semblance anyway?" Yang asked, turning her head to her fellow blonde, figuring now was as good a time as any.

Pierce looked at her "Well-" and before he could really start speaking, they all heard the sound of an angry screech, as they turned...and saw what looked like nothing short of a black demonic dragon in the air.

"Ok, what the HELL is that?" Jaune asked, staring at the nightmarish creature with a twitching eyebrow.

"That's Devidramon, and it's a really angry Digimon." Agumon said in worry.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Devidramon._

 _Devidramon. Virus Type. An Adult Level Evil Dragon Digimon. Known as the Many-Eyed Demon, it was born in the depths of the Dark Area. Its body is perfect for battle, with its long clawed limbs and its tail that can split open into several more claws, it strikes down its opponents as they cower in fear in front of it. Its special attack is Crimson Nail, cutting the enemy to pieces with it's blood red claws._

"Ya know, that thing looks a LOT like a Grimm...only without the white bone armor," Gyro idly pointed out...looking surprisingly calm right now.

"Yeah, it does," Pierce nodded in agreement.

"Why are you two so calm?!" Jaune all but demanded, as true enough, the Devidramon let out another angry roar, and came barreling towards them, and knocking them off the ledge to their doom...or that would have been the case if not for the sound of something cracking above them, causing them to look up and see a boulder detach from the cliff face, and actually hitting the Devidramon square on the head RIGHT as it was about to get them, causing it to stop in mid-air almost comically...before it soon fell to the darkness below along with the boulder.

"And THAT Jaune, is why we were so calm." Gyro said simply, as everyone else minus Pierce were trying to understand what had just happened. Eventually…

"Wow...we really got lucky there, huh?" was all Veemon could say. At that point, the two brothers burst out laughing. "...was it something I said?"

"Nah, nothing like that. You just summed up my Semblance is all." he gave everyone a few moments, seeing the dawning understanding on their faces. "Before anyone says anything, no, I DON'T have any real control over it, but the bottom line is the more dangerous the situation, the more likely it is to work, making me a living good luck charm," Pierce said.

"That's a rather unique semblance." Ren noted, used to seeing semblances that people could activate with a thought, or that would trigger in certain cases, like Nora's own boosting semblance that powered her up when hit with electricity.

"Yeah, well… there's a good reason I ended up having good luck as a semblance, but that's for another time." Pierce said with a shrug.

"Agreed, this isn't really the time to be swapping stories," Weiss nodded. "Though it IS comforting to know we literally have luck on our side."

"Don't think my Semblance is a magic pill. It DOES run out, and when it does, I usually have crap happen. Nothing life threatening, but enough to make it really annoying for me," Pierce said, before suddenly having a pile of snow fall on top of him, covering his head "Like that." he said, his voice muffled.

"Still a pretty useful Semblance if you ask me," Yang said.

"Oh yeah, it saved our asses pretty often when we were training against actual Grimm." Gyro said as they finally reached a wider passage.

"Huh...I DID think it was really lucky that I accidentally made that Deathstalker cut its own claw off...guess this explains that," Jaune mused.

"Pretty much, yeah," Pierce chuckled as he removed the snow from his head. "Unfortunately I don't think it can help us with our soon to be next problem," he added, pointing up at the sky which was growing darker.

"Guess we have to camp here…" Patamon said glumly. None of them were looking forward to needing to sleep in this place.

And then the wind picked up.

"Maybe not here specifically." Blake added, making sure her bow didn't get blown away.

"Time to look for a cave!" Nora said as she pumped her fists.

"We're probably gonna get a snowstorm soon." Ruby said as they all started walking again.

"Then we'd better hurry even more," Pyrrha said, forcing them to keep moving, and fortunately, they found what they were looking for. "This will do well," she said, referring to the small cave they found. It wasn't too big, but it was still big enough to fit all of them inside and still have decent room. It also didn't seem to be connected to any other caves, meaning they wouldn't have to worry about any unpleasant surprises from inside the caves, and as an added bonus, the entrance was covered by a rock shelf above, meaning that even if it did snow, they'd be less likely to get some snow coming into the cave. The group immediately went to work, taking out some firewood they still had stored and quickly started a fire in the middle of the cave to avoid exposing it to the elements, while still giving room for the smoke to waft out, as well as avoid having to 'fight' with the fire for oxygen, and to allow the heat to permeate the cave, keeping them all warm. Once everything was set, they took out some of the supplies they'd gathered along the way, including the last of the Meat Apples they had packed, and a few of the mushrooms they'd hung on to from when they were at the lake with the tram. While it was no 5 star hotel, dinner was a rather enjoyable affair, mainly due to the good company they had.

After dinner was done, the group was entertaining themselves with a number of ways. Inevitably, it also lead to scary stories...something the twins had PLENTY of that would scare even those from Remnant. The internet was truly a terrifying place.

"He ran, never once looking back, too terrified of what he saw, kept seeing at the edge of his vision. He just had to find that last page, it had to be his ticket to freedom. Then, as if the heavens were laughing at him, he tripped, falling onto the dirt below. Quickly, he scrambled to hit feet, only to freeze in fear at what he saw. A simple pair of shoes, but as his eyes kept trailing up, he knew it was the end, as his eyes finally reached the face of the tall figure… except he had no face. It was the last thing he would ever see." Pierce finished the tale, a smirk on his face as he saw that everyone was huddled up together, although he had to try and not to laugh as Gyro was in the middle of the group huddle, his cheeks red as Ruby was basically in his lap.

"S-so...if we ran into this guy...we're already dead?" Agumon asked, shaking like a leaf.

"Your only chance at survival is finding the 8 pages, if you can't… you stand no chance." Pierce said with a very convincing evil grin.

The group shook again as they were huddled up, Gyro freezing as Ruby suddenly hugged him, and Pierce's grin almost wavered at his brother's situation.

Almost.

"C-Come on guys, you're all being silly," Veemon said with a nervous chuckle. "I mean, Slenderman isn't real…right?"

Pierce shrugged "You never know." apparently the world decided to help him as the wind started howling, the group shaking even more.

"Okay, I think that's enough scary stories for tonight," Gyro said with a slight sigh. "You all look like you won't be able to sleep for a week if we continue."

Everyone nodded in agreement, lying down to sleep in blankets made of leaves and Wormmon's webbing.

Gyro gave Pierce a look as he sat next to Agumon on his blanket "You're a freaking jackass sometimes, you know that?" he said dryly, to which Pierce simply grinned before lying down next to Veemon.

"But ya love me anyways, bro," Pierce said unrepentantly, chuckling at the light glare he got. It would be a cold night, but ultimately one they all made through just fine...even if every now and then someone woke up thanks to a random noise.

* * *

The following day soon came, the snowstorm finally gone, and as the sun rose over the horizon…

"Gooooood mooooooooooorniiiiiiiiiing!"

And then a loud crashing sound was heard.

Back in the cave, Gyro was dusting his hands off after embedding his brother in the cave's wall, everyone waking up and being very clearly tired.

"You know you were asking for that one, right?" Veemon yawned.

"Seriously, after THAT story, we could barely sleep…" Salamon nodded in agreement.

"I kept seeing Slenderman instead of Grimm like I normally do," Nora added.

"Yeah, I think it's safe to say we aren't telling scary stories anymore." Gyro said with a sigh as he started walking out of the cave, the others following him while Yang dragged Pierce by the back of his jacket.

"Good news. The weather is much clearer today than it was yesterday," Pyrrha said as she shielded her eyes a little from the glare of the light.

"That's good to know," Gabumon nodded.

"How far are we anyway?" Ruby asked.

"Judging by the map...we're a little over half way through. As long as nothing big happens, we should be able to make it through by midday," Weiss answered.

"So basically plan to get out of here later than that, right?" Jaune sighed. They'd already heard this song and dance enough times.

"That's a safe assumption, yes," Weiss nodded with a sigh.

"I really hope we manage to get an actual schedule one of these days." Ruby said, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

"We'll have to take care of whoever's making the Black Gears first." Palmon said.

"Still though...can't help but wonder what kind of sicko is making these things," Gyro frowned, his mind already entertaining all kinds of scenarios with whoever was responsible for all this.

"Whoever they are, we'll just have to beat them when we find them," Salamon said.

"I'll roast them for sure, I've been trying to figure out how to evolve without you having to be in danger, and I think I'm getting there." Agumon assured his partner.

"You're not the only one." Biyomon added with a smile.

"We're all trying to figure it out." Wormmon said with a nod.

"Even us ones that haven't evolved yet." Gomamon said.

"Don't be afraid to share what you figure out though." Tentomon said with a chuckle.

"Definitely," Agumon nodded. They would need all the help they could get for what would not doubt be a big fight. Anyone who could create or at least control, something like the black gears would no doubt have some serious power.

"And when we do fight them. We'll do it. Together," Gabumon grinned.

"Damn straight," Pierce said with a grin after he got up, one they all shared. Even if they'd been taken to this world against their wills, they weren't about to leave it to the hands of whatever maniac was behind the gears.

"Well, let's get going then. We've still got a good deal of ground to cover," Gyro grinned as they continued on their way.

The path through the pass was just as treacherous as the previous day, the trail needing them to climb a few sections here and there aside from navigating the tighter paths, and avoiding the steep drops dotted through it. However, at the same time, they were met with more life as they got closer to their destination. Making their homes in a number of spots and ledges were several Digimon here and there, of as many varieties as they'd expect. Some Digimon appeared to be literally made of rocks, some of them were avians, and even a few reptiles, all having adapted to live in the environment.

"Is that a blue Greymon?" Gyro idly noticed as he saw a more slim and battle oriented version of Greymon with a more armored helmet and a bayonet on the tip of it's tail, it's stripes being orange in color.

"Oh yeah, that's BattleGreymon, their more of a warrior than the other Greymon variations are." Agumon explained simply.

"Wait, there are other versions of Greymon?" Gyro asked in surprise.

"That's right, what Agumon said the other day wasn't that far off, as his evolution line has the most variations in existence, for example, there exists a virus version of the normal Greymon simply called BlackGreymon, and a more robust version called GeoGreymon." Tentomon explained.

"There sure are a lot of variants of the same Digimon," Ruby couldn't help but say.

"You get used to it," Palmon shrugged.

"There's even a black version of Birdramon called Saberdramon." Biyomon added idly.

"Any other variants of your evolutions out there?" Yang asked while also trying to picture Birdramon with black fire on her body.

"Well, there's a BlackGarurumon out there, self explanatory really, and there's a Digimon called Gururumon, which looks a lot like Garurumon, but it's fur is darker." Gabumon said with a shrug.

"And then there's a BlackGatomon, and a Digimon called Mikemon, but it has orange, black and white fur." Salamon said with a paw on her chin from atop Nora's head.

"Oh, like a calico cat then." Nora said with a blink.

Salamon thought about it for a moment, before nodding. "Yeah, that sounds about right."

"Huh...that's pretty interesting actually," Weiss mused. "Could be an interesting idea to try and understand what causes the variants."

"After we get back to Remnant, right?" Pyrrha chuckled.

"Naturally," Weiss nodded.

However, before any of them could get any further in their conversation, the pass was wracked with a massive tremor. "Great...3 guesses what that is," Yang sighed, and on cue, a section of the pathway ahead exploded, revealing a Tortomon.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Tortomon_

 _Tortomon. Vaccine Type. An Adult Level Reptile Digimon. A territorial Digimon who is usually rather calm, similar to Monochromon. It's shell is made from the toughest stones, and it eats minerals to make it even harder. Its special attack is Shell Phalanx, the spikes on it's shell glowing before being launched at its opponent while new ones quickly grow in place._

"It gets even better. Look at what's just under its shell," Ren sighed, pointing at the Black Gear embedded into it.

"Of course…" Everyone else sighed, not even surprised anymore.

"Well, you guys know the drill. Beat him up till the gear comes out. Let's move people," Pierce shrugged.

"Should I be worried that we've gotten to the point this is a regular occurrence for us...and we haven't even been here for more than a week at most?" Jaune sighed.

"Probably," Nora chuckled.

"Let's try to find a way to flip it onto its back first, than we can have that dawning moment that we're already jaded to this world." Blake told them dryly.

"Right," everyone nodded.

"I think the ones out of us who don't have long range moves should wait until we manage to flip it before jumping into the fray." Gabumon said as he turned to half of the Digimon present.

"Yeah, I think a headbutt would hurt by head more than his." Veemon said as he rubbed his forehead.

"First things first, we need to distract him," Agumon said.

"Leave that to us," Biyomon said as she and Patamon flew over him, before peppering him with their attacks, aiming to try and hit the Black Gear, but the gear was better defended than they thought. However, they did gain Tortomon's attention, allowing them to lead him away a little.

"My turn!" Tentomon said as he buzzed upwards and started trying to shock the gear, though trying to curve his attack in the right way was proving rather difficult.

"Okay, so its not THAT easy," Weiss frowned.

"Then try to maneuver around it," Ren said, as Wormmon used his Sticky Nets to try and ensnare Tortomon's limbs, slowing it down a little, but not by much as Tortomon quickly started to move again, retracting into his shell.

"Go for the gear!" Gabumon shouted as he and Agumon tried to shoot the gear, but sadly their attempts fell flat when Tortomon suddenly started spinning in his shell, tearing off any remaining bits of sticky net, while blowing any nearby Digimon away.

"Oh just great, of course he can do THAT move." Gyro said with a groan as he helped Agumon get back up.

Right then, Tortomon came out of his shell, the back of it glowing, before the spikes on it were launched towards them.

"Hit the deck!" Jaune shouted as everyone dived down onto the ground, though some were surprised at the sudden attack.

"Oh crap!" Yang shouted with wide eyes as she was caught off guard, having been helping Biyomon get back up.

"Get down!" Pierce said as he pushed her and Biyomon down to the ground, leaving him completely open to being hit as he didn't have enough time to move.

"No!" Veemon shouted with wide eyes as he tried to make it in time, he wasn't going to let his partner get hurt!

 **(Play Brave Heart)**

Pierce's Digivice glowed bright as the signal was sent, calling forth the light that released the stream of data once more. "Veemon, Evolution!" Veemon called out as the data flowed into him, before he transformed. "Veedramon!" His body had grown larger, now standing at the same height as Greymon's shoulders, his head taking on a more natural dragonic shape as his long ears turned into a pair of horns on the back of his head, his pointy nose turning into a horn on the tip of his snout, as his frame now looked more muscular, a blue V appearing on his white chest, while scars adorned his body, while the claws on his feet and his now white hands were longer and sharper than before.

The stone spikes flew towards Pierce, but were promptly shattered by a strong tail smashing them into the ground. When he looked up, he saw his now evolved partner standing protectively in front of him. "Veedramon, huh? That's badass, Veemon," he couldn't help but grin.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Veedramon_

 _Veedramon. Vaccine Type. An Adult Level Mythical Dragon Digimon. A powerful Digimon who's roots can be traced back to the ancient Digital World. Even amongst Adult Levels, Veedramon is powerful, his power honed in years of combat, the scars on his body proof of each victory. His special attack is V-Breath Arrow, shooting a powerful arrow shaped heat ray from his mouth._

"Time to get that gear removed," Veedramon growled, and remembering that so far tactics weren't working so well against Tortomon's defenses, decided to go for his favorite trick. Up close and personal. With that in mind, he ran forward, and began grappling with the heavy tortoise using his claws. However, Tortomon wasn't about to just let him do that without a fight, and soon started to push back.

What soon followed could best be described as a large sumo wrestling fight, as Veedramon and Tortomon fought to push each other back. After a few moments of the stalemate, Tortomon in a surprising show of intelligence reared back, causing Veedramon to move forward a little, before slamming his head forward, pushing the dragon back, and then ramming into him, forcing him back further. However, Veedramon immediately regained his balance, and soon countered, going lower, and managing to grab Tortomon by the bottom of his shell, using it as leverage to start to push him upwards onto his hind legs. Tortomon however wasn't about to just let that happen and tried to fight back, even wildly firing his Shell Phalanx in an attempt to push himself back down. Veedramon growled as he felt the pressure, and decided if Tortomon was going to do it that way, then he'd do the same, as flames began to escape from his mouth.

"V-Breath Arrow!" Veedramon called out as he opened his mouth, sending a high temperature heat ray right into Tortomon, the Digimon crying out in pain as he was pushed back from the force of the blast, and soon landed on his back, leaving him helpless. Taking advantage of the attack that was still happening, Veedramon soon moved his head so that his beam hit the Black Gear, causing the gear to spark and finally shatter.

 **(Song end)**

With the gear destroyed, Veedramon moved over and pushed Tortomon back on his feet, though the large mon was still out cold, before he soon reverted back into Veemon.

"Way to go Veemon!" Pierce grinned as he ran up and clapped his partner on the back.

"Thanks." Veemon said, his voice a bit scratchy, before coughing into his fist "Thanks, woah, using that move makes my throat dry." he said with a sheepish laugh as his voice was back to normal.

Minutes later, the group was nearing the end of the mountain trail.

"You sure it was ok to just leave him there." Ruby wondered, referring to Tortomon.

"He'll be fine, he'll probably just think he was napping and ended up sleep walking." Palmon waved off her concerns.

"If he actually does, he must be SOME sleep walker," Patamon laughed.

"Somehow, I wouldn't be surprised if he really was." Salamon said with an amused grin.

"Well, Tortomon aside, we've reached the end of the pass," Pyrrha said with a smile as true enough, they could see woodlands again, and not far away was Infinity Mountain.

"I know it's a little early, but is anyone else feeling pretty proud that we made it this far?" Jaune couldn't help but ask as they soon entered the woodlands.

"Honestly? I kind of get what you mean, we've already been through a lot in just a few days." Gomamon answered him.

"Chances are we'll end up going through a lot more by the time we get back home." Gyro added.

"First things first, let's deal with the creap on this mountain." Pierce grinned as he punched his open palm.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Veemon grinned, pumping his fist into the air.

* * *

 **And done!**

 **Now, couple of things.**

 **Pierce's semblance was finally revealed, and I know a lot of you were curious, as for just why his semblance is good luck, well, story reason will be revealed eventually.**

 **Actual reason is originally we were giving him the ability to boost others with his aura.**

 **But guess which character was revealed to have that during the planning stages of the story?**

 **Second thing, BattleGreymon, for those who know your Digimon stuff, you'll recognise it as the Greymon from Xros Wars, it's not important to the story though, it was just a cameo.**

 **And finally, now that the episode has released, the lot of you can stop ignoring the intro sequence earlier in the story and realise that the answer to your constant question of 'What does Veemon evolve into?' is finally fucking answered.**

 **Yeah, this is just as bad as that one guy who keeps saying I have the wrong attack names, but he's too dumb to realise I'm using the japanese names and expects me to talk to him, yet he doesn't seem to realise his status as a guest reviewer means I can't reply to him.**

 **Sorry about the rant, I kind of needed to vent a bit.**

 **Anyway, for now...**

 **The Adventure Evolves.**


	13. 12: Roar! Ikkakumon!

**And the next chapter!**

 **Now, I have a small thign to say.**

 **I'm going to allow all of you guys to submit OCs who will make minor appearances later in the story.**

 **Obviously, I'm gonna ask that you have a description of your character, a kingdom of origin (yes this includes Menagerie) and a Digimon partner, that is either at the Child Level or at the Adult level. If at Child, tell me what the Digimon will evolve into, if it's at Adult, you can also tell me, but the chances of the Perfect Level appearing are low, though it may be possible during the climax of the story, we'll see when we get there though.**

 **Anyway, hope to see some nice characters from you all.**

* * *

 **Roar! Ikkakumon!  
**

* * *

A cold wind blew across the woods that the group was traversing through. "Okay...this is...really cold…" Pyrrha shivered, as her armor was...really less than suited for the cold weather.

"Its getting darker too...maybe we should find a place to set up camp and then go up the mountain tomorrow. We DID take quite some time going through the pass…" Gyro mused.

"With how cold it's getting, think it'll snow?" Ruby asked.

"Considering we're this close to Infinity Mountain, that's very possible," Tentomon said.

"I don't think that'd be good…" Jaune said with a frown, one that deepened when Pyrrha sneezed a little.

Gabumon looked at her in worry, before sighing a bit as he looked at everyone "Nobody say a thing, alright?" he said, before actually taking off his pelt, surprising a few of them before offering it to Pyrrha.

Gabumon without his fur pelt… that was definitely a strange sight, as he looked simply like a yellow reptile with a horn on his head, his ears being small points similar to Agumon.

"T-thank you." Pyrrha said, her teeth clacking as she took the pelt, pulling it over her shoulders, already starting to look a bit better.

"I know you said not to say anything… but you look naked, so, here." Pierce said to Gabumon as he lent him his jacket.

"Thank you." Gabumon said as he was able to slip it on, his small height meaning the jacket covered his back completely "It's not my pelt, but at least I don't feel naked now."

"But we'd better find somewhere to set up camp, and hopefully somewhere we can get away from the cold," Blake said, feeling a shiver come up. Like it or not, none of them were really dressed for the cold weather.

"Good idea," Ren nodded. "But where would we find a place to hide from the cold? Other than starting a fire, we don't really have anywhere to go."

"Well, time for some good old fashioned scouting then," Gyro shrugged, before using his semblance to get up a tree. "All flyers give me a hand too. Maybe you can spot something."

With that, Gyro and the flyers of the group started scouting from their vantage points, hoping to find something. Along the way, Biyomon found something. "Does...something smell weird to you guys?" she asked.

"Now that you mention it...yeah, something does smell weird," Patamon nodded.

"Hey, is that smoke over there?" Tentomon said, pointing towards a direction not too far away.

"Hang on," Gyro said, using his goggles to see further, and true enough, he noticed some smoke wafting into the air. "Smoke… and that smell…" a grin placed itself on Gyro's face as he went back down, the flyers following him to the ground as he pointed towards the smoke "Hot Spring dead ahead!"

"Hell yeah! We can finally take a bath!" Pierce shouted as he pumped his fists.

The two were perplexed however, when they were met with silence from everyone else, as they slowly turned to them in deadpan "Ok… I can understand the Digimon not knowing, but does Remnant honestly not have Hot Springs?" Gyro asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Not really? I mean, from what you're saying I'm guessing it's a hot water source?" Yang asked.

"Yeah, it's something of a natural attraction of one of the countries of our home… and their always found out in the wilds… ah, that explains why Remnant hasn't found any then, Grimm are everywhere." Pierce said, blinking when he realised why the ones from Remnant didn't know about it.

"Well then, in that case get ready cause you're gonna be the first people from Remnant to enjoy one of the natural wonders of the world," Gyro chuckled. "Trust us, you'll love it."

"We're gonna have to make a divider to split the section so the girls have their privacy." Pierce pointed out.

"Ah, that's pretty simple, Azure actually packed enough length of cloth in the pouch that we can make one, since, you know, a completely wooden one would take too long, plus we'll be able to pack this one away and keep it for ourselves." Gyro waved off the issue as the group started walking again, a bit more speed in their steps at the thought of a warm bath.

"Wait, did he pack towels in the pouches?" Weiss asked, seeing a possible problem.

"Actually, yes, he did, and we have enough rope that we could hang our clothes while in the water… stupidly he packed a miniature washing machine, yet still no tent." Piece grumbled the last part in a bit of annoyance.

"Betcha we're gonna walk into a place that has electrical outlets." Nora said with a snort of laughter.

"Honestly? I wouldn't be surprised at this point." Ruby said idly.

"We've gotten too used to this world," Weiss sighed. "...not that that's a bad thing," she added quickly.

"Well, it's just like most veteran hunters say, expect the unexpected." Ren said with a shrug.

"A lot of Digimon also say that." Wormmon added.

"None of us have said it so far though." Gomamon shot back with a joking smirk.

"That's true," Salamon chuckled. "But enough about that, I wanna try out these 'hot springs'," she said cheerfully.

"Okay, full speed ahead!" Veemon and Agumon said at the same time.

* * *

"...okay...this might not be such a great idea…" Pierce sweatdropped as he peered into the pool of BOILING hot water.

"Dammit, I was actually looking forward to this." Yang sighed out.

"Well… at least it's warmer here." Gyro said with a shrug after a moment as Pyrrha handed Gabumon his pelt back, and Gabumon handed back Pierce his jacket as he put his pelt back on.

"I see there are more pools, so maybe we might find one that isn't boiling," Ren suggested.

"I hope we find one, it'll be good for my roots." Palmon said idly as she stretched her legs and wiggled her… roots.

However, while they were looking around, they also saw something else. "Forget the hot springs. Are you guys seeing what I'm seeing?" Ruby asked while blinking in shock.

Everyone turned to where she was looking and well…

"...of course…" Weiss sighed in annoyance, as there, sitting in plain sight, was a refrigerator. "The sad part is...I don't feel particularly surprised anymore…"

"We share your pain…" all the other huntsmen said sympathetically.

"And… yep, electrical outlet right behind it." Gyro said as he went to check around the fridge, before putting his pouch down and pulling out of it a washing machine that was about half the size of a normal one, plugging it into the outlet.

"And while you're doing that," Nora chuckled, before opening the fridge without hesitation.

"One of these days Nora…" Blake sighed in annoyance at the sight of the carrot top opening the fridge without hesitation or consideration.

"Well not today," Nora chuckled, before moving aside and revealing the contents.

"Jackpot!" Gabumon grinned, while the other Digimon smiled as well.

"Eggs!"

"Uh, wait, hold on for a minute." Jaune said, dragging his mind back down to earth "We shouldn't just grab them suddenly, we don't even know if their edible."

"Jaune's got a point. So, we have two tests to see if their edible, scent, and cracking an egg open and taking a look. Agumon, if you would do the honors." Gyro said as he gestured at the fridge while still setting up the washing machine.

Agumon simply nodded before sniffing the eggs "Well, they smell right." he muttered, before grabbing one and cracking it open on the ground, looking at the yolk "And it looks right too, so, I think we're good."

"Great, so guess we know what we're having for dinner tonight," Yang grinned, earning a small cheer from everyone.

"Not just that, look what I found!" Patamon added, flying down a bit, and pointing to a section just over a small hill, not TOO far away from where the main collection of pools were, but easily missed if one didn't look around more.

The group followed his directions, and soon came upon a large and long pool, one that could easily fit 30 people, with lightly steaming water in it. "Is this the kind of hot spring you guys were talking about?" Patamon asked.

"Looks like it yeah, doesn't seem to be boiling." Pierce said, grinning, before slowly putting his hand in the water, his grin widening "Yeah, this is definitely the right kind of hot spring."

"Great, so let's set out dividing tasks. One team works on setting up a barrier so we can actually use the spring at the same time, and another gets stuff ready to make dinner," Gyro said...before adding, "And while I trust there are no pervs in our group...from EITHER gender...make sure the barrier actually works in dividing both sides."

"And that's why I say we should have you make the divider," Pierce said with a chuckle.

"Fair point, alright, so…" Gyro trailed off, looking at everyone, before pointing at a few of them "Ruby, Nora, I'm gonna need your help to cut down some trees, and trust me Ruby, I have an idea on what you can do to cut one down even without Crescent Rose, Ren, you're going to help me actually put it together, and Agumon, you come with us just in case there's some non friendly Digimon close. Everyone else, you're on cooking duty… and someone should be making some chopsticks we can use to eat since we don't have any spoons or forks."

"Right," everyone nodded, with Ruby, Nora, Ren, and Agumon going with him, while the rest went to work preparing a means to cook and eat dinner.

It didn't take too long for the food to be made, at least when compared to the divider, as they had to sew all of the lengths of cloth together, and then attach each side to the wooden poles they had made from a tree, Gyro having handed something sharp to Ruby while telling her to run around one of the trees as fast she could, making a trench in the bark, before Nora simply broke off what was still connected to the stump when it was thin enough.

Meanwhile, the others had prepared a stove of sorts with a large rock to act as a frying pan, while also preparing weaved baskets to make boiled eggs with, which were now dipped inside of the boiling pools.

A few minutes later, everyone who was cooking jumped as they heard a shout and a splash, and several moments later, Gyro walking towards the washing machine, drenched from head to toe "Nora bumped into me and I fell in the water." he explained, before starting to pull off his clothes and dumping them in the washing machine so they were properly clean instead of just soaked, eventually leaving him in nothing but a pair of wet boxers as he walked back towards the hot spring, stopping in mid step to turn back to everyone "I didn't start the cycle yet, and Azure built it so that colors and whites can be mixed, don't know how he did it, but if anyone wants to start putting their clothes in, go ahead." he said, before starting to walk again, and Yang had to hold back a laugh at her little sister staring a bit at Gyro's swimmer's build, at least that confirmed the silver eyed girl had some interested in boys, while several jackets and shirts were put in the washing machine and the cycle finally started.

A few minutes later had the group now soaking in the hot springs, their underwear hanging nearby while they all had towels. "Oh yeah, this feels great…" Pierce sighed contently.

"This is worth the wait, especially since we can't go back to visit Japan anymore." Gyro said as he leaned at the edge of the spring, piling flat rocks on top of one another.

"I'm starting to wonder if it would be possible for a village to be built outside the walls around one of these back on Remnant." Ren muttered as he leaned back with his eyes closed.

"I'm honestly surprised we haven't been attacked by a Digimon yet." Jaune commented idly as he had designated himself as the lookout and sat up straight while keeping an eye out.

"There aren't really any Digimon that live on Mount Infinity, and the worst that can be found in the surrounding areas are some relatively small ones." Tentomon said as he was floating on a board of wood above the water, just dipping his limbs instead of dropping completely in. Not far behind him, Wormmon was also on a board of wood, letting a bit of him soak in the water, but seemingly enjoying the feel of the steam more.

"That's good, we can relax for once and not have to worry about anything." Blake commented from the other side of the divider, and the twins were positive she had kept her bow, either that or had a towel around her head. They quickly got their answer when they checked the rope where all the clothes were hung to dry, and all of Blake's ribbons were hanging on it.

"I agree. Man, these hot springs feel great. Its like all the tension we've been feeling is just melting away," Yang sighed in content.

"They really do. I can see why they're so popular in the twins' world," Pyrrha nodded in agreement as she sank a little deeper into the water.

"Almost makes you wish we could just stay here for a while…" Ruby sighed as well.

"Well, this is relaxing, but I doubt it would be a good idea," Weiss sighed, even if she too was enjoying herself.

"Lots of steam though, kinda weird." Nora commented, before she started making bubbles in the water with her mouth.

"That's cause its nice and warm," came Gomamon's voice...from right next to her.

"That's true," Blake nodded, her hair indeed wrapped in a towel...then she realized who had been talking.

Gomamon blinked, before finding himself with several glares directed at him "What?"

One second later, and he landed with a splash on the boys' side.

"Hey! Don't splash!" Veemon called as he, Gabumon, and Agumon moved away from where Gomamon had landed, while Patamon chuckled when he resurfaced, the smaller mon floating nearby.

The seal shaped Digimon blinked as he floated on his back, before looking at Jaune in honest confusion "Was it something I said?"

"More like something you did." Jaune answered dryly.

Back on the girls' side, Yang was dusting her hands off after throwing him onto the other side, before sitting back down in the water, sighing in a bit of annoyance as two parts of her decided to float up a bit.

Sitting across from her, Weiss narrowed her eyes at Yang's… well developed chest, before casting her gaze to all the other girls around, noticing at the same time that Biyomon was swimming on top of the water in a manner similar to a duck, Palmon was almost completely underwater, and Salamon was doggy paddling around, trying to keep pace with Biyomon.

On to the more important matter though, she found that every human (to her knowledge) girl present at the moment was at least somewhat gifted in the chest department, then glancing to her right, where Ruby had decided to keep her company and was just humming a tune with her eyes closed, and she found that the girl who was 2 years younger than her was ALSO more developed, looking down at her own chest with a frown and narrowed eyes, before just lowering herself down, her hair floating about in the water as she silently fumed about her lack of curves.

As enjoyable as the bath was, they knew they had to get out not just because they hadn't eaten yet, but also cause if they stayed too long, they'd be prunes.

After a few minutes of each group taking time to dry off and putting their now clean clothes back on, the group finally finished cooking the food, as the only thing they had been preparing while they bathed was the boiled eggs.

And then came the (to the twins) funny part of seeing most of the Remnant born people trying to use chopsticks for the first time.

The only ones from Remnant who were actually able to use them were Ren, Nora, Pyrrha, and Blake.

The Digimon were also all able to use them… well, the ones that had fingers at least.

"And tonight's menu is...boiled eggs, sunny side up eggs, and simple omelettes," Yang listed off. "Eat up, cause me and Jaune cooked up a lot."

"Though we DID save up some of the eggs for supplies just in case...though we also figured better to use up the eggs rather than our other supplies that don't need anything special to cook them," Jaune added.

"Good call, for once we can eat as much as we want and not get worried." Pierce said with a nod as he grabbed a boiled egg and popped it in his mouth all in one bite.

Everyone digged in at that, eating their fill of eggs for the night, with a bit of idle chatter sprinkled about.

"These could really use some salt and pepper." Jaune said after swallowing a mouthful.

"Or ketchup." Pierce added idly.

"I prefer soy sauce on mine." Gyro said before biting into an egg.

"Mayonnaise for me." Yang added.

"I put sugar on mine!" Nora said with her usual grin, as everyone else looked at her oddly.

"You get used to it," Ren sighed. "Personally I enjoy red peppers in mine to add a bit of spice to the eggs."

"Guess we have similar tastes, though in my case its more herbs," Blake mused.

"I like having chilli sauce on mine!" Ruby grinned.

"My own preference is a bit odd." Pyrrha started with a somewhat embarrassed look "I prefer salsa on mine."

"I like to put lemon sauce on mine." Weiss said with a shrug after a moment.

"Heh, guess we all have our own way of enjoying eggs, huh?" Jaune chuckled, though it wasn't an awkward one. Even if the circumstances were questionable, he honestly had to admit he was enjoying this, just being able to talk to everyone without worrying about anything.

"You sure are having fun today, huh, Jaune?" Gomamon smiled having finished demolishing another bowl of eggs.

"Well, besides what happened with Tortomon this morning, today has been pretty good." Jaune said with a shrug.

"Well, we should enjoy the time we have while we can," Pyrrha said. However, at her words they all frowned.

"Yeah...once we go up the mountain, guess there's no turning back, huh?" Ruby frowned. Sure it felt like they were in a story, of heroes going to confront the evil overlord...but the very real air of danger was still there, giving even her pause. "It's hard to believe its only been a week...feels like we've been in this world for longer. It almost feels like we've been here for a little over twice that time."

"I know what you mean," Gyro nodded. "Guess we've all been through a lot since coming here."

"Except for Jaune and Blake, their partners haven't evolved yet." Yang said in a somewhat joking manner, even though it was the truth.

"Somehow, I feel like it won't be long before that happens." Blake muttered.

"With how things are going, you're probably right," Patamon said, landing on her shoulder.

A heavy silence descended upon the group at that. Eventually… "Hey uh...how about we skip the heavy stuff and just enjoy dinner?" Nora suggested. "I mean, we got a big day tomorrow right? So let's just enjoy the time we have until then."

"She's right." Gyro sighed "Let's just eat and find a nice spot to sleep at, because we don't know what we have in store tomorrow."

A good few minutes later and the group had found a rather convenient cave at the base of the mountain, right next to a path that headed up along the side of it, and had all settled in to bed, falling asleep rather quickly.

All except for Jaune.

He lied on his back, still awake, just… thinking.

He was specifically thinking about how since meeting the Vermillion siblings, his life had gotten a bit better, and he had quickly come to call the twins his friends.

If it wasn't for them, he'd probably still be at his home right now, daydreaming about being a hunter.

And then his thoughts drifted to their current situation, being stuck in a strange world with no idea on how to get back, they had made new friends though, so at least there was a silver lining to it all. Still though…

"There's gotta be something more I can do. I owe them at least that much," he muttered. Sighing, he got up and looked at the mountain. It seemed so...peaceful. Hard to believe this was where the Black Gears were coming from. Maybe...he could at least scout it out a little. Who knows what he might find. With a slight nod to himself, he started walking towards the mountain. Little did he know, he wasn't the only one who was awake, as a small figure was soon following him.

* * *

"You really sure you want to follow me?" Jaune asked with an amused smile as he hoisted Gomamon over a ledge.

"Well, someone needs to make sure you don't do something too stupid." Gomamon said as he fell in pace with Jaune.

"This coming from the one who was on the wrong side of the divider." Jaune said dryly.

"Ok, seriously, what did I do wrong earlier?" Gomamon asked in honest confusion.

"Human women don't like it when guys see them naked." Jaune answered simply with a shrug, not feeling like explaining everything.

"...I still don't get it…" Gomamon sighed.

"Trust me, it's complicated for us humans too." Jaune said with a sigh.

Women really were hard to understand at times.

The two continued up the mountain, finding that even just the first parts proved to have more ledges and climbs than expected. "I can see why nobody makes a home here. Its pretty difficult to climb," Jaune mused as he and Gomamon were climbing up a small rock wall. Once they made it past that, they were once again on a mountain path...until they came across a small waterfall that came from a small spring up above, creating a gentle stream of water going down the mountain.

"Oh hey, that's pretty cool." Jaune blinked as he looked at the stream, the sun slowly rising from how long they had been climbing up.

"Oh good, I was getting thirsty." Gomamon said with a relieved sigh as he started walking towards the stream, before halting in mid step as he lifted one of his ears.

Jaune looked around when he noticed his partner becoming alert, staying quiet so he'd be able to keep listening for what he heard.

"Sounds like… something flying towards here." Gomamon said after a moment, listening to the flapping of wings.

Jaune cupped a hand to his ear, trying to make out what Gomamon was hearing "I… I think I can hear it."

The two looked to the source, and saw a Digimon flying towards the mountain. It was equine in form with white fur, and a pair of black, almost ragged looking wings growing out of its back. On its head was a red helmet of some kind that also covered a horn growing out of its head, a small amount of yellow hair sprouting out from the back of its head and neck, the same color as the hairs of its tail.

"Huh, its Unimon," Gomamon mused.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Unimon_

 _Unimon. Vaccine Type. An Adult Level Mythical Animal Digimon. Bearing both a horn and wings like the mythical horses, Unimon is known as being an easily approachable Digimon. Should anyone ever make an enemy of one, they will quickly become the target of it's horn. It's special attack is Holy Shot, shooting out a ball of energy from its mouth._

"I'm guessing they're usually friendly, right?" Jaune asked, though they both still ducked into a nearby crevice to hide.

"Yeah, they normally aren't violent," Gomamon nodded as they peeked their heads out.

Unimon didn't seem to notice them at least, as he descended onto the path and walked up to the stream, starting to drink from it.

"Guess this is his drinking spot then." Jaune said in a whisper.

"Yeah." Gomamon agreed as he tried to crane his neck to look the large Digimon over "Doesn't look like he has a Black Gear either."

Jaune would have agreed...if not for his Digivice suddenly lighting up. "Spoke too soon, Gomamon," he gulped, as a black dot appeared on the radar...and was fast approaching.

It wasn't long before they could hear the sound...and so could Unimon, who glanced upward, just in time to see the gear come down from the sky. What happened next was something Jaune would probably remember in his nightmares, as the gear struck Unimon in the back, and with a sickening 'squelch', and Unimon's agonized whine, the gear embedded itself partway into Unimon's back. Unimon thrashed for a moment, before he suddenly stopped, like a puppet with their strings cut...then his gaze turned straight towards them.

"Oh crapbaskets." Jaune gulped, before he had to duck as a shot came straight from Unimon's mouth.

* * *

"Oh god dammit." was the first thing Gyro said when he woke up, as he noticed that Jaune and Gomamon were missing.

Borrowing Ruby's whistle for a moment, he blew into it as loud as he could, the sound reverbrating through the cavern and waking everyone up quickly.

"The hell?!" Pierce shouted as he shot up and almost fell back forward had Veemon not grabbed the back of his pants.

"Everyone wake up! Someone decided to go on ahead while we were sleeping." Gyro said clearly, the others getting up as they understood how urgent the situation was, looking around and all noticing who was missing.

"Great, he's probably almost at the top by now, we can't catch up to him if he's in trouble." Weiss groaned out as Gyro handed Ruby her whistle back.

"Actually… we might be able to." Biyomon said, getting attention to herself "I may have found a trick to evolve… well, not at will, but faster I guess, it's just a bit morbid, so I don't really want to share it. It involves thinking about… stuff." she said, clearly not wanting to go into details.

Yang got to a knee and pulled her into a one armed hug "Whatever you have to think, I guarantee it won't happen."

Biyomon nodded slowly with a small smile, before she walked out of the hug and out of the cave, her eyes closed. She played the images in her mind, and with those as a focus, Yang's Digivice soon started to glow.

* * *

"I swear, whoever made these things has it out for us!" Jaune shouted as he (with Gomamon in his arms) was running down the path he was on, trying to get away from Unimon.

"Whatever the reason they were made, their annoying!" Gomamon shouted.

Jaune would have said more, but he was forced to duck from another attack. "Hang on!" He shouted, before jumping off the edge, and sliding down to a lower section of the mountain...not that it really slowed down Unimon who simply used his wings to fly after them. "Damn! This was a bad idea!"

Apparently, Unimon was tired of having them fleeing constantly, as he fired his attack at a section of the path right behind Jaune, blowing it to pieces as he hovered in front of the blonde hunter.

Jaune swallowed nervously as he realise he had nowhere to go now, trying to think of anything that could get him out of his current situation.

Thankfully, he didn't have to think for long.

Out of nowhere, something big and orange slammed into Unimon, pushing it into the wall of the mountain and kicking up a cloud of dust.

When the dust cleared away, he saw Birdramon pushing Unimon against the mountain with her feet, while Yang, Pierce and Veemon were sliding off her back.

"You really got lucky right there." Pierce told him once they got close enough.

Jaune grimaced a bit "Yeah, thanks for the save guys."

"The others are trying to get up here as fast as they can, though it might take a good while, so it's just us for now." Yang explained, and she really wished she had her gauntlets right now.

"Hey, you just saved our butts. We're not complaining," Jaune said, looking a little shaken still.

It was at that moment that Unimon managed to free itself, by turning his head enough that he could fire his attack directly at Birdramon, catching her off guard and making her fall onto a ledge below.

"Birdramon!" Yang said in worry as she slid down to the area below, making sure her partner was ok.

"Well, that's not good." Pierce said with a somewhat nervous grin as Unimon managed to pry itself free from the mountain, and they could tell it was glaring at them through its visor.

"Then let's change that," Veemon said. He had a pretty good idea HOW Biyomon could push herself to evolve...and as much as he didn't like it either, this might be a good as any time to try it. Closing his eyes, he remembered the first time he evolved...only picturing himself being too late. Too late to stop the spikes, or at least later than he original was, making them now dangerously close to his partner. The rush of emotion that brought through him triggered...something, before he stepped forward, Pierce's Digivice soon glowing.

"Veemon, Evolution! Veedramon!"

Veedramon didn't waste any time and tackled Unimon, aiming to grapple the mon into submissions. At first this seemed easier to do as Unimon WAS smaller and lighter than Tortomon was. However, this soon proved to be false, as Unimon spread his wings, and flew out of his grasp. Veedramon tried to capture the mon again, but was soon peppered by energy blasts from Unimon's mouth, and to make matters worse, he realized he couldn't use his special move...at least not without risking causing a landslide or something.

"Dammit, Veedramon's not doing so great!" Pierce growled at seeing his partner take a beating. "Yang, how's Birdramon doing?"

"She's fine, just needs to catch her breath, she got hit in the gut!" Yang called up to him.

Gomamon hopped out of Jaune's arms and peered over the edge, trying to see further down below, "I think I can see the others, but their way too far to be able to come help us anytime soon."

"Great, come on, we need a plan." Jaune started mumbling to himself, trying to find anything that could give them an advantage.

As he kept trying to think of something, Unimon, was just hovering around, apparently trying to decide who to attack next, and it was when he started flying low, just a few feet below them, that Jaune got an idea.

He swallowed nervously "Oh man this is gonna suck." he said, before suddenly jumping off the ledge, Gomamon letting out a shout of surprise, before he landed on Unimon's back "Gotta at least try to get rid of this." he said with gritted teeth as he grabbed onto the Black Gear and started trying to pull on it. Unfortunately this proved much harder than expected, and Unimon wasn't about to let him do anything so easily.

With a strong beat of its wings, Unimon took to the sky, and soon sent Jaune through an aerial rodeo, as it bucked and kicked in mid-air trying to get the human off. Jaune grit his teeth as he hung on for dear life, but unfortunately, little by little he felt his grip slip, and eventually...he was forced to let go...when Unimon was now a very high distance from the ground, leaving him to free fall at a height and speed that would leave him a smear on the ground.

Gomamon's eyes widened in horror when he saw that happen, and immediately ran towards where his partner would land. "JAUNE!"

 **(Play Brave Heart)**

Jaune's Digivice glowed bright at this point, and like with the others before it, sent out a signal that called forth the light that released a stream of data.

"Gomamon, Evolution!" Gomamon called out, the data flowing into him and his energy reaching its peak, before he transformed. "Ikkakumon!" His general body shape was still the same, though it would be more apt to describe him like a walrus rather than a seal, as he now had two long tusks protruding from his mouth, his body covered in white fur as his flippers had changed into proper feet, and a long black horn grew right in the middle of his head.

Jaune was screaming as he fell to the ground, but soon let out a small 'oof' when he landed on something surprisingly soft and furry. Eyes immediately snapping open, he got up and realized he'd landed on what could only be his partner's evolved form.

"Jaune, are you alright?" Ikkakumon asked.

"Yeah, I'm alright. Thanks, uh…" he said, before trailing off, realizing he had the same problem as so many of his friends.

"Its Ikkakumon now," Ikkakumon chuckled, honestly finding this little 'gag' quite funny.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Ikkakumon_

 _Ikkakumon. Vaccine. An Adult Level Sea Beast Digimon. His thick fur allows him to endure even the most freezing of temperatures, even being able to swim in the coldest oceans without a single issue. His sharp horn is made of Mythril, making it a perfect weapon for combat. His special attack is Harpoon Vulcan, firing the horn on his head like a missile, being capable of rapid fire due to the horn quickly regrowing._

However, he got over his mirth very quickly as Unimon was coming in for a dive bomb, one he met head on with his horn, the two horned Digimon soon practically dueling with their horns being used in place of swords. Ikkakumon clearly had more strength, while Unimon had the advantage in mobility, creating for a more or less stalemate between the two, that ended when Ikkakumon exerted a bit more force, knocking Unimon back a little. Unimon soon began hovering in the air, before firing several more Holy Shots, forcing Ikkakumon to back away to avoid the attacks.

"No good. As long as he's got the aerial advantage, we can't hit him!" Jaune grit his teeth.

"Then let's ground him," Ikkakumon smirked. "Harpoon Vulcan!" he called out, as his horn was literally launched out of his head, a new one already growing to take its place. The missiles hit the Holy Shots, causing a small blanket of explosions, obscuring the battlefield, before Ikkakumon fired more shots, two of the shots seemingly missed, but the third hit Unimon, forcing him to land.

"Okay, he's on the ground. Now what?" Jaune asked.

"Wait for it…" Ikkakumon grinned, as his remaining missiles came down, and opened to reveal odd inner workings that seemed like biological missiles, which impacted and exploded against the downed Unimon's back, causing him to shout in pain as he ran away, the Black Gear ejecting and shattering.

 **(Song End)**

With the danger passed, Ikkakumon glowed as his body shrunk back down to Gomamon, with Jaune ending up sitting right behind him.

"Well, that went pretty well." Gomamon said with a grin as he raised a fin.

Jaune smiled at him "I'd say it did yeah." he said as he gave his partner a high five.

A minute later, the trio of blondes was sat down on the ledge, their partners all reverted back to Child level, relaxing after the rather annoying fight.

"Guess now we just have to wait for the others to catch up." Pierce said with a sigh.

"We have a couple of hours of wait in store." Yang said with a dry laugh.

"At least that's all we're doing." Biyomon sighed out.

"Definitely not ready to evolve again so soon… especially not with that kind of mental image." Veemon said with a grimace.

At the same time, standing atop the mountain, a shadowed figure stood, their eyes narrowed down towards the hunters, all that could be seen of the figure at the moment were the large wings on it's back, the humanoid shape of its body, and its hate filled red eyes.

"It seems… I'll have to take care of them personally."

* * *

 **Ominous!**

 **We all know who that is though, but you know, need to keep the mystery there for anyone who's never seen the original show.**

 **Also, yeah, Gabumon without his pelt, pretty weird thing to picture right?**

 **And the hot spring scene.**

 **Yeah, that was basically a bit of fan service.**

 **And now, only one Digimon needs to reach the Adult Level, but for now...**

 **The Adventure Evolves.**


	14. 13: Envoy of Darkness, Devimon!

**And now, it's time for the plot to pick up speed!**

 **Hang on to your seats, because quite a few things happen in this chapter.**

 **EDIT: Just deleted a review that reminded me of a question I wanted to answer to a guest.**

 **The guy who asked about Harpoon Vulcan, thank you for ASKING where I got the name from, and not telling me I'm wrong like the one who's review I just deleted.**

 **Anyway, to answer you question, I get all the attack names from the japanese version of the anime, with a few tweaks here and there.**

* * *

 **Envoy of Darkness, Devimon!  
**

* * *

"Now that we're all the way up here...man, it really sinks in how we're on an island," Pierce mused as he looked over the edge.

"Still though...this island really is a nice place," Yang said as she sat down next to him.

"Yeah, hard to believe the gears are causing so much trouble. You wouldn't know from way up here," Veemon nodded in agreement. Currently the six of them were waiting for the rest of their friends to make it up the mountain and join them.

"Hey, I think I see them down there," Jaune said from another part of the area they were in.

A few minutes later, and Jaune was rubbing his shoulder where Gyro had hit him.

"Never do that again, you had us all worried when we woke up." the goggle head said with a sigh.

"Yeah, I know. Sorry…" Jaune said apologetically.

"Well, the most important thing is that you and Gomamon are okay...but Gyro's right. Please don't do that again," Pyrrha said, putting a hand on his shoulder.

And if one could see into Gyro's mind at the moment, a party was being celebrated at this little interaction between them. However, he quickly focused, since they had more important things to worry about. "Alright, now that everyone is here, let's go. And get ready guys, once we reach the top, there's no telling what might happen."

* * *

At the same time, in another section of the impossibly high mountain…

"These Black Gears are growing concerning, sending Digimon into a frenzy. I must find the cause of this." muttered a humanoid being, who had a lion's head instead of a normal human one, claws at the tip of his fingers and toes, wearing a pair of black pants with a sword hanging off the back of his waist, his mane was a shining yellow color.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Leomon_

 _Leomon. Vaccine Type. An Adult Level Beast Man Digimon. Known as the Noble Hero, Leomon is a true heroic warrior who fights for justice. He is a master of the blade with his sword, King of Lions. His special attack is Fist of the Beast King, launching a blast in the shape of a roaring lion's head from his fist._

Leomon continued on his path...until he tensed, sensing a familiar presence. One he knew wasn't friendly. True enough…

"I found you! Leomon!" shouted what could only be described as ogre as he jumped down from a higher area, white hair on his head with two long horns protruding out the side of his skull, his mouth was large and wide open, filled with quite a few large fangs. It seemed the only type of clothing he knew about was belts, as he was even wearing a kilt made of belts, while in his hand he wielded a large bone club.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Ogremon_

 _Ogremon. Virus Type. An Adult Level Ogre Digimon. Known as the Digimon Hunter, it's said his weapon is the femur of a Digimon he defeated in battle. For all intents and purposes, Ogremon is a bandit of the Digital World, and is surprisingly intelligent compared to what his appearance would make you believe. His special attack is Fist of the Supreme King, launching a shot of formless dark energy from his fist._

Leomon immediately drew his sword and blocked the club coming from Ogremon, before said ogre jumped away. "Leomon, today we finish this!"

"Stand aside, Ogremon. There are more important matters to attend to than our battle," Leomon growled, though he had no illusions they would be heard.

"Not on your life! Fist of the Supreme King!" Ogremon shouted, launching his signature attack.

"Fist of the Beast King!" Leomon countered with his own move, the two attacks meeting and exploding. "Very well then, if you insist on fighting, I shall oblige!"

However, before they could continue, a new voice entered the scene. "That's quite enough for now," came the smooth, almost gentlemanly voice, yet it carried an undertone of malice. "From now on you two need to cooperate with each other."

"That voice…!" Leomon blinked in alarm.

"Devimon?" Ogremon said, recognizing the owner of the voice.

Out of the shadows of a rock, Devimon emerged, and he was worthy of his name, his body clad in a dark black suit with several belts wrapped around one leg, his thighs, and one of his arms, both of which were rather long, actually reaching down to his ankles. Skulls were emblazoned on his outfit on both of his right knee and his left shoulder while an orange, bat shaped mark was on both his chest and his left foot. His wings were large and leathery, but riddles with tears and holes, two long horns sprouting out the side of his head as his red eyes stared at the two Digimon before him, his lips set in a thin line as his mouth, and grey skin, was exposed.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Devimon_

 _Devimon. Virus Type. An Adult Level Fallen Angel Digimon. Rumored to have once been a shining angel Digimon, Devimon was tempted into the Dark Area, becoming what he is now, the Mark of Evil on his chest being proof of that. Known for his cunning and intelligence, Devimon is no easy adversary. His special attack is Death Claw, extending both of his hands to a higher reach to enforce his will upon those he clutches in them._

Neither combatant seemed particularly impressed by that statement. "Gimme a break, like I'm gonna work with him of all Digimon!" Ogremon snorted. "You better got a damn good reason for saying that."

"The Chosen Children have arrived," Devimon said simply.

"The Chosen Children!" Leomon gasped in surprise, before his eyes narrowed at Devimon as he held up his blade to fight "Now I see, those Black Gears, you're the one behind them aren't you? You've been trying to use them to kill the children."

Devimon glanced at him, his lips almost quicking into a smirk "Was there ever any doubt? Those children WILL be destroyed if it's the last thing I do."

"No, they won't." Leomon growled "Because I'll destroy you first!" he shouted, before lunging at Devimon, bringing his sword down, only for the blade to cleave the stone Devimon had been in front of right in half. However, the demon was nowhere to be seen.

"Fool. Did you really think that would work?" Devimon chuckled, Leomon looking around almost frantically to find him, and didn't notice his hand sneaking out of his shadow. "Now then, Death Claw!" Devimon declared as he grabbed hold of Leomon, the lion roaring in agony as he felt Devimon's evil will seep into him, attempting to turn him into his puppet. His struggles lasted for a few minutes, before finally he slumped forward, and when he raised his head again, his eyes were blank and lifeless, Devimon smirking as he rose up from behind the once good Digimon.

* * *

"This mountain really does earn its name," Gyro mused, overlooking the island from one of the higher points of the mountain, a pencil and clipboard in hand.

"What are you doing?" Agumon asked as he stood on the tip of his toes to try and get a look.

"Drawing a map of the island, as accurately as I can anyway, who knows, it might be helpful." Gyro said with a shrug.

"That doesn't sound like too bad of any idea." Weiss said as she walked up behind him, looking over his shoulder to see that the map looked like a rough sketch at the moment, with several areas marked down as to what they are, which included sections they had yet to visit such as the canyon and the snow filled area of the island, which they had checked and saw it was north.

"Yeah, Gyro was the one who designed our weapons for the most part, Azure was the one who actually built them though." Pierce supplied as he walked up to them.

"Still though…" Pyrrha frowned. "It doesn't really seem like there's anything as far as the eye can see. What do we do after we defeat whoever is creating the Black Gears?"

"Well...remember what Waspmon said, about the continents?" Ruby said. "Maybe...if we don't find anything here, we could...try to find something there?"

"Hopefully we'll be ready for them, he did say the Digimon there were tough after all." Yang said with a frown.

"We'll keep you safe! We'll do our best and try to evolve even further so that you won't have to worry." Biyomon said in determination.

"Thanks everyone," Ruby said with a smile to all the Digimon.

However, before they could speak of it any further, they heard the sound of something breaking, and running to the source, they found that a part of the pathway had been destroyed.

"Anybody else not liking the look of this?" Gomamon asked, a grimace on his face.

"I think we all share the sentiment," Jaune sighed. It honestly wasn't a surprise to any of them at this point. However, when they looked to the other side, they noticed a figure walking towards them. A large humanoid lion-like Digimon.

"Oh hey, it's Leomon." Patamon realised with a smile.

"So cool! We finally get to meet him in person!" Palmon cheered.

"So, is he some kind of celebrity or something?" Nora asked with a raised eyebrow.

"He's the greatest hero on File Island is what he is!" Salamon said with a grin.

"That sounds nice… but have you considered the Black Gear issue?" Blake asked with a raised eyebrow.

The Digimon all paused at that, staring more closely at Leomon to see his posture was more hostile than anything "Oh… right." all of them said together.

As if to confirm that… "Chosen Children...Destroy…" he said.

"Oooh, brainwashed sounding voice. NEVER a good sign," Pierce sighed. It was really telling how bad things were that they'd gotten used to attempts on their lives by now.

"Wait, did he say Chosen Children?" Ren pointed out in slight confusion.

"As much as I'd love to figure out what that's supposed to mean, I think we should run for now." Gyro said, the others agreeing before they all turned and ran down one of the many paths of the mountain. Though it was true they were aiming for the top of the mountain, it would be no good if they fought unnecessarily before the real enemy. However, they didn't get far before they were met with another problem.

"Welcome, Chosen Children!" came a new voice as they were met with a green skinned ogre-like Digimon wielding a spiked club and a face only a mother could love.

"And this would be?" Pyrrha asked in a bit of annoyance.

"That's Ogremon, Leomon's rival, he's kind of a jerk." Gabumon answered, sharing the same sentiment as his partner.

"And of course, we're stuck between a rock and a hard place." Gyro said as he had turned behind, and saw Leomon had easily caught up to them.

"Guess we have no choice. We gotta fight them," Agumon frowned.

"Don't push yourselves too much," Ruby whispered.

"She's right. These guys aren't our real target. If needs be, we can run and try again another time," Jaune said as well.

"Right," the Digimon nodded. Any further discussion was cut short, when the two Digimon lunged for the group. At that moment, 9 Digivices glowed brightly.

 **(Play Brave Heart)**

"Agumon, Evolution! Greymon!"

"Gabumon, Evolution! Garurumon!"

"Palmon, Evolution! Togemon!"

"Salamon, Evolution! Gatomon!"

"Wormmon, Evolution! Stingmon!"

Leomon who had been in mid lunge with his sword drawn was forced back as his sword collided with one of Greymon's horns. The brainwashed Digimon growled, leveling his sword at them, not even once backing down even when faced with 5 Adult Level Digimon.

Likewise, on the other side of the path, Ogremon was also in mid lunge with 4 Child Level Digimon in his way, until…

"Biyomon, Evolution! Birdramon!"

"Tentomon, Evolution! Kabuterimon!"

"Gomamon, Evolution! Ikkakumon!"

"Veemon, Evolution! Veedramon!"

Ogremon was knocked back when he collided against Ikkakumon's horn, causing him to hit the ground with a pained groan, but quickly got back on his feet. Up on a higher part of the mountain, overlooking the fight, Devimon watched the combatants, a slight frown on his face. "So 9 of them have gained the ability to evolve," he mused, before his eyes went to Patamon. "I'll have to deal with the last one before he does, it would be far too dangerous."

Back with the fight, things were going...very well for the partner Digimon. No matter how powerful their opponents were, the fact remained, they were all of the same level, and THEY had the number advantage, as they quickly put the two opposing Digimon on the defensive with a coordinated barrage of attacks, pinning both down or forcing them to dodge. Leomon was forced to block fireballs and needles, pushing him back, before Gatomon and Stingmon took advantage of this and landed a double kick on his chest, knocking him back. At the same time, Ogremon was...almost comically avoiding a rain of Harpoon Vulcans and Meteor Wings, and with Kabuterimon and Veedramon just waiting for an opening, needless to say he wasn't going to be making any progress anytime soon.

However, before any significant blows could be struck...a portion of the mountain suddenly exploded, sending a small avalanche of rocks headed right for the group.

 **(Song end)**

Thankfully, the Digimon were quick to react.

"Fox Fire!"

"Mega Blaster!"

"Mega Flame!"

"V-Breath Arrow!"

The four attacks all collided with the rocks, destroying them into nothing but sand that pelted the group.

They had to cover their eyes from the debris, before looking around when they found that the ledge had suddenly become quiet.

"Their gone." Pierce said in surprise.

"Did they fall?" Veedramon wondered as he looked over the edge, before he and all the other Digimon reverted back to their Child forms.

"Doubt it. That was way too convenient. The rockslide happening when they were clearly losing," Yang frowned.

"So they must have someone else helping them," Ren nodded.

"Or someone is pulling their strings. Someone like say...whoever is making the Black Gears," Gyro said, eyeing the top of the mountain suspiciously.

"In any case, we should probably retreat for now, we'll need a plan of attack before trying this again." Ruby pointed out.

"Hopefully we can find our weapons before trying again." Weiss agreed with a sigh.

"Let's start by getting down the mountain. There's another path this way," Nora said, as even she could tell how serious this was.

As the group made their escape, Devimon watched from his vantage point with a frown. "They are stronger than expected. Then again, I suppose it was my mistake thinking those two could win against them when they're all together," he mused. "No matter, now that they've tired themselves out a little, there will be many more chances to destroy them."

* * *

"I wonder what Leomon meant by Chosen Children?" Ren said as the group had gotten down from the mountain and were currently walking through the surrounding forest.

"I swear, if this is some kind of prophecy thing…" Pierce grumbled, a bit annoyed at the thought.

"Yeah, I mean, it would certainly be cool if we were destined to come here, but it would also be pretty annoying in a way." Gyro said with a sigh.

"Doubly so if that basically means we've had bull's-eyes on our backs the whole time," Jaune sighed. "Though, it was pretty cool how some of the Digimon evolved twice in a single day. They used to only be able to do it once."

"Yeah, it wasn't easy, but we managed," Veemon nodded.

"Guess that means we've gotten stronger," Gomamon said.

"That makes sense. I mean, they HAVE been fighting a lot since we came here," Blake nodded, seeing the logic.

"At any rate, we'd better be even more careful from now on," Pyrrha cautioned. "If we ARE part of some prophecy, there's always someone aiming to prevent it...and if movies are anything to go by, they'll aim to do it by removing us from the equation."

"I thought Blake was the morbid one?" Yang said in a half joking tone.

"I'd rather call it...genre savvy," Pyrrha chuckled at the light joke. But then she frowned as she looked towards the Digimon, all of them looking rather worn out. "But more importantly, we should find a place to rest. Everyone looks like they'd need it."

"You don't have to do anything special for us." Tentomon tried to wave off any concerns.

"Nonsense, we'll try to find a nice place for the night, it's starting to get late anyway." and Weiss was having none of it.

"Well, don't look now, but I think we just did." Ruby pointed, and everyone looked past the trees, seeing a mansion within a clearing.

"Well… that's pretty convenient." Jaune said with a blink.

"A little too convenient though." Gyro said, before pulling out his map "And I'm pretty sure I didn't see this place from up top."

"Maybe you just missed it, or thought it was some trees, I mean, the roof is green." Pierce said with a shrug as he indicated the roof.

"...possibly," Gyro sighed.

"But Gyro's right though," Ren said. "It IS kinda too convenient."

"Then let's keep our guards up," Yang nodded.

"So… sleep with our clothes on then." Nora summed up.

"Basically." Blake shrugged.

With that said, the group went into the mansion, looking around warily in case of any traps within, so far the only thing of note was the painting of an angel hanging on the wall.

"This place looks deserted." Jaune said as he looked around.

"Maybe it is? I have to admit, I've never heard of this place before, so maybe there isn't a Digimon here." Gomamon said with a shrug.

"The painting is rather beautiful though." Weiss commented as she went up and observed it.

"You know, it's got me curious, are there any angel like Digimon out there?" Gyro asked curiously.

"What's an angel?" Patamon asked.

"A holy being said to watch over people from heaven." Blake answered.

"Oh… maybe." Patamon shrugged, not too sure of the answer.

"Well...do you think that means this place is safe then?" Nora asked. "I mean, aren't angels supposed to be protection from evil and all that?"

"Normally yes, but see...not ALL angels are like that," Gyro frowned. "Still…"

However, before he could say anything else, he was interrupted when Gabumon suddenly spoke up. "Hey, I smell food! In fact...it smells like a feast!"

"Hey, I smell it too!" Agumon grinned.

"Smells really good too!" Wormmon added, and before any of the huntsmen could say anything, the Digimon had already ran to the source of the smell.

Pierce could feel his eyebrow twitch "We're going to have to teach them some self-restraint, aren't we?"

"I believe we are." Pyrrha answered with a sigh as they followed after the Digimon.

When they came to the room their partners were in, they found the Digimon sitting before a banquet table...with a full spread of various foods before them...to which the Digimon were already eating their fill.

"Self-restraint lessons...pronto…" the hunters (save Nora) all muttered at the sight of their partners eating from food they didn't even know where it came from.

"This stuff is really good!" Agumon said through a mouthful.

"You should have some!" Veemon said as he held up a chicken leg before biting into it.

The hunters all looked between each other at that, honestly unsure, as this seemed too good to be true. Eventually though, the smells got to them, as well as the sight of the Digimon eating the admittedly good food, and figured if the Digimon were eating it so much and nothing was happening...it should be okay to eat.

"...well...okay, I guess I could eat," Pierce sighed.

"Same here," Jaune admitted as he took a seat.

"Let's dig in!" Nora cheered and took a bit out of some roasted meat. "It's good!"

The rest soon followed and all of them found the food to be...delicious. Dare say, it might have been the most delicious thing they'd ever tasted, and despite themselves, they all soon polished up the entire spread.

"I'll admit, this is a pretty sweet deal we got here," Yang admitted after polishing off her last plate.

"But still...it's really suspicious that we found this mansion, then all this food is just sitting here waiting for us like this…" Blake frowned.

"But it wasn't poisoned or anything, and it tasted great," Ren mused.

"Yes...it's really hard to tell if this is a trap or if we're just that fortunate," Weiss agreed. Even if she had enjoyed the meal, this felt too...convenient.

"Well, now that we're full, let's take a look around, but be careful, we don't know what could be hiding in here." Gyro said, everyone nodding in agreement as they started exploring the mansion, trying to get a feel for it. So far it seemed...normal...save for the lack of life in it. They even found a good sized bedroom with enough beds for all of them, and a bathroom that had fully working toilets not far from said room.

"Okay...so far this place SEEMS normal," Ruby frowned. Honestly, for some reason all she was finding was only making her even MORE suspicious. An empty mansion in the middle of the woods, but nobody is here? Yet there was a full spread of food...even she knew that was WAY too good to be true, but at the same time, they just COULDN'T seem to find ANYTHING that implied there was foul play at work.

"Even though a bath would be great, I think we can go without it, we had one yesterday after all, so we're still good for now." Gyro said, and even though that meant they would have to endure the smell of sweat, it was tolerable, and much more safe than being literally caught with their pants down.

"In that case, I suggest we do a perimeter check. Assuming this is real, all this and nobody living in it? I find it hard to believe," Pyrrha suggested. "There might be something else living nearby."

"Good point, if I were a local Digimon, I'd DEFINITELY wanna live here," Nora nodded in agreement.

"I'll do it," Ren volunteered.

"Not alone you're not. I'm coming along," Jaune said, earning a nod from Ren.

"Holler if anything happens. We'll come running," Yang said.

"Speaking of which...has anyone seen the Digimon? I haven't seen them since we split up to explore the mansion," Blake commented. As if to answer her question, one of the doors opened, and out came Patamon and Salamon...on a work chair with wheels, the two mon looking like they were having a ton of fun right now. "...guess that answers that question."

Turns out the Digimon had ended up finding a study and a living room that while cozy, also had a window looking to the outside, showing that night was falling. It didn't take long for Ren and Jaune to return, reporting no hostile Digimon in the area...in fact, they didn't find ANY Digimon...and that honestly worried them more. However, they didn't say a word of this to their partners, who seemed to obliviously be enjoying the mansion and its luxuries. Eventually, night fell and the 20 of them were gathered in the bedroom, each of them sharing a bed with their partners.

Once they were in there...Gyro immediately locked the door, while Weiss drew the curtains, but not before making sure there was nobody outside.

"So...I think we can all agree this is bull shit, right?" Pierce said bluntly.

"Swear!" Ruby shouted, apparently on reflex as she then quickly put her hands over her mouth "Sorry. Force of habit."

"Yeah, you can blame our uncle for swearing so much she calls someone out on it each time." Yang said dryly.

"What's an uncle?" Biyomon asked.

"It's a family member." Yang gave her the short answer, earning a nod from her partner.

"We're getting off topic," Jaune sighed. "I think we can all agree this mansion just screams 'trap', right?"

"What are you talking about? This place is great," Gomamon said. "I mean, the food is good, there's lots of fun stuff, and comfy beds too."

"Right...funny how there's such a convenient mansion...but literally nobody else," Blake pointed out.

"She's right. Jaune and I scouted the area earlier...and there are literally no Digimon living nearby here. You would think a mansion this nice would attract some of the local Digimon to live in it, but there's absolutely none," Ren agreed.

"That DOES sound rather odd." Wormmon hummed in thought.

"Now that you mention it, it's kind of weird how we couldn't smell anything before coming in here." Agumon realised.

"My roots do feel kind of odd on the floor now that I think about it." Palmon frowned in thought.

"But...if this place IS a trap...what do we do?" Patamon asked.

"At this point? Sleep with one eye open if you have to," Gyro sighed. "It'd be nice if we're just being paranoid and it turns out this place is legit...but it's just too perfect to be what it looks like. I've seen this in movies enough times to know how it works. Whoever set this up is waiting for us to be in a false sense of security, and right when we least expect it…" Gyro punctuated the rest by moving a finger across his neck.

"Should we even actually sleep then?" Veemon asked with a slightly nervous look.

"We should, because if we just stay awake all night we'll be too tired in the morning to do anything." Pyrrha said simply.

"But just in case…" Weiss frowned. "Everyone should have their scrolls with them. If ANYONE sees or finds anything suspicious, send a mass call."

"And obviously, we're sleeping with our clothes and armor on like usual, even if they have bathrobes in the closets." Gyro pointed out, everyone nodding in agreement before they all turned in, but slept lightly.

At first things seemed peaceful...until Gyro was woken up by Agumon.

"Considering how much you all ate, I'm surprised you're the only one who needs to go," Gyro chuckled as he walked his partner to the bathroom, though he had his scroll at the ready. As they walked to the bathroom, the painting of the angel on the first floor rippled, before going dark, as Devimon emerged.

"Hm...they're more cautious than I thought. No matter, they've still fallen for my trap," he said calmly with a slight smirk, knowing things were already in place.

Meanwhile, in the bathroom, Gyro was leaning against one of the sinks while Agumon was sitting in one of the stalls.

"You sure you need to go buddy?" Gyro couldn't help but ask as he listened to Agumon groan and try to… well, it doesn't need to be said.

"It's really weird, I ate so much, but nothing wants to happen." and then his groaning was cut off as Agumon started farting… a lot "Well, except for that."

"I can hear," Gyro chuckled, idly using his semblance to keep the gas away from him.

After a moment, Agumon sighed as he walked out of the stall "So we-" and he was quickly cut off as the stall next to his burst open.

"Dear lord you stink!" Ogremon shouted as he pointed at Agumon.

"...exactly how long WERE you in that stall?" Gyro said. "Cause I have to admit, of all the ways I was expecting to run into you or Leomon again...this was actually not one of them."

"Uh… well about an hour or so I guess." Ogremon answered plainly.

"Huh. You're surprisingly patient. Almost makes me feel bad for this next one," Gyro chuckled. "Science question: Ever heard of methane?"

"Meta-wha?" Ogremon blinked.

"It's the stuff that's in farts. And its flammable," Gyro said, before directing the wind he was controlling at Ogremon. "Light'im up!"

"Baby Flame!" Agumon quickly complied as he shot a fireball at Ogremon, and as soon as it made contact with the gas, well…

"AAAAAAHHHHHHHH! IT BURNS!" Ogremon shouted as he was rather easily set on fire… and the flame probably wasn't the only thing burning him.

Gyro and Agumon couldn't suppress the small bout of laughter as they ran out of the bathroom, while Gyro quickly hit the call button on his scroll as they ran. Good thing too, as they didn't get far before they were met with the imposing figure of Leomon. "Chosen Children...destroy…" Leomon said as he advanced towards them.

"You really need a dictionnary… well that or an exorcism." Gyro said, before looking over Leomon's shoulder "Also maybe you should be sure no one is following you."

Unsurprisingly, Leomon didn't pay his words any mind, clearly intending on doing exactly as he keeps threatening to do...only to stop as he promptly felt something hit the back of his head. Hard. And shatter like glass, the large Digimon soon slumping over and falling flat on his face, the broke remains of a vase around him.

"And that's why you should listen when Gyro gives you advice," Pierce chuckled as he and the other hunters and Digimon stepped around Leomon and regrouped with Gyro.

"Guess this place really was a trap," Veemon frowned.

"But if these two were clearly the puppets...who's the puppeteer?" Weiss frowned.

"I must admit...you all exceeded my expectations. I can see why it has been so hard to eliminate all of you," came a new voice, causing all of them to turn to the source, and when they did, all the Digimon froze in fear.

"...okay, you have GOT to be the most obvious bad guy I've ever seen," Gyro couldn't help but say as they beheld the devil-like creature standing on the opposite end of the mansion.

"And you're the biggest nuisances I've had the displeasure of meeting." Devimon said, a clear frown of annoyance on his face.

"We'll take that as a compliment." Yang shot back.

Devimon's frown became more of a snarl "This farce has gone on long enough." he sneered, before snapping his fingers, the mansion shattering away and revealing it had been nothing but an illusion, now nothing more then ruins.

And as the illusion ended, the Digimon suddenly fell down.

"Guys?" Ruby said in worry as she checked on Palmon.

"So hungry… it's like we didn't eat anything all day." Palmon said with a groan.

"But you guys...son of a bitch!" Pierce's eyes widened in realization. "The food was an illusion too, wasn't it? That...okay, I gotta admit that's honestly pretty impressive considering how real it felt," he admitted begrudgingly.

"Why thank you. I had crafted this illusion just for all of you. You did well to not be taken in so easily," Devimon smirked. "But the time for games is over. Now begone!" with a wave of his hand, all of them save Gyro were blown away, and landed on their beds which had suddenly begun floating, and suddenly they were forced to hang on for dear life as the beds flew around the air over the mansion.

Gyro felt a bit of confusion as he saw his friends all flying around on beds, looking back at the devil like Digimon "I'm not gonna like the answer, but why wasn't I sent on a magical bed ride?"

Devimon's smirk became, well, devilish "Because I had something special planned for the leader."

At that moment, Gyro's instincts screamed at him, and he ducked, Leomon's sword passing right over his head and cutting off a few strands of hair. Rolling out of the way, he looked up at the brainwashed Digimon and chuckled nervously. "I'd like to ride the bed of death now…" he managed to say before rolling out of the way of another sword strike. Too bad he wasn't looking where he was rolling, as he rolled right off an edge, causing him to fall to the first floor.

"Gyro!" Agumon said in alarm, and despite the utter exhaustion he was feeling, managed to jump down after his partner. "Are you okay?!"

"I'm fine. Gotta love Aura, huh?" Gyro reassured as he got to his feet...then Leomon jumped down after them. "Though I get the feeling he's about to make sure we're both not fine for much longer."

"I really wish I had more energy to evolve." Agumon frowned as he stepped away from the mind controlled hero.

"Yeah, well, not much time to eat." Gyro answered, before his foot brushed up against a pile of rubble, loosening it just enough for a few stones to move as he glanced at it… and grinned.

Just as Leomon brought his sword down, it was blocked by a pair of curved blades.

"Back in action!" Gyro grinned as he used Ascalon to hold off Leomon's sword.

Although… his grin twitched a bit as he took a moment to look at his weapons, seeing that it was damaged in a few areas, specifically the ones that would allow it to enter its multiple modes. "Okay, not the best...but I can still kick your butt with this," he grimaced slightly, before turning to Agumon. "Agumon, stand back. I got this now," he said with a confident grin.

 **(Play This Will Be The Day)**

Gyro shifted the weight a little, and disengaged his swords, allowing Leomon's sword to hit the ground, while he used the momentum to roll out of the way, but immediately he began his counter attack. Using his semblance, he darted forward carried by the wind, and swung his swords at Leomon, the Digimon blocking with his sword, but Gyro didn't lose any momentum, and flipped over him, and managed to land a strike to his back, causing him to growl in pain and stumble forward, though it seemed the attack was unable to do much damage. Leomon growled as he tried to strike again, but Gyro proved to be much more nimble than he was, especially using his semblance to help on that area, while regaining his weapons meant he could now fight in the way he'd been training for for the last few years.

"Woah…" Agumon breathed in awe "Gyro's so cool!" he gushed, honestly impressed with how well his best friend was doing.

Back with the fight, Gyro was able to more than keep up with Leomon...the only problem was he didn't seem to be doing nearly as much damage as he wanted as things were, and Leomon was hardly slowing down. "As much as I'd like to do this all night, I got friends to save," Gyro smirked as he landed a strong kick to Leomon's face. "So do both of us a favor and stay down!"

Leomon growled, before his fist glowed. "Fist of the Beast King!" he roared as he fired the attack, but Gyro shot into the air using his semblance, and soon came down, swords at the ready.

"Good night!" he smirked as he brought the sword down, Leomon block it, but the force still generated a small shockwave. At that moment, as if in response to his determination, his Digivice began to glow, but instead of Agumon evolving, the light of the Digivice illuminated Leomon, the lion suddenly reeling, backing away. Realizing the light was doing that, Gyro disengaged, and grabbed his Digivice, before pointing it right at Leomon, the intensity growing and right before Gyro and Agumon's eyes, a black phantom of some kind was pushed out of Leomon, before burning away in the light.

 **(Song end)**

Leomon groaned slightly, but when he opened his eyes, they were no longer blank, and now had actual life in them. "The evil has vanished," he said in realization.

"Huh, guess that's another thing we didn't know these things could do," Gyro blinked as he looked at his Digivice.

At the same time, Devimon saw the whole thing and frowned. "This is bad," he growled, before willing the beds that by now had gotten high enough to start falling, intending to kill all the remaining hunters and their Digimon. However, Leomon acted quickly.

"Fist of the Beast King!" he called out, forcing Devimon to dodge, breaking his concentration, and accidentally sending the beds flying into multiple directions. "Devimon, your evil ends here!" Leomon declared.

Devimon glared at them...before it turned into a smirk. "Do you really think that? No, this is just the beginning. For as we speak, my Black Gears have already taken over File Island!" he declared, and on cue, a violent tremor shook the island, and before the eyes of the hunters and Digimon on the beds, the island cracked, and actually broke apart into various sections, revealing countless Black Gears hidden in the ground itself.

"You have GOT to be kidding…!" Gyro couldn't help but say at the sight of the island literally splitting apart.

Devimon laughed "This island is only the beginning! Soon, the whole Digital World will be beneath my heel!"

"Not happening!" Gyro growled.

"Yeah, we won't let you do as you please!" Agumon agreed as both stepped forward...only for Leomon to stop them.

"No, you must find your comrades first," he said.

"But…!" Gyro started, only for Ogremon to suddenly come out of seemingly nowhere, and attempt to strike them, if Leomon hadn't stopped him and pushed him away.

"The Chosen Children MUST be united to end the nightmare. Go!" Leomon roared as he used his sword to sever a section of the ground, dropping it and Gyro and Agumon to the ocean, leaving it to drift away on another section of land. "You all are this world's only hope!"

Gyro let out a grunt as he fell on his back, quickly getting back up as he saw Leomon fight against Ogremon, Devimon still present "Dammit! It's two against one for him!"

"What can we do?" Agumon asked with a frown.

Gyro grit his teeth, his grip tightening on his blades, he hated feeling so utterly useless! Especially when things finally started to turn in their favor! "LEOMON!"

The last thing they heard before the section of land they'd been on was out of sight was Leomon roaring in pain...

* * *

 **And done!**

 **Yeahp, Gyro has Ascalon back now, but it's been damaged enough that all he can use is the twin blades mode.**

 **Don't worry, it's going to get fixed... eventually.**

 **But, yeah, things went a bit different here than they originally did, just a bit though, as Devimon made the mansion TOO convenient, setting off red flags to the group.**

 **Even so, he's still a cunning opponent.**

 **Also, I'm sure you're all curious as to just how Gyro could hold his own against Leomon.**

 **Well, that's just it, he was just holding it, there was no way he was going to win on his own.**

 **Anyway, for now...**

 **The Adventure Evolves.**


	15. 14: Clash! The Freezing Digimon!

**Huh, this one turned out a bit longer than some of the others.**

 **Though to be fair, that's because of the sudden new plot that happens here.**

* * *

 **Clash! The Freezing Digimon!  
**

* * *

Gyro and Agumon clung onto the section of land they were on, the rather violent separation of the island causing it to move at a speed that could throw them off if they weren't careful. "Hang on, buddy! We'll get through this!" Gyro shouted over the sound of rushing water.

"I know!" Agumon shouted back, clinging on for dear life.

Pulling on his goggles, Gyro looked ahead, hoping to see where they were going. He quickly regretted it. "Uh...Agumon?" he gulped.

"Judging by that tone...something we won't like is coming isn't it?" Agumon deadpanned.

"Pretty much, yeah. Brace yourself!"

Agumon did so and good thing too, as they impacted against a larger portion of land, this one covered in ice and snow, the force shattering their section of land, and launching the two into the snow.

After a short struggle, Gyro managed to get out of the snow. "Damn...I like snow as much as the next guy, but not like this," he shivered, before quickly helping Agumon out of the snow.

"Thanks…" Agumon groaned...then he noticed what he'd accidentally pulled out of the snow. "Huh? What are these?"

Gyro peered over his partner's shoulder, before grinning widely "Nice find Agumon, those are Pandora and Ember Celica, their what Pierce and Yang use to fight." he said as he first grabbed the gauntlets, seeing that they had no bullets whatsoever and that they were stuck in active mode, but besides that Yang should be able to use them nicely to make her punches a bit harder. As for Pandora, he actually groaned, very loudly at that, as he saw that all the moving parts where rusted shut, meaning it only had it's Naginata mode available.

"Dammit! I'm gonna kick Devimon's ass next time I see him!" He said in irritation as he put the weapons away in his pouch for now, as he had done with Ascalon, before pulling said swords back out along with spare sheaths for them as he hung them on his hip, sighing in relief as the familiar weight finally came back. Once that was done, he looked towards where Infinity Mountain was still visible. "Damn...we're really going far off…"

"What do we do now, Gyro?" Agumon asked frowning deeply.

"For now? Find a way off this island fragment," Gyro sighed. "We can't do anything if we die of cold or hunger first."

However, before they could even begin to make a plan, a pile of snow suddenly erupted, revealing a Digimon that honestly looked like a giant snowman of some kind.

"Oh come on!" Gyro groaned in annoyance as he and Agumon dived out of the way of the charging Digimon.

"That's Frigimon! But why…" Agumon trailed off, as he saw on Frigimon's back, groaning to himself at the sight of the Black Gear "This is starting to get old."

 _Digimon Analyzer: Frigimon_

 _Frigimon. Vaccine Type. An Adult Level Snow Digimon. Its body is made up of snow and icy crystals, making it rather cold to the touch. Yet, below the icy exterior lies a warm personality… usually. Its special attack is Absolute Zero Punch, freezing whatever it hits instantly into a solid block of ice._

"Absolute Zero Punch!" Frigimon called out...in a surprisingly feminine voice...not that they really noticed seeing as they were too busy dodging the strike. Good thing too as the punch struck one of the random mailboxes that were placed in the area, freezing it solid.

"Okay, we'd better NOT get hit, or we're dead," Gyro gulped at the sight. He was in no mood to be turned into an icicle. "We gotta get that Gear out!"

"Gyro, try throwing me onto her back!" Agumon said.

"Right." Gyro nodded, easily understand his partner's plan, as he lifted up Agumon, but not throwing him just yet, as he had to wait for the right moment.

When he dashed out of the way of another punch, Gyro acted, throwing Agumon at her back, where he quickly grabbed on and built a flame in his mouth "Baby Flame!" the point blank hit set fire to the Black Gear, but it also burned Frigimon's back as she trashed around, throwing Agumon off as the gear fell out, bursting apart as it hit the ground.

Eventually she fell to the ground and after a moment, got up. "Huh? What was I…?" she blinked, her voice gentle and kindly in a way that honestly reminded Gyro of how a mother would be like. Then she saw them and she seemed to remember. "Oh dear, I'm terribly sorry. I don't know why I was acting so violently. I hope I didn't hurt either of you," she said.

"Its fine. Devimon was controlling you with the Black Gear, but its gone now," Agumon said.

"Yeah, anything you did while it was attached to you is all on HIS head, not yours," Gyro reassured.

"Thank you very much," Frigimon nodded. "I can tell you're both very kind."

"Awww, shucks," Agumon chuckled awkwardly, though then he also noticed Frigimon looking at them intently.

"Something wrong?" Gyro asked.

"No...I think I saw a human that looked a lot like you just a little while ago. He had a Veemon with him and they were both clinging onto a flying bed," Frigimon explained.

"A Veemon?! Then that was Pierce!" Agumon cheered that one of their friends was nearby.

"Wait a moment… you know what a human is? Most other Digimon had no clue about that." Gyro said in confusion.

"Ah...well…" Frigimon sweatdropped. "I'd uh...heard about you from some other Digimon on the island. Your group HAS been making quite an impact lately," she said quickly.

Gyro looked at her dully, not buying that for a moment, but eventually, he relented, figuring she had her reasons and that it wasn't anything harmful "I guess that makes sense."

"Did you see where they fell?" Agumon asked, not at all noticing that Frigimon had lied.

Thankful for the change in subject, Frigimon nodded "Yes, they fell on that island over there." she said, pointing out towards one of the many island shards scattered about.

"That's...pretty far away…" Gyro frowned. "How are we supposed to get there?"

"Leave that to me," Frigimon smiled...well he assumed she was based on her eyes, before she walked to the water's edge.

"Absolute Zero Punch!" she called out, freezing a section of the water. "I can make a bridge with this."

Gyro laughed dryly as he looked out over the water "Oh man, we have a few hours before we get there."

"Think we can finally eat along the way?" Agumon asked as the two followed Frigimon on the ice bridge she was slowly making.

"Sure, eat up, you might need it." Gyro said with a smile as he reached into his pouch and handed him one of the remaining meat apples, Agumon plopping it all in his mouth in one bite and roasting it there. This was gonna be a long walk.

* * *

Meanwhile, on the island shard they were headed towards…

"Ruby! Ruby!" Yang called out through the snowfall, hoping to find her little sister, Biyomon following behind her.

"Yang, I think we might want to find shelter soon. I think the snow is starting to pick up," Biyomon said, looking worriedly at her partner.

"Just a little more, Biyomon. I know I saw a bed fall down around here somewhere," Yang said.

"Alright, but please be careful," Biyomon nodded.

"Yeah, just… hold on, over there!" Yang shouted, catching sight of something sticking out of the snow, running towards it and finding the bed she'd seen.

"Well… now we just have to find whoever was on this one." Biyomon said as she walked next to Yang, brushing off some of the snow stuck to her feathers.

"You won't have to look long." the two heard, turning to see Pierce and Veemon walking towards them "We were looking for a place to wait out the snowstorm, ended up finding a cave not too far from here, we came back to use the bed as firewood." Pierce explained.

"D-did you see anyone else fall around here?" Yang said, shivering a bit as the wind picked up.

"Don't think I did, I was bit out of it after the rough landing though." Pierce answered as he scratched his head with a frown, his memory of the landing a bit blurry.

"Oh…" Yang visibly deflated. It wasn't that she wasn't happy to know she wasn't the only one who landed here, but still… "Then...do you think the others might have landed here as well?"

"By others you mean Ruby, right?" Pierce chuckled, causing her to flinch a little. "Hey, its cool. Azure gets like that all the time when he doesn't know where me and Gyro are, so I understand. But...I dunno if searching for the others is a good idea in this weather. The snow's picking up."

"We should wait in the cave we found till the snow stops," Veemon suggested.

"Well...I guess you're right," Yang sighed. "But just give me a bit more time. I've gotta at least check a bit more while the snow's not too harsh."

"Yang…" Biyomon said in worry.

"Well...okay...but just be careful. I think Ruby would be happier if her sister came back to her in one piece," Pierce said, scratching the back of his head. He wasn't too keen on the idea, but he didn't think trying to get Yang to not go would do much. "At the very least, I'll come with you in case someone needs to drag you back to the cave." he finished with a grin.

Yang chuckled a bit "Thanks." she said with a nod, before they started to look around as a group.

Quickly enough, they reached an area that was void of trees.

"Huh, that's odd, I don't remember seeing a snow field before we crashed down." Veemon mused in confusion, as Yang walked ahead.

"Yeah, now that you mention it, didn't we see a… LAKE!" Pierce suddenly shouted in realization, right as the ice hidden underneath Yang's feet cracked and she fell in through the sudden hole "SHIT!" and Pierce wasted no time to dive into the water after her.

"Pierce!" Veemon shouted in alarm.

"Yang!" Biyomon shouted as she quickly flew over the spot. The water rippled for a moment, before Pierce broke the surface, Yang in his arms as both of them gasped for air. With a bit of effort, Pierce managed to push her onto the edge, before Veemon helped pull him out of the water, both humans shivering as their clothes were now soaking wet.

"L-let's g-get back t-to the c-cave!" Pierce managed to say, shivering violently in the cold winds.

* * *

"Sorry about this…" Yang apologized as currently she and Pierce were sitting in front of a fire inside the cave, Biyomon having ignited it with her Magical Fire.

"Hey, like I said, it's no issue, besides, I wasn't going to just let you drown now was I?" Pierce waved off her apology.

Yang smiled a bit, before returning to looking at the fire… and then she remembered the current situation "Do you really have only one blanket?" she asked, her cheeks red, and it wasn't because she was cold.

"Yeah… at least it's pretty big." Pierce said, his cheeks equally red, as he eyed their clothes drying near the fire.

Because of how cold it was, and to avoid getting sick from remaining in wet clothes, the two had to strip down, the only thing keep their modesty was that Pierce had a large, and thankfully warm and thick blanket in his pouch, the two of them wrapping themselves up with one end of it each.

Not far away, Biyomon and Veemon were looking at them in worry. Looking towards the fire, they noticed that it was starting to get a bit weaker. "Ah, we'll go get some more firewood so the fire doesn't go out," she said.

"Yeah, in the meantime we'll also go look for some food too," Veemon added. "Are you two going to be okay here?" he asked.

"W-we'll be fine," Pierce reassured, though they still shivered every now and then.

"Okay, if you're sure," Biyomon nodded and with that, the two of them were out in the snow again.

"Is Veemon going to be ok out there?" Yang asked after a moment as she watched the Digimon walk out.

"Yeah, I asked him the same thing earlier, he said all dragon related Digimon have an internal fire in them that keeps warm." Pierce said with a shrug.

"I guess we won't have to worry about those two then." Yang chuckled, before shivering a bit.

"Are you sure you're okay? Aside from the fact we're both cold and wet, you don't look so great…" Pierce said in worry. Honestly, he was worried that the mix of the cold and the blonde brawler's own worries for her sister might be causing her to come down with something.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine." Yang answered, her teeth clacking a bit at the start.

Pierce looked at her for a little longer, before taking a deep breath "Look, you're obviously feeling even colder than I am, so I think we… uh… please don't punch me for this, but, I think we should share body heat."

Yang stilled at his words, before slowly, her whole face turned red "Um… is that really a good idea?"

Pierce sighed "Yang, look, if you're worried about me trying anything, trust me, I'll find a way to kick my own ass for just thinking about it, not to mention what my brothers would do to me for being an idiot."

"Uh...well…" Yang was very unsure what to say. On one hand, what he was saying made sense. On the other hand… she blushed deeply at the thought of their naked bodies against each other. Had it been any other boy she might have accused them of trying to take advantage of the situation. But this was Pierce. She may have only known him for a little over a week, but in that time they'd all lived, fought, slept, and eaten together, helping each other to stay alive in this strange world. That was why in the end she decided she'd trust him. "A...alright," she nodded slowly.

A bit slowly, she scooted over to him, opening the blanket while he did the same and closing both ends around the two of them while the sides of their body touched. The two of them were soon blushing heavily as they tried to get into a somewhat comfortable position.

Pierce looked around awkwardly, before clearing his throat "So… do you feel a bit warmer?"

Yang shrugged after a moment "A little bit yeah."

Pierce simply nodded, and honestly, he wasn't sure what to do beyond this point.

He could definitely say he and Yang were friends by now, but that certainly didn't help that he found her very attractive, and while he'd had a sort of crush on her when she had been nothing more than a fictional character, getting to know her, it made that feeling come back, but as something more. Sneaking a glance at her, he quickly straightened his gaze to the fire, trying hard NOT to think about the beautiful, strong, kind, and absolutely hilarious woman sitting naked next to him...or the fact that he was pretty sure something else was rising.

As for Yang, the situation was a bit too much for her. Oh sure, she'd seen guys shirtless before, usually from afar or through a screen, but this was completely different. Here she was, sitting next to a naked guy, while she too was naked. It didn't help either that she'd be lying if she said she didn't feel attracted to him. When they first met, they hit off pretty well, and after the last week...she honestly could say she'd gotten rather comfortable around him. After all, what wasn't there to like? He was strong, nice, protective, and he shared her sense of humor. Not to mention he did save her butt when she fell into the freezing water, and he'd been nothing but a gentleman so far. After a few moments, she decided to at least try to break the awkward air. "So...uh…" she started, fumbling for something to talk about. "You and Gyro sure seem close as brothers," she said, grabbing at the first thought that came to mind, before she started mentally berating herself for the rather...dumb...choice of questions and words.

"Well… we're twins, so, you know, up till a certain age, we pretty much did everything together. We were even able to do twinspeak, but that creeped Azure out." Pierce said with a shrug.

"What's twinspeak?" Yang asked with a blink, thankful she'd managed to get the ball rolling.

"Basically it's when one twin starts speaking and the other finishes the phrase. Whenever we did Azure would lock himself in his room because it reminded him of horror movies for some reason." he explained with a laugh.

"Guess you put him through the wringer, huh?" Yang chuckled...before she noticed something else. "Come to think of it...you guys only ever talk about Azure. I don't think you've ever talked about your parents."

Pierce was silent for a few moments, and Yang slowly understood why.

"Oh… I'm sorry for your loss." she said, hanging her head.

Pierce shook his head "Look, don't feel bad about making me remember it, me and Gyro were too young to have any memories of them when it happened anyway. If anything, Azure's the one who cries when someone mentions mom and dad."

Yang tried to picture their brother, even though she'd only seen him once, crying, and the thought brought a small laugh to her lips.

After a moment, she decided to make it fair "Well, I know about your parents, so… Ruby and I share the same dad, thankfully, he's still around, but we have different moms. According to dad, my own mom kind of just… left me with him after I was born. But, Ruby's mom, the one I actually see as my mother, she took care of me even though I wasn't her daughter, and, overall, she was basically a supermom, taking care of two kids by daytime and killing monsters by nighttime."

Though he didn't say it, those last words reminded Pierce of the lyrics to an old song, but, besides that, even though he and Gyro had started trying to figure out what happened to Summer Rose, he had to act like he didn't know… though to be fair, his next question was genuine "What happened?"

"We don't really know the details, but, one day mom went out on a mission, and after a few days when she didn't respond, our uncle Qrow went out to try and find her." Yang sighed "The only thing he brought back was her cape."

"But that means she could only be missing, right?" Pierce said.

"Yeah, but, if she's still alive, why hasn't she come back?" Yang couldn't help but ask, even if he didn't have the answer.

"Maybe there's something stopping her from getting back. There's plenty of unexplored areas on Remnant, so maybe she ended up there." Pierce answered with a shrug, as this was what he and his brothers figured was the most likely. "You never know. Maybe someday she'll be able to come back."

"You really think so?" she asked, hope creeping into her voice.

"To quote a hyperactive knucklehead ninja...believe it," he grinned. "Besides, miracles have happened before, and I'm living proof of that."

Yang smiled, before his next words confused her "How are you a miracle?"

"Well… when I was born, I was pretty sick, and I also had a weak heart. The doctors were positive I wouldn't make it past my first birthday. But, apparently mom and dad didn't give up on me, and now here I am, luckiest baby in the world grown up into a guy with good luck for a semblance."

"And a real modest one too," she jabbed, lightly elbowing him under the blanket.

"I don't think either of us should be talking about modesty right now," he chuckled in return.

Funny as it sounded, neither of them were feeling as embarrassed about it as they had been not long ago, evident by the laugh they shared. After their mirth died down, Yang smiled as she looked at him. "Pierce?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks," she said, and without thinking much about it, she leaned over and pecked him on the cheek.

His reaction wasn't what she expected honestly, as he froze up, his stare becoming vacant.

Inside Pierce's brain at the moment… well, it was best to compare it to the Blue Screen of Death. Eventually his brain rebooted, and outside his face turned into an almost goofy grin. "It...was my pleasure," he said, and despite himself, he couldn't help but add, "Especially for a pretty lady like you."

Yang felt her face blush at that. "R-really, huh?" she gulped. "Well...I'd say you're pretty handsome yourself," she said almost shyly. The two blushed at that, averting their eyes a little, but eventually they were able to meet each other's gaze, their eyes meeting, and before long they found themselves lost in each other's eyes, their faces inching closer, and before they realized what was happening, their lips met.

They remained locked in the kiss for a few moments, before a mix of needing air and the realization of what was happening, caused them to break away. "Ah..I...uh...sorry…" they both said at the same time.

"No, its my fault. I mean, I DID promise I'd be a perfect gentleman and…" Pierce started.

"No, it was...okay, it was actually...really nice," Yang admitted.

The awkward air was back, before finally Pierce decided, after everything that just happened, to go for broke. "Ah screw it. Yang, I uh...got something to say actually," he said. "I...like you. As in, I like like you. I mean, I know we've only known each other for a week, but...that's...how I feel about you."

The best way to describe Yang's blush would be atomic at this point "I… I feel the same way… I think… I've never liked someone in that way, so… I'm not sure if that's what I'm feeling." she admitted, being embarrassed over her uncertainty. "But...I don't mind...ya know...seeing where this goes...if that's okay with you."

Pierce took a few deep breaths to calm himself down, trying to stop stuttering "That's… yeah, that sounds amazing. I'd love that." he said after a few moments, smiling at her.

Yang smiled back at him, before resting her head on his shoulder "Awesome." she whispered, finally starting to calm down.

"Yeah…" Pierce sighed, and put a hand around her waist, pulling her a little closer. With that, the two spent the rest of the evening cuddled up in front of the fire just...talking, even when their partners returned.

Biyomon and Veemon blinked at the sight they found when they returned to the cave, firewood and some fruit in hand, but eventually they just shrugged. Their partners seemed to be in much better mood than before, and that was just fine in their books.

* * *

Gyro yawned as finally, they reached the next island in the morning.

"Sorry you had to carry us Frigimon." Agumon said as the snowy Digimon let them off her shoulders.

"Oh, it's no problem boys, you obviously needed the sleep." she said, waving off his apology.

"I'm surprised by how warm your body felt though, I thought it would have been freezing seeing as you're made of snow." Gyro pointed out as he stretched out his limbs.

"Yes, well, I had reasons that required me to figure out how to stop my body from being so cold." she answered a bit nervously.

Gyro gave her a flat stare. He never thought he'd meet someone so bad at keeping a secret, there was just no way whatever it was, it could be dangerous. Hence, in a very ironic way, he could tell she was trustworthy. "Still, thanks for the lift. Where did you say Pierce fell again?"

"Hm…" Frigimon mused as she scanned the surroundings, before pointing. "There. I think they should have landed in that forest somewhere."

"Then we'd better go look for them," Agumon said. "Let's go!"

"And I thought Pierce was a morning person." Gyro said with a roll of his eyes, smiling in amusement as they looked around, quickly finding a path that led them up into the forest.

The trip up went easily enough. Now the only problem was how large the area was. Fortunately, they didn't need to look far, as a familiar pair came into view as they entered a forest clearing. "Is that…? It is! Veemon, Biyomon, over here!" Agumon said, waving at his friends.

"Ah! It's Gyro and Agumon!" Veemon cheered as he ran towards them, Biyomon flying right behind him.

"It's good to see you two are ok." she said as she touched down, before noticing Frigimon "Frigimon?" she blinked in confusion.

"Yeah, she helped us get here, made a bridge of ice and everything." Gyro explained simply.

"It was the least I could do after you got rid of that Black Gear." she told him.

"That's good to hear," Veemon nodded, glad to know another Digimon was freed from the gears. "Oh! Yang and Pierce are here too. They'll be happy to see ya!"

"Perfect, lead the way then." Gyro said with a nod, following the blue and pink Digimon to the cave.

"They're in there, still asleep though when we went outside." Biyomon said.

Gyro grinned a bit "Great, now I can finally annoy Pierce into waking up." he said as he stepped into the cave, walking ahead a bit, before freezing mid step at what he saw. Pierce and Yang were lying next to each other under a blanket, Yang seemingly curled around Pierce. However, what REALLY got his attention was not only the bits of the blanket that was low enough that he could see their bare shoulders...he also saw their clothes lying in a pile not far away...underwear included.

He took a deep breath after a moment "NOPE!" he said, just a bit loud enough that it made the two start to stir as he turned around and walked back out of the cave.

"Gyro?" Agumon asked in confusion at seeing him walk back out.

"I'm waiting, I ain't waking them up when their like that." Gyro answered, crossing his arms as he looked away from the cave.

A few minutes passed and he heard the sound of rustling in the cave, and shortly after, Yang and Pierce walked out, both fully clothed this time. An awkward silence descended on the three of them, much to the Digimons' confusion. "So uh...glad to see you're okay too, bro. Knew that monster movie reject wouldn't be able to take you down," Pierce said, though the slight blush on his face made it clear he knew Gyro had seen them. "Look...its...not what it looked like."

Gyro took a deep breath "First of all, thanks for your confidence in me, and I may have found a way to free Leomon if Devimon placed him under his control again. Secondly… if it's not what it looked like… tell me what it was then."

"You're taking this surprisingly well." Yang said with a blink.

"Hey, if you two are a couple now, I'm happy for you, I just want to be sure I don't become an uncle already." Gyro told her dryly.

Both of them blushed crimson at that. "No...uh...we're still...testing the waters," Yang said. "See...I kinda...fell into some frozen water and Pierce dove in and got me out."

"And seeing as our clothes were soaked and there was a blizzard, we decided to er...share body heat," Pierce explained. "Stuff happened, we talked, so yeah...we're sorta dating now, though don't worry, nothing happened. The most we did was kiss and a bit of cuddling, though the last bit was to help keep warm."

Gyro looked between the two of them, before his gaze focused on Pierce, and his lips went into a teasing smirk "Azure's not going to let that pass without some teasing."

Pierce groaned at that, but he was smiling nonetheless, glad his twin was taking it nicely.

"And I just realised my father's going to try and kill you when he hears HOW we got together." Yang said, palming her face before turning to Pierce "I'm sorry in advance, but dad's just really overprotective about me and Ruby."

Pierce gulped a bit at that, but quickly smiled. "Well...I'd say it's worth it," he grinned, before pecking her on the cheek.

"Easy you two, don't want to get too excited," Gyro teased, earning a punch on the shoulder from Yang. "Still though, in regards to your dad, we can just have Azure talk to him first and vouch for Pierce."

"That'd be good, yeah," Pierce chuckled. "Anyway...what do we do now?"

"Try to find a way to send this piece of land back towards Mount Infinity I suppose, I doubt Birdramon could travel for THAT long." Gyro said with a shrug.

"Yeah, I don't think I could." Biyomon nodded, confirming Gyro's words.

"Well...then let's try looking around. I mean, SOMETHING has to be moving this island fragment. It's not slowing down at all," Pierce said.

"I bet it's got something to do with Black Gears again," Veemon frowned.

"That's very likely," Yang nodded.

"Think you have any ideas, Frigi...where did she go?" Gyro blinked.

"Wait, the big snowman I saw when I walked out was a woman?" Pierce said, having seen her when he exited the cave but then he had focused on Gyro.

"Trust me, it surprised me as well." Gyro told him.

"I'll check up high." Biyomon said before taking off, getting some decent height before scanning the area, coming back down after a few moments and pointing towards the trees "She's over there, she's walking back over here with some food in her arms."

"Oh… well that's nice of her." Yang said as the snow woman walked back into the area, carrying fruits and vegetables in her arms.

"I figured you'd all be hungry since you just woke up, so I went digging for some things to eat." she told them as she got closer to them.

"Wow, you got a lot!" Biyomon cheered.

"Of course, I've had experience taking care of young Digimon," Frigimon smiled, before giving the humans some fruit specifically. "Here, this is safe to eat," she said. "In the meantime, I'll go look around the area first." With that, she was soon gone.

"...she's definitely dealt with humans before," Gyro deadpanned once she was gone.

"You sound like you had your suspicions already?" Pierce asked as he munched on some berries.

"Well, last night she knew what a human was when we had just met her. She tried to play off that other Digimon have been talking, but we haven't been anywhere near the snowy area yet, and all the Digimon we've encountered up to now have been pretty much stationary." Gyro explained while biting into a normal apple.

"But that's impossible. I mean, its not like some other humans came here first...right?" Yang said.

"Honestly...I can't say anything to that," Gyro sighed. "This world kinda has a habit of throwing curveballs our way."

"Ok, so, possibility of other humans aside, how about we look around soon for any signs of Black Gears?" Pierce said.

"Yeah, hopefully it's something we can reverse easily." Gyro said with a sigh.

However, before they could even start to do anything, they heard a roar. Looking up…

"...first a snow woman, now a yeti…" Gyro blinked before they all dove out of the way, as the new Digimon landed where they had once been.

"It's Mojyamon!" Agumon said in alarm.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Mojyamon_

 _Mojyamon. Vaccine Type. An Adult Level Rare Animal Digimon. A rarely seen Digimon who prefers to live on mountains, Mojyamon is usually a rather relaxed Digimon. Though should anyone enter its den with clearly hostile intentions, they'll be met with force. Its special attack is Bone Bone Boomerang, throwing the bone of a skeletal Digimon that has been fashioned into a boomerang._

"And he's got a Black Gear on him!" Veemon added as they all saw the gear stuck on his chest.

"...okay, when we meet tall dark and ugly again, I'm gonna kill him," Pierce deadpanned.

"I'm calling some dibs too," Yang agreed.

"I think we all want a piece of him when we get the chance," Biyomon frowned.

"Speaking of which…" Gyro started, before quickly pulling out Pandora and Ember Celica. "Look what Agumon found in the snow," he grinned.

"Wait… are they broken?!" Pierce asked, obviously angry as he grabbed Pandora.

"Yeah, I think Devimon did something to them. We're lucky he picked up the idiot ball and didn't outright destroy them." Gyro said with a sigh.

"Well, I got a few spare shells, and the nozzle is still fine on this one at least." Yang said as she inspected the right gauntlet, before slipping it on her wrist.

"Save them for Devimon, he deserves to eat a facefull of bullets!" Biyomon told her, earning a grin from Yang.

"I like that idea." the blonde brawler said, before ducking underneath Mojyamon's boomerang.

"Baby Flame!" Agumon launched a fireball at Mojyamon, only for the yeti like Digimon to jump out of the way "He's too fast for me to hit!"

"Pandora's no good either. All the mechanisms aren't working!" Pierce added, TRYING to get his weapon to shift into something that could help against Mojyamon...but no dice.

Gyro dashed forward using the wind to TRY to hit Mojyamon, but the Digimon simply slid on the snow, easily evading him. "Dammit! He's got the home field advantage! That's why he's so fast!"

"Magical Fire!" Biyomon called out, firing her attack, but once again Mojyamon simply evaded.

"This isn't working!" Veemon said through gritted teeth. "Should we evolve?"

Before anyone could either agree or shoot down the idea, Frigimon ran out of the woods, and in her sudden appearance, actually clotheslined Mojyamon. "You will not harm the children!" she said, looking at him angrily. Mojyamon quickly recovered and only responded with a feral shout as he charged at her with an icicle, but she soon met him head on with one of her punches, sending him skidding back. Rebounding, he lashed out with a flurry of kicks, to which she managed to block them all, before countering with several punches that would make a boxer proud.

"Holy shit." Gyro breathed in shock at seeing the Digimon who had been acting almost like a nanny up to now fighting like a veteran.

"Wow… nobody ever mentioned that about her." Agumon blinked in surprise.

"She's like a whole other Digimon." Veemon said in surprise.

"She kind of reminds me of mom a bit honestly." Yang said after a moment, seeing a few similarities between the Digimon and her mother.

Back to the fight, Frigimon had sent Mojyamon reeling with a headbutt to the head...though how a snowy head could be so hard was anyone's guess. She was already winding up and throwing another punch, when at the last moment, Mojyamon seemed to get his wits about him, and managed to grab her arm, and using the momentum to throw her over his shoulder. Frigimon grunted as she landed on her back, but before she could even start to get up, Mojyamon had already jumped and was coming down at her with an icicle ready to impale the kind Digimon...or that was what WOULD have happened, if he wasn't struck in the face with what appeared to be a large red boomerang, knocking the out of control Digimon off course, causing him to land on his face a bit further away.

The boomerang flew back to its owner who caught it easily, all eyes following it until they saw said owner.

It was a boy, roughly around the age of 12 or 13 judging by his height, and he looked like a native american in a way, wearing a sleeveless yellow shirt, short orange pants, sandals, shin guards and arm guards that were purple in color, a necklace hanging around his neck with a few black feathers with purple tips on them, a dark green cloak hanging around his shoulders, probably able to cover most of his body. His skin was dark, with two blue fang like marks painted on his cheeks and pointing at his golden colored eyes, a mop of dark blue hair on his head, a red band tied in his hair, falling next to his face.

Standing next to him, was a child sized owl like Digimon with black feathers, although his tail feathers were red, wearing a purple ninja vest, and much like Biyomon, the tips of his feathers had claws on them that seemed to act like fingers, though they were purple, while his talons were red.

There was a long pause for a moment, until…

"Wait! There's another human here?!" Gyro said, completely thrown for a loop.

"And he's got a Falcomon with him too." Agumon noted as he looked at the owl like Digimon.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Falcomon_

 _Falcomon. Vaccine Type. A Child Level Bird Digimon. Trained in the ninja arts, Falcomon is a Digimon who prefers covert action when outnumbered, yet is not afraid to stand out in the open when the situation calls for it. While capable of flight, he has the strange quirk of preferring to fly in the air while attached to a kite. His special attack is Shuririnken, throwing a barrage of kunai and shuriken._

"That looks nothing like a falcon. Who the hell came up with that name?" Pierce said, his eyebrow twitching a bit at the name that made no sense.

"Shouldn't we be more worried about what a little kid is going here?" Yang deadpanned slightly. Sure the name was weird, but was that really important?

However, anymore arguments were stopped dead when Frigimon saw the boy and spoke in alarm. "Keenan!"

"You leave Frigimon alone!" the boy, apparently named Keenan, said as he threw his boomerang again, but this time Mojyamon was ready and batted it aside...only to find a number of shuriken and kunai just inches away from him...and they seemed to have small bombs attached to them. Mojyamon had only a moment to widen his eyes, before they exploded in his face, causing him to stumble back in pain.

"Keenan, let's end this quickly," Falcomon said.

"Right!" Keenan nodded in agreement, before reaching for his belt, and pulling out a device.

"Is that...a Digivice?" Pierce blinked at the sight of the object. It was more or less round-ish, despite the somewhat cross shaped body. It was predominantly white, with a dark purple ring around the screen, as well as a dark purple strap, and a pair of dark purple buttons under the screen, as well as what appeared to be some kind of slot on the side. They soon got their answer when the device, and Falcomon, started to glow.

 **(Play EVO by Wild Child Bound)**

On the screen of the device, a word was typed out. "Evolution," came a drone like voice, before what appeared to be a wireframe egg formed on the screen of the device, before it released waves of dark purple colored energy.

Falcomon stood strong as the waves enveloped him, cocooning him within the wireframe egg. "Falcomon, Evolution!" he called out as his skin seemed to peel off, revealing a wireframe of his body underneath, as energy surged, before his form reshaped, and data began to gather, reconstructing his flesh over his new body, till finally the egg couldn't take anymore, and with an explosion, Falcomon's evolved form was revealed. He'd gone from an Owl-like Digimon to an Ostrich-like Digimon. He was completely clothes in a purple ninja attire, a yellow scarf around the base of his neck, his feathers going from black to beige colored with orange tips, and tufts of orange feathers came out the back of the cloth covering his head, looking like hair, and having a similar look to the many feathers on his tail end, as a scar covered his new beak. "Peckmon!"

 _Digimon Analyzer: Peckmon_

 _Peckmon. Vaccine Type. An Adult Level Bird Digimon. Thanks to his long legs, Peckmon is able to cover great distances in a short amount of time. Peckmon follows the way of the ninja, dealing with his enemies quickly and making use of his various weaponry hidden in his feathers. His special attack is Spiral Claw, spinning like a drill with his talons pointed at the enemy._

Not wasting any time, Keenan jumped onto his partner's back, and the two soon took to the skies, Keenan throwing his boomerang towards Mojyamon, who tried to guard against it, and managed to knock it aside...but left himself once again vulnerable as Peckmon plowed one of his strong legs into his face.

Mojyamon grunted in pain, before trying to fight back, but Peckmon was faster, and in a blur, he evaded the hit, before Mojyamon was suddenly knocked forward as Peckmon had gotten behind him and delivered a savage kick...right to the butt. Mojyamon was only getting angrier and angrier, but with how fast his opponent was...his fury was ultimately impotent as he was peppered from pretty much all directions.

"Wow, I thought Gatomon was fast." Biyomon said in surprise.

"I can barely see him, with Gatomon you at least manage to see her a bit when she moves." Veemon added.

"I forgot how fun it was to watch a good curbstomp." Pierce said with a grin.

"Well, you know what they say, there's no kill like overkill." Gyro added with his own grin.

"That's a pretty badass saying." Yang noted as she glanced at him.

"It definitely applies in this case too." Agumon said with a nod of approval.

By now Mojyamon was far too dizzy to fight back, something Keenan and Peckmon realized as well. "Let's end this!" Keenan said, earning a nod from Peckmon. Hefting his boomerang again, Keenan jumped off of Peckmon, aiming right for the dizzy Mojyamon, while Peckmon flew back, getting some range.

"Spiral Claw!" Peckmon called out, spinning like a drill as he launched himself at Mojyamon, the two hitting the dazed mon dead on, knocking him back a good distance till he crashed into a rock face, which cracked and crumbled, revealing a mass of black gears, while the black gear in Mojyamon's chest flew out and shattered, the Digimon soon glowing...and shrinking back down to a more normal size for his species.

 **(End Song)**

Mojyamon shook himself as he got up, looking around in confusion "Huh? How did I get here?"

"Oh thank god he's normal now." Gyro breathed in relief, turning to where the kid was and about to thank him, only to blink in confusion when he and Peckmon were both gone.

"Well… that was a pretty quick getaway." Pierce said after a moment, noticing the same thing.

At the same time, Agumon and Biyomon had both walked up to the mass of Black Gears, glaring at them "You thinking what I'm thinking?" Agumon said.

"Totally." Biyomon said with a nod, as both of them launched their attacks at the gears, damaging them as much as they could. Turns out this was enough, as almost immediately there was a visible shift they could feel.

"Did that do it?" Veemon asked.

"One way to find out," Gyro said as he climbed a tree, and put on his goggles. "Hey, Infinity Mountain is getting closer! I think it worked!"

"Alright, this is good, we're heading back, and when we get there, we're gonna kick his ass!" Yang said as she punched her fists together.

"I'm gonna enjoy this a bit more than I probably should." Pierce chuckled.

"Same here." Gyro said with a smirk as he jumped down, before turning to Frigimon, who was looking out over the area, trying to find something, or if his guess was right, someone.

"I hope he's okay." she whispered to herself in worry.

"Frigimon." Gyro called out as he walked to her, getting her attention "I think it's safe to say by now you definitely didn't hear about humans from other Digimon."

Frigimon looked away for a moment, before sighing as she nodded "You're right, I didn't, in fact, I already met some of your race."

"Like the boy I'm guessing? Keenan, right?" Pierce asked as he came up behind his brother.

"That's right, though Keenan is a bit special." Frigimon said with a bit of a laugh "He's my son, well, adopted, but still."

"Wow." Gyro breathed in surprise "That's… definitely not something I expected when I woke up this morning."

"He's been in the Digital World for the last 10 years, and I found him back when I lived on the WWW continent." Frigimon explained, and they were all sure if she had a mouth she would be smiling wistfully. "Its a long story really."

"Eh, we got time," Gyro shrugged.

"Alright then," Frigimon nodded, and began to tell them her tale.

* * *

 **I know some of you had guessed that Keenan was in the story based on the intro, but bet no one was expected THAT, now where you?**

 **That's right, D-Arcs are a thing in this story.**

 **And yes, Frigimon was switched out to be the one that raised Keenan instead.**

 **Trust me when I say there's going to be a lot more plot twists along the way.**

 **Also, Pierce and Yang are now a couple, and this time I went with a more believable route then the original THOR, since I realised that back then, their relationship was very heavily sexual.**

 **But, that's been fixed now, oh sure, them getting together was a slight fanservice like moment, but it was more honest as well.**

 **Also, Pierce's backstory.**

 **Yeah, I know for a fact none of you saw that coming.**

 **Yes, this is the reason behind his semblance, and if it wasn't obvious by now, the reason behind his crest as well.**

 **I'm not afraid to admit who has what crest, after all, they have the same partners as the canon chosen children.**

 **Anyway, for now...**

 **The Adventure Evolves.**


	16. 15: The Guardian, Centarumon!

**And the next one!**

 **Also, give it up for Novice4129, who took on the Reading for the Chosen Children side, check it out, it's only on the chapter when the destined arrive in his dimension, but it's funny already.**

 **Anyway, let's get this chapter started!**

* * *

 **The Guardian, Centarumon!  
**

* * *

Weiss grit her teeth as she and Tentomon hung on for dear life on the bed they'd been sent flying in soared through the night sky. As it was all they could see was water with a number of fragments of land that had once been File Island, the heiress clinging onto the flying piece of wood and praying to whatever deity was listening that they NOT fall into the water. Fortunately, it seemed they were in a good mood, as it wasn't long before the bed started to lose altitude...headed for one of the larger island fragments...albeit at an angle that would be...bad if they landed directly. "Hang on!" she told her partner, as timing it right, she created a glyph to slow down the bed a little, and eventually one that managed to stop the bed before it hit the ground, allowing both of them to get off, before she let the bed drop to the ground.

"It's a good thing your powers are so versatile. I don't want to think what would have happened if we had hit the ground without some way to slow down," Tentomon breathed a small sigh of relief. He always did find the abilities that the humans called 'semblance' to be rather interesting, even if he focused mainly on how they could help everyone get out of danger alive.

"Indeed, though I still have some amount of training needed with them at the moment, there's a few aspects of it I haven't mastered yet." Weiss sighed as she looked around for any signs of life in the forest they had landed on.

The strange thing about the forest was that it seemed somewhat prehistoric, like what scientists assumed the world was like before humans came into the picture.

"I wonder where we landed?" Weiss mused as she kept an eye out for anything out of place in the area.

"I'm not quite sure, but I do believe this is the Ancient Dino Region, lots of ruins around here, and a few dinosaur Digimon." Tentomon said as he buzzed around.

"Ruins, huh?" Weiss frowned a little. "You know, ever since Andromon's Factory, I've been wondering a lot about where things in this world came from. I know they're supposed to be made from data, but some of these things...they're too precise. This isn't some random occurrence…" she mused.

"Do you think the ruins might hold some answers?" Tentomon asked. He knew her well enough to have an idea of what she was thinking.

"Perhaps. At any rate, we shouldn't stay out here in the open like this. The last thing we want is to run into either a hostile, or black gear infected Digimon while we're separated from the others," Weiss said.

"Good idea, and while we're at it, let's find something to eat too. I still can't believe all that food we had was an illusion…" Tentomon said.

"Yeah…" Weiss nodded slowly, idly holding her own stomach. The feeling of it suddenly going empty...it wasn't pleasant at all "It certainly doesn't help that Gyro and Pierce were the ones holding onto all the food."

"Maybe when you get back home, you can ask their brother about making pouches for the rest of you." Tentomon suggested.

"I think I will, it would certainly help in case we get separated again." she agreed to the idea with a nod.

* * *

Meanwhile, on another nearby island fragment, another bed was about to crash land, though the passengers had jumped off before it hit the ground.

"Poison Ivy!" Palmon called out as she used her vines to grapple onto a nearby tree and pull her and Ruby towards it, allowing both of them to land on some branches, while the bed crashed into the ground.

"That was a close one. Thanks, Palmon," Ruby said breathing a sigh of relief.

"No problem, Ruby," Palmon smiled as she lowered them to the ground.

"Still though…" Ruby frowned, looking at Infinity Mountain that was steadily getting farther away. "We've really gotten into a bad position now, huh?"

"Yeah, the island is in pieces, and everyone went flying." Palmon frowned as she crossed her arms.

"I hope their all ok." Ruby said with a sigh.

"I'm sure they will be, don't worry Ruby." Palmon reassured her partner with a smile.

Ruby nodded with her own smile after a moment, before looking around "It's pretty late, we won't be able to do much until morning."

"What can we do though? It's not like we can just fall asleep unguarded." Palmon asked her with a tilt of her head.

Ruby hummed in thought, looking towards the bed that had crashed, and then at the surrounding trees, smiling after a minute "I think I have an idea."

What that idea was actually impressed Palmon once Ruby was done setting it up.

She'd broken the bed into smaller pieces, and with the blankets, had set it up at the base of tree, while covering the outer blanket with mud and leaves to make it look more natural, and thus, they had a small hiding hole at the base of the tree to sleep through the rest of the night.

Although they were both hungry, the two of them managed to sleep through the rest of the night without interruptions. The next day couldn't have come fast enough as far as they were concerned, but eventually light began to peek through their hiding spot, letting them know it was time to wake up.

"Its morning," Ruby yawned.

"So hungry, at least we managed to sleep." Palmon muttered as they crawled out of their hiding spot.

"Let's start by trying to find breakfast." Ruby said as she stretched out her body, having slept in a bit of an awkward position.

The two went through the forest in search for food, before finally… "Over there!" Ruby said, pointing at a tree. "Those bananas right there!"

"Bananas?" Palmon blinked...in a way that made it clear she had no idea what her partner was talking about.

Ruby turned to her with a raised eyebrow "You don't know what a banana is?"

Palmon shook her head "I've never seen one."

"Yet you knew what meat apples and diginoir was?" Ruby couldn't help but ask.

Palmon simply shrugged, not having a viable answer to that.

Ruby shrugged as well after a moment, before Palmon grabbed the bunch of bananas hanging from the tree and handed them to Ruby, who quickly grabbed one and peeled it open, being somewhat confused as she kept peeling and peeling… and then the banana ended up being empty. "Huh?" she blinked.

"These are pretty good," Palmon said, to which Ruby looked at her partner...and realized she was literally eating it peel and all.

"...normally I wouldn't do this but…" Ruby sighed resignedly, not really liking this, but the hunger pangs were more important to her at this moment, and started eating one of the 'bananas' peel included. "Huh...you're right, they're not bad," she blinked as she ate. After the two ate the entire bunch, they continued on their way.

"Do you think any of the others landed around here?" Palmon asked.

"I hope so…" Ruby sighed, worried for her friends. However, her musings were cut short, as an explosion happened not far away.

"I have a feeling we're in for an aneurysm." Palmon said dryly as the two walked towards the explosion. True enough, they found...okay, the best way they could describe it was a Digimon shaped like a yellow turd with arms, with a small pink mouse hanging on to its head, and in its hand was a familiar looking rapier.

"Yeah...I think you may be right…" was all Ruby could say at the sight of a pair of Digimon...who honestly looked dumb as bricks, playing around with Myrtenaster.

"Should I…?" Palmon trailed off, raising her claws a bit.

"Yeah, best to get it back before they end up breaking it even more." Ruby said as she pinched the bridge of her nose. "On my signal, you grab Weiss's weapon, and then we run," Ruby said.

"Wait, that belongs to Weiss?" Palmon blinked. "Right, all the more reason to get it then."

"On three. One...two...three!" Ruby shouted, and Palmon lashed out with Poison Ivy, wrapping around Myrtenaster, pulling it out of the yellow Digimon's grasp much to their surprise. Ruby didn't waste time, wrapping her arms around Palmon, and using her semblance to zip away from the scene before the two Digimon could even register what happened.

When Ruby stopped, she did so suddenly as she reached the edge of the island, peering down into the water, before looking across and seeing a whole other island there.

"Whoa! That was close," Palmon gulped, the weapon firmly in her grasp.

"Yeah, good thing they didn't even see us move." Ruby said with a sigh as she let Palmon back down on the ground, before accepting Myrtenaster from her and looking it over, wincing a bit "Oh yeah, this bad, looks like those two ended up melting one or two of the chambers when they were messing around with it, doesn't help that the mechanism to open it seems rusted in place. Weiss is NOT going to like this."

"But what do we do now?" Palmon asked.

Ruby looked around...and saw something in the forest on the other island. "There! I see something on the other island. Maybe the others might be there."

"Are you sure?" Palmon blinked at that.

"No, but it's our best shot," Ruby said.

"Alright, let's try it," Palmon nodded, before using Poison Ivy to pull them both across.

* * *

Meanwhile, Weiss and Tentomon had entered the ruins.

Before reaching it though, Weiss had been surprised to find two weapons outside, Ruby's Crescent Rose, with the barrel of the gun melted shut and the blade of the scythe dulled, though thankfully it could still be put in it's compact mode, and Blake's Gambol Shroud, the blade of the katana being destroyed for the most part with only the cleaver still being usable, while the gun was now empty of all bullets, the ribbon was intact though, so she was carrying the weapon with it attached around her torso.

"You know, I'm not surprised by this point." Weiss said with a sigh as she saw the large Black Gear spinning in a corner of the first room of the ruins.

"Well, why don't we focus on something else instead." Tentomon suggested, Weiss nodding in agreement as she started looking around the room, not even uttering a word when she saw a power outlet in a tree root.

Eventually, she got to the walls, humming in thought as she looked at the same symbols that had been in the factory "I wonder if I'd be able to figure these out if I study them enough?" she mused.

"Should we be looking for the others though?" Tentomon said in a bit of worry.

"I'm not worried, we're all strong in our own rights, and we all know when it's best to run, besides, if anything truly dangerous happens, I'm sure their partners will evolved to protect them." Weiss explained as she pulled out her scroll and started up her recently finished analysis program, putting it together with the data she had accumulated in the factory, though it did take a few days.

"That so?" Tentomon said plainly. He knew his partner could get very into it when she found something that interested her.

"Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about them. But these characters may just be hiding a secret that may help us. There's just so much we don't actually know about this world, the Digivices, and possibly why we were brought here," Weiss explained. "It may be a long shot, but it is one I'd like to try."

"I suppose when you put it like that, it does make sense." Tentomon said as he crossed his claws together.

Weiss nodded lightly before she went to work, compiling the characters and data on the walls. It wasn't long before she became fully focused in what she was doing, so much so she barely noticed the two new figures walking into the ruins and were soon in the room she was in.

And then she was startled out of her concentration when she heard a quick but sharp whistle blow, whirling around to see Ruby pulling her whistle out of her mouth with a mildly annoyed look "Well that took a while."

"Wait, what? When you did you get here?" Weiss asked, the whistle forgotten due to reuniting with a member of their group.

"About half an hour or so, give or take a few minutes." Ruby said with a shrug "I tried a lot of things to get your attention but you were REALLY focused on that thing."

Weiss had the decency to blush at that. "Ah...right...I apologize," she said.

"No problem. Though...what WERE you doing?" Ruby asked.

"See the characters on these walls? They're the same type as the ones I found inside Andromon's Factory," Weiss explained. "I think if I decipher this code then maybe, just maybe, we might uncover some kind of secret. Something that might even be useful to defeat Devimon," Weiss said.

"Huh… that's pretty cool. Got anything good so far?" Ruby asked, feeling a bit curious.

"Nothing yet, but I think I may be close to cracking it." Weiss told her, looking back down on her screen for a moment.

"Well… I'm gonna play on my scroll while you do that I guess." Ruby said with a shrug, before sitting down next to a wall that didn't have any writing on it and pulling out her own scroll, lowering the volume, and starting up a random game, Palmon and Tentomon leaning over to watch.

Weiss shook her head with an amused smile before she returned to her analysis. The process took a while, something that thankfully the others didn't bother her about, and eventually she finished compiling the data however... "The data's incomplete…" she said, catching their attention.

"Incomplete how?" Ruby asked as she went over to Weiss.

"As in because some of the characters on the wall are missing I don't have all the information needed." Weiss said with a sigh.

"Well… maybe I could head deeper in and take pictures? I mean, there's probably more of this stuff deeper in the ruins right?" Ruby suggested.

"That… could certainly help." Weiss mulled over the thought, eventually nodding "Alright, but before you go, here, I'm pretty sure this belongs to you." she said as she pulled the folded up Crescent Rose into Ruby's view, and a second later Ruby was clutching it to herself as she looked it over frantically.

"It was damaged when I found it," Weiss sighed, but Ruby didn't hear her, clearly fussing too much over 'her baby'.

The other three sweat dropped at the weapon loving girl, before Palmon took Myrtenaster off of Ruby's belt and gave it to Weiss. "We found this earlier too, but it was like this when we found it."

Weiss accepted her weapon, before inspecting it, scowling when she saw the state of the barrel "This is recent."

"Yeah, a pair of idiots got their hands on it and started playing around with it." Palmon told her dryly.

"I see…" Weiss frowned. "At any rate, thank you for returning this," she said with a slight nod as she hooked her weapon on her belt again.

"Do you think Ruby is gonna be okay?" Tentomon asked, looking at the frantic girl. He got his answer when Ruby suddenly stopped, before walking towards them.

"Uh...Ruby? Are you okay?" Palmon asked, a little worried at the expression on her face.

"I'm gonna kick that devil bastard's ass." Ruby said coldly as she glared at the Black Gear in the corner.

Everyone stared at her silently for several moments, before Weiss finally spoke "Did you just swear?"

"Nobody touches my baby! NOBODY!" Ruby shouted as she pointed towards the ceiling.

The three of them were inching away a little from the silver eyed girl at that statement, before nodding a little. Either way, they could all agree that that monster had to be stopped. "So uh...what do we do about the data?" Palmon asked, changing the subject.

"Uh… right." Weiss said as she shook her head and turned her head back to her scroll "Ruby, if you can actually find more characters like these and send me pictures of them, I think I should be able to decode the information here."

"If it makes us get to that devil bastard faster, then you got it!" Ruby shouted, before she was gone deeper into the ruins with a flash, kicking up a dust cloud as she heard a surprised noise, figuring it was from Palmon being dragged off, she turned back to her scroll, only to stop as she heard the voice that was next to her.

"Well… this is a problem." Palmon said as the dust cloud finally fell down while Weiss turned to her, before she groaned into her hands.

Ruby didn't even realize her mistake till she was well into the ruins, having used her Semblance to zip through, and finding a few small sections with more characters, taking a picture. "Think this should be enough, Palmon?" she asked.

"I think so, but I'm not Palmon," came a notable male voice.

She blinked, before slowly turning...to see Tentomon looking dizzy, not being used to her fast speed. That's when it hit her what she'd done. "Uhh...oops?" she said awkwardly.

"Please send the pictures to Weiss while I try to remember which way is up." Tentomon said as he clutched his head to try and stop the spinning.

"R-right." Ruby said, a bit of an embarrassed blush on her cheeks at her mistake before sending the pictures to her white haired friend.

Several moments later, and Ruby jumped a bit when she heard Weiss's voice almost reverberate through the walls "Oh thank Oum I finished it, now I just need to call her."

"Uh… you mean you aren't talking to me on my scroll?" Ruby said towards the walls, as she swore she could almost hear the pause from Weiss.

"... You heard that?" Weiss said in surprise.

"Yeah, I'm kind of as surprised as you are though." Ruby said as she scratched her cheek awkwardly.

"Well...at any rate, that data you sent me allowed me to synthesize a map of the ruins. You're in the middle of a labyrinth, but don't worry. I'll guide you," Weiss said.

"Right. Lead the way," Ruby nodded. The next minutes had Ruby following Weiss's directions as they navigated through the ruins.

"The next areas seem to have traps. Be careful. I'll inform you what traps are coming," Weiss said.

"Right," Ruby nodded...before chuckling. "You know...this honestly feels almost like one of those adventure movies."

"Perhaps," Weiss admitted with a light chuckle. "But keep in mind, there's no script here."

"Well, that's what improv is for." Ruby said with a shrug as she grinned a bit.

"Now then, you're about to enter a small room, the floor of most of the room is fake, so make sure to stay on the edges." Weiss told her, and Ruby made a small sound of confirmation that she heard her as she stepped into the room Weiss mentioned, tapping her foot on the floor curiously only to pale a bit as it crumbled away, leaving just the edges intact.

Ruby swallowed nervously before pressing herself flush against the wall while Tentomon hovered behind her as he followed.

After getting past that room, the two continued on until they reached a cross intersection, looking around "So, where to next?" Tentomon called out, waiting for his partner to answer.

There was silence for a few moments "I think someone's following the two of you, there's another dot on the map right now and it's almost at the room you just left."

"Actually...I think they're already here," Ruby said a little nervously, as whoever was following them soon came into view. The Digimon was a large centaur-like creature, with a metal helmet that seemed to have a cycloptic eye, though it was hard to tell from the red dot. His body was predominantly brown, though there were these bizarre purple...bulbs...growing on his body, with some mechanical parts especially on his arms, making him seem like some kind of cyborg.

"Isn't that Centarumon?" Tentomon said in surprise.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Centarumon_

 _Centarumon. Data Type. An Adult Level Beast Man Digimon. A stoic guardian, Centarumon is not the kind to let others get past him easily. With the exhaust pipes on his back, he can easily overtake most landbound Digimon, though this does have the disadvantage of making it nearly impossible for him to turn, especially in tight spaces. His special attack is Hunting Cannon, firing a yellow beam of energy from the cannon in his right hand._

"And he doesn't look friendly," Ruby gulped, taking out her Digivice, and true enough, a black dot appeared on the radar. "Yep, he's infected!" she confirmed.

"Of course he is," Weiss sighed. "Ruby, I need you to listen to my instructions carefully. I'll try to lead you to a spot that has some open space. When you get there, hold him off till we can reach you and Tentomon!" she ordered.

"Got it! Just tell me where to go," Ruby nodded as she and Tentomon did an about face and ran away, Centarumon easily getting through the gap thanks to the vents on his back.

The twists and turns that Weiss sent them on were at least good enough to stop Centarumon from reaching his full speed, and the traps they avoided were also good to make him slow down a bit, giving them a better chance to run away. Following Weiss's directions, they soon found themselves in a large empty room. "We're in position, Weiss!" Ruby reported.

"Good. Hold him off until we get there!" was the reply she got, before the line went dead.

"So...how do we do that?" Tentomon asked the rather obvious question.

Ruby paused for a moment, before realising the problem "Oh yeah, you probably can't evolve with my Digivice huh?"

"I don't believe I can, I would need Weiss to be close by." Tentomon answered, just as they heard Centarumon's hooves sounding off in the tunnel, getting steadily louder

"Right, and Crescent Rose's nozzle was busted up enough I can't shoot at him, though if I could just get a whetstone I could work on the blade." Ruby started and slowly mumbled off as she thought about how to fix back up her weapon.

"Ruby…. RUBY!" Tentomon shouted, getting back her attention "We need to keep him occupied, remember?"

"Right, sorry." she said sheepishly, before grabbing Crescent Rose and activating it with a flourish. "You distract him with some lightning, I'll keep him off balance," she said. "That should hold him off long enough."

"Okay, let's do that," Tentomon nodded as he flew up. "Petit Thunder!" he called out as he fired his attack at Centarumon, though it didn't cause any notable damage, it did do its intended goal, which was to draw his attention.

Ruby however, dashed forward using her semblance, and started peppering the Digimon's legs with strikes from the dulled Crescent Rose, forcing Centarumon to divide his attention between dealing with the insect shooting lightning in his face, and the blur taking pot shots at his legs.

Centarumon growled, even firing his special move a few times, but despite that, he failed to hit either of them, while they were keeping him somewhat off balance.

And on the outside of the wall, Weiss and Palmon were certainly thankful that most of Centarumon's shots were breaking up the wall, making their own job easier.

And mere moments later, the wall collapsed, Ruby not even being need to be told as she sped outside, grabbing Tentomon on the way as the four regrouped while Centarumon followed them.

"Good to have you back Palmon." Ruby said as she glanced at her partner with a smile.

"It'll be a good moment once we get that gear out of him." Palmon said with a slight grin.

"Well then everyone, I think its about time we put an end to this farce," Weiss said.

"Right!" everyone nodded, as Weiss and Ruby's Digivices began to glow.

 **(Play Brave Heart)**

"Palmon, Evolution! Togemon!"

"Tentomon, Evolution! Kabuterimon!"

With the burst of light, the two Digimon evolved, standing tall before Centarumon. The controlled Digimon however didn't seem phased, as he turned his arm into its cannon mode and aimed.

"Not this time," Kabuterimon said as he charged up. "Mega Blaster!" he fired his attack, meeting Centarumon's attack, causing an explosion, though he timed it so it was nearer to Centarumon, causing him to stumble back...and leaving him open to Togemon who landed a haymaker to his head, before following up with a rapid series of punches to his torso, ending it with a strong punch that pushed him back into the ruins.

"Nowhere to run or hide. Let's end this now," Togemon said.

"Agreed," Kabuterimon said, before they both charged up their attacks.

"Needles Spray!"

"Mega Blaster!"

The two attacks were launched at the still dazed Centarumon, and as such, he couldn't evade as both attacks hit him dead on, the Digimon shouting in pain, before the Black Gear in his back was violently launched out, causing it to shatter against the wall, leaving Centarumon to slump to the ground, defeated.

"Okay, the Black Gear is gone. He should be back to his senses now," Weiss confirmed, checking her Digivice, as Kabuterimon and Togemon reverted to their child forms.

 **(Song end)**

Centarumon groaned, slowly getting back to his feet "What was I…?" he muttered, before his eye fell on the two humans, specifically, the Digivices in their hands, as he gasped "You… you're the Chosen Children."

"Ok, how many Digimon know about that?" Ruby muttered in confusion.

Weiss shrugged at her, before turning her attention to Centarumon "You were under the control of a Black Gear, it made you attack us."

Centarumon nodded "I see, I'm ashamed that Devimon was able to get to me."

"Devimon… that's the guy with horns and wings in black, right?" Ruby asked with a raised eyebrow.

"A simplified description, but yes, that's him." Centarumon nodded "Most likely he placed me under his control in the event you came here, to prevent me from revealing information about the Digivices to you."

"More information on them would certainly come in handy." Tentomon said.

Getting back on his feet, Centarumon nodded. "Follow me," he said simply before leading them to another section of the ruins. There, on the wall, was a picture that was the spitting image of the Digivices.

"Long ago, the great Server that watches over the Digital World informed the Digimon of the past, telling them that one day, champions would arrive from another world, carrying with them objects known as Digivices, holy devices capable of inducing a sudden evolution in a Digimon, and, capable of evolving themselves, into forms more suited to channel their holy powers." Centarumon explained as the two humans looked at their Digivices.

"And those champions are us?" Ruby asked, earning a nod from Centarumon. "That...that's so...COOL!"

"Well...I'm glad you're...enthusiastic…" Centarumon said with a sweat drop.

"I don't know what to think about this honestly." Weiss said with a bemused look on her face.

"It certainly is a lot to take in." Tentomon commented.

"Ruby's taking it pretty well though." Palmon muttered to him, causing the two to look at the girl who was still wearing a big smile.

Centarumon looked at them for a moment, before his attention went to behind them as he saw someone step into the room "Ah, Leomon! I wasn't expecting you."

The two humans and two child level Digimon whirled around, seeing the same Digimon that, judging by his eyes, was still under the control of Devimon.

"Watch out! Devimon's still controlling him!" Ruby warned. Too late.

"Fist of the Beast King!" Leomon called out, firing his attack, and hitting Centarumon in the chest, sending him skidding back.

Centarumon shook his head as he looked at Leomon "I see, then, I apologise in advance my friend. Hunting Cannon!" he said as he fired right at Leomon's face, disorienting the lion headed Digimon.

Ruby looked at Leomon, wondering if there was any way to stop him, before thinking back on Centarumon's explanation about the Digivices, looking down at the one in her hand.

"I think we have the same idea." Weiss said, with Ruby nodding in agreement.

With that, the two girls ran up to Leomon and aimed their Digivices right at his face, a light spilling forth from the devices as Leomon recoiled, growling in pain, before quickly turning tail and fleeing.

The sudden retreat had surprised the girls enough though that they didn't give chase, having expected him to stand his ground.

"It seems Devimon's hold on him is stronger than expected," Centarumon sighed, and they were sure if he didn't have his helmet, he'd have looked sad. "However, that indeed is proof that you both are the legendary champions. Only in the hands of their champions can the Digivice shine so bright. Had he not retreated, I am certain the holy power would have driven out Devimon's evil influence."

"Still though...sorry we couldn't free Leomon," Ruby apologized, though Centarumon shook his head. "It is alright. In time I am certain you will free him."

"But before that, we should find a way to get back to Infinity Mountain," Palmon said, reminding them of their current predicament.

"If the Digivice can do this, I think I know just what we can do," Weiss said. Before long they were in the room with the large Black Gear.

"Yes, this evil power is indeed Devimon's. However, it is beyond my power to remove it," Centarumon nodded.

"Oh, I get it," Ruby nodded, realizing what Weiss had planned as they pulled out there Digivices.

"This could work. Its definitely worth a shot!" Tentomon agreed, as the two pointed their Digivices at the gear. The holy power shot out of the devices, and hit the gear, causing it to be covered in sparks, before it eventually shattered. As if on cue, the earth started to shake.

"Did that do it?" Palmon asked.

"Only one way to find out," Ruby and Weiss said at the same time. Quickly getting out of the ruins, they soon saw that indeed, the island fragment they were on was moving back towards Infinity Mountain.

"We'll have to get the info on the Digivices to the others." Weiss said, looking down at the one in her hands.

"Let's just hope their safe for now." Ruby added with a nod.

* * *

 **And there's the chapter!**

 **A few things happened here.**

 **Such as Sukamon and Chumon being compltely ignored.**

 **Because, honestly, they won't really be needed much here.**

 **And also, I'm sure some of you are thinking about Centarumon's words, about the Server and how the Digivices can evolve.**

 **Yeah, trust me, this is going to be important later on.**

 **But for now...**

 **The Adventure Evolves.**


	17. 16: The Dancing Ghosts, Bakemon!

**Welp, another chapter down.**

 **I've pretty much run out of stuff to say at this point to be honest.**

 **Enjoy.**

* * *

 **The Dancing Ghosts, Bakemon!  
**

* * *

The mist covered the waters of this area as an eerie tranquility seemed to permeate the waters. Said tranquility was soon broken by the sound of someone losing their lunch.

"Of all the ways he had to separate us, WHY did it have to be flying?" Jaune moaned miserably, having finished throwing up after landing, his tendency to get airsick once again rearing its ugly head.

"It must really suck that you get sick whenever you're in the air," Gomamon said, patting his partner on the back to help relieve the symptoms while they floated on the water on top of Jaune's bed.

"Yeah...my entire family suffers from some form of motion sickness. I'm just glad I'm not my dad. He'd be throwing up every few minutes right now," Jaune sighed, and eventually he felt his stomach settle.

"Now what do we do?" Gomamon asked.

"Well...first things first, let's find dry land," he sighed. "Think you can call the Marching Fishes to help us out?"

"Oh yeah, didn't think of that." Gomamon muttered, about to do so, before both him and Jaune blinked as they noticed something emerge from the foggy waters and drift towards them.

"Is that a crate?" Jaune asked dryly.

"Looks like it yeah." Gomamon shot back, just as dry, before the two looked at each other, sharing the same thought 'Obvious trap is obvious'. "So...what do we do with it?"

"...think you can puncture a hole in it?" Jaune suggested.

A moment after his suggestion, the crate's top was blow off, as a screaming Ogremon came out "Don't you freaking dare you damn kid!"

"Why not? Obviously you were planning on killing us." Jaune said, crossing his arms, feeling rather confident considering Ogremon was a few feet away from him and his club seemed to be just shy of hitting the bed at this distance.

Ogremon looked away nervously, caught red handed, before raising a finger up "Just a moment." he said, before crouching down into the crate and rummaging about.

"He has stuff in there?" Gomamon whispered.

"I'm betting on some weird logic being in play." Jaune whispered back.

"Ah ha!" Ogremon said suddenly as the two focused back on him as he rose back up, holding…

Jaune blinked as he was staring at Milo and Akuo, Pyrrha's weapon and shield. Milo itself seemed pretty banged up, and Akuo looked to have rust over it. "Where the heck did you get those?" he blinked.

"Ah, Devimon kind of wanted me to throw them into the sea, but I forgot." Ogremon answered sheepishly.

The flat stares the two gave him at that were priceless. Eventually Jaune sighed, rubbing his head in mild aggravation. "So...I'm guessing there's a reason you took those out, right?'

"I'll hand them over if you promise not to make me drown." Ogremon said a bit nervously.

"Deal." Jaune said immediately, catching the lance and shield, before watching with a bemused look as Ogremon took out a paddle and started paddling away from him as fast as possible.

The two watched him disappear into the fog, before Gomamon finally broke the silence "You've got a pretty good poker face."

Jaune let out a sigh as his shoulders sagged in relief "Yeah, well, I was afraid he might try to kill us for the whole conversation, glad he was scared of drowning," he nodded, before inspecting the weapons again, seeing that the damage to Milo seemed to make it be stuck in it's javelin mode, while the edge of Akuo was just as rust covered as the front. "Damn...Pyrrha's not gonna be happy when she sees this," he sighed, before shaking his head. "Anyway, about the fishes?"

"Oh, right! Marching Fishes!" Gomamon called out, summoning the school of fish who were soon pushing the bed. "So...where are we going?"

"Honestly? I have no idea. But anywhere's gotta be better than floating in the middle of the ocean, right?" Jaune shrugged.

"That's true," Gomamon nodded.

* * *

Meanwhile, a fishing rod flew through the air, and landed in the water.

"Do you really think it'll work that well?" Gabumon asked as he sat on the edge next to his partner.

"Well, a mushroom is better bait than none at all at the least." Pyrrha said after a moment.

Gabumon nodded as he ate one of the few mushrooms they had found "That's true I guess, at least their tasty."

Pyrrha hummed lightly in agreement, before noticing her lure suddenly going under, and feeling weight on the line. "I think I got a bite! And it feels like a big one!"

"Really? I'll help!" Gabumon said as he helped her pull the rod. The two struggled for a moment, before they pulled whatever it was out...and it was only an instinctive reaction from Pyrrha activating her semblance on instinct that stopped them from getting metal to the face.

"Oh… Jaune's not going to like this." she said with a grimace as she looked at the weapon that was Crocea Mors, the blade snapped in half, though the shield/sheath seemed to have been ignored.

"Didn't he say his weapon was a family heirloom?" Gabumon added with a frown.

"Hopefully we manage to repair it before going back." Pyrrha added as she realised how much trouble her friend would be in should he come back with the family heirloom in pieces.

Gabumon was about to talk again, before closing his mouth as he turned his head to the water, hearing a peculiar sound "Do you hear that?"

Pyrrha paused as she had been about to cast out her line again after putting Crocea Mors down, trying to hear what her partner could "It sounds like someone swimming." she said after a moment.

Straining their eyes, they looked out to the mist, trying to see if they could see what was making the sound. At first they didn't see anything, but slowly but surely, something was coming into view.

And once it did, they were treated to the sight of Jaune and Gomamon, sitting on a bed, while it was being carried by a huge school of rainbow fishes.

Pyrrha blinked, once, twice, before rubbing her eyes to be sure they weren't playing tricks on her, eventually deciding this was real and setting down her makeshift fishing pole as she waved to the blonde knight, which he returned with a relieved smile.

When Jaune set foot on land, the small group relaxed a bit, glad to have found each other after being split up, before Jaune looked around a bit "Where's your bed?"

"Over there, it fell in the water and we jumped off and landed on the ground here." Pyrrha said and gestured to an upturned bed which kept crashing against the coast a few meters away.

"Well, that would have hurt." Jaune said with a wince "Glad you're alright." he told her with a nod, which made her smile at him.

"Oh, I almost forgot." she started with a grimace, before lifting up Crocea Mors, which she had put back into the sheath, before pulling it out in front of him, seeing his face fall at the broken blade "It was like this when I found it, I'm sorry Jaune." she said as she handed it to him.

He shook his head "It's not your fault, besides, Milo and Akuo were in similar shape when I found them." he said as he nodded at the javelin and shield which he had handed to her after landing.

Pyrrha examined her weapon again, before shaking her head. "Its not so bad. I can still use it more or less, and I can always have it fixed when we get back to Remnant," she said.

"Yeah, same here," Jaune smiled. "Heck, since Crocea Mors isn't a mechashift weapon, it shouldn't be TOO hard," he said.

"Maybe you could ask Leomon for help once he's free from control? He does use a sword after all." Gabumon suggested.

"Using a sword isn't quite the same as making one, but I'll keep that in mind," Jaune nodded. "At any rate, where are we anyway?"

"Not really sure," Gomamon said, looking around. "This mist is way too thick, and with how the island got broken apart, I can't tell any landmarks."

"It would help if we could call any of the others, maybe they could see a fog covered island from where they are." Pyrrha said with a sigh.

"Yeah." Jaune sighed in agreement… before facepalming three seconds later "I knew I forgot something." he said as he pulled out his scroll, going into his contacts and tapping Gyro's number before putting it to his ear and waiting.

He waited for a quite a while, before he got an automated message, but it wasn't Gyro's voicemail.

"We are sorry, but the person you are trying to reach is too far away at the moment, please try again later."

"...well, it was worth a shot," Jaune sighed, not at all surprised things weren't gonna be that easy.

"So now what do we do?" Gomamon asked.

"Either we keep trying fishing...or we explore the area. Maybe we'll find something," Pyrrha said.

"I think I already did." Gabumon said as he looked behind everyone as the fog started to slowly lift from the area.

When they all turned around, they followed his eyes to see what looked like a church standing on top of a hill.

"Well… that's ominous." Jaune said after a moment.

"I feel like I should know this place." Gomamon mused.

"That's because I think this is Overdell Graveyard." Gabumon said with a hand on his chin.

"Overdell Graveyard?" Pyrrha asked.

"Yeah, I heard Digimon called Bakemon live in this area," Gabumon said.

"Let me guess. They're ghost or zombie Digimon, aren't they?" Jaune sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Ghost, yeah," Gomamon nodded.

"...we landed on a horror movie set come to life…" was the groan that came from the blonde.

"Ghosts are usually the kind of beings to try and trick people, right?" Pyrrha asked with a hand on her chin.

"Especially Bakemon, they love their illusions." Gomamon answered.

"Well that's just great." Jaune said with a groan "Alright, the guys said that ghost grimm were a thing, so they had a few ideas that could have worked, and they might for a ghost Digimon as well."

"What are these possible weaknesses?" Gabumon asked.

"They said that a chant, holy water or a cross might work. They didn't know any chants, and don't know how water can qualify as holy, but a cross is pretty easy." Jaune said as he went up to a tree and snapped off two branches before putting them to the correct size "Alright, now I need something to tie it with." he muttered, before blinking as Pyrrha handed him a vine she had used for her fishing pole, taking it with a smile as he tied the two branches together into a makeshift cross.

"...are you sure that's going to work?" Gomamon asked, looking a little skeptical at the makeshift cross.

"Honestly? I don't know. But something's better than nothing, right?" Jaune sighed.

Gomamon tilted his head in thought at that before shrugging "I guess that's fair."

"We should be careful on our way up, we don't know if any traps have been put in place." Pyrrha advised, the others agreeing with her as they started on the trek up the hill towards the top.

What they found at first seemed abandoned, but as they got closer, they saw what appeared to be a festival of some kind...and from the looks of it, there seemed to be humans there.

"Are those humans?" Gabumon asked.

"They sure LOOK like it," Pyrrha said. "Of course, the keyword is 'look'," she added, earning a few nods from them all.

"Yeah, Bakemon are supposed to like illusions, so this would make sense for them to do." Jaune agreed as he held the makeshift cross in his hand. As they got close, one of the humans turned towards them, revealing he was wearing a rather bizarre mask on his face.

"Welcome," he said, his voice...rather off. It was clearly intended to be friendly but...it came across as rather off putting.

Despite that, they maintained their composure. "Uh...thank you," Pyrrha said. "So...are you all having a festival or something?" she asked, referring to how the 'humans' were dancing.

"Why yes. This is a very special carnival," the 'human' said.

"What's the occasion?" Jauned asked.

"It is time for us to give an offering to Lord Bakemon," the 'human' responded.

Jaune looked at the 'man' dryly "Wow, can you make it even more obvious?"

"Whatever do you mean young man?" the 'human' said in confusion.

"For starters, me and my friends are the only humans here, that much has been confirmed by a lot of sources that don't know what a human is. Secondly, Bakemon is a trickster, if anyone actually worships that, their weird."

Elsewhere on a snowy island shard a goggle wearing trickster god worshipper sneezed.

"And finally," Jaune started, before shoving his makeshift cross into the 'human's' face. The effect was instant as the 'human' stiffened, before their face seemed to crack, and with a pop, his form broke, revealing what could best be described as a bedsheet ghost with sharp teeth. "Your disguise sucks."

"That's Bakemon?" Pyrrha blinked. She was honestly expecting something a bit more...menacing than that.

"Yep, that's Bakemon alright," Gabumon and Gomamon nodded in confirmation.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Bakemon_

 _Bakemon. Virus Type. An Adult Level Ghost Digimon. Known for being a trickster spirit, Bakemon prefers deceit over actually fighting it's opponents. They also have a weakness to religious objects and spiritual chants. Its special attack is Hell's Hand, draining the power of its enemies until they are at death's door._

The Bakemon recoiled, but it seems in the commotion, they'd attracted the attention of the other 'humans'...before all of them shattered to reveal more Bakemon. "...in retrospect maybe we should have waited till we were alone with him or something," Jaune sweatdropped.

"Probably would have been a good idea yeah." Gomamon agreed nervously as he looked at the overwhelming numbers.

"Well, they can't get too close at least." Pyrrha noted as Jaune kept aiming the cross everywhere, the Bakemon recoiling away when it was aimed at them.

"But we can't fight these many at once," Gabumon added.

"Into the church! If they're weak to holy things, we should be safe in there!" Jaune said quickly, earning nods from all of them as they ran into the church, closing the door behind them. However, the Bakemon soon got in.

"In retrospect, this IS their home…" Gomamon gulped as they soon backed away to the altar.

"Guess no choice then...guys, get ready to evolve," Jaune said.

"Right," Gabumon and Gomamon nodded. However, before they could even try, one of the Bakemon flipped a hidden switch, and a trap door opened underneath them.

It seemed gravity was being slow to respond, as they all had time to look down, before soon falling down into the hole, hearing the cackling of the Bakemon as they fell.

Several minutes later, the group groaned as they got up, looking around the area to see they were in a dungeon of some sort… though the Bakemon didn't seem to be too bright, as the door to their cell was wide open instead of closed.

"...really?" Pyrrha couldn't help but deadpan at the sight of the wide open cell door.

"Yeaah...Bakemon aren't the brightest," Gabumon sweatdropped.

"Strange, but not really a bad thing," Jaune sighed. "At least we don't have to bust our way out...though we still have to find our way out."

"At least the cross is still ok." Gomamon said as he picked it up between his claws and threw it up at Jaune who caught it.

"It has been surprisingly helpful." Pyrrha noted.

"Thank Gyro and Pierce. I wouldn't have thought about it if they hadn't told me about this idea," Jaune shrugged. "At any rate, we should get out of here as fast as we can."

"Right, but we should keep our guard up. The Bakemon may not be the brightest Digimon we've met, but you never know what might be in this area," Pyrrha nodded.

"Yeah, it'd be pretty dumb if we got caught by some cheap trap," Gabumon nodded with a chuckle.

The group soon began making their way through the underground dungeon. So far it seemed the place was empty, as while there were a lot of cells, nobody was actually in any of them. In fact, they were starting to wonder if there even WAS anyone here...if they didn't accidentally come across a room that had a sleeping Bakemon in it. They could tell he was asleep by the literal snot bubble he had, and it was huge.

"...really?" was the dry observation from both Jaune and Pyrrha.

"Wow, this one must be a real idiot," Gomamon chuckled.

"How can you tell?" Gabumon asked.

"They say you can tell an idiot by the size of their snot bubbles."

"...that sounds like some kind of wive's tale, but somehow I'm inclined to believe it," Jaune sighed.

"How about we just take his food and avoid waking him up?" Pyrrha said with an amused smile.

"Yeah, would be good if we ate a bit more, we only had mushrooms earlier, and we don't want Gomamon and Gabumon to run out of energy if they have to evolve." Jaune said with a nod as they silently took the many bananas the Bakemon was guarding in the crate he was leaning against, the two Digimon quickly digging in once they were a safe distance away.

"Oh man these are good." Gomamon said with a relieved sigh as he ate through a few purple bananas.

"Surprisingly yeah, I never thought food that looks so weird would taste good." Jaune said as he ate one as well. Once upon a time he wouldn't think to touch something like a banana that was purple colored...but as with a lot of things, the last week in the Digital World broke him of any notions of normalcy...and crazy as it sounded, he would do it again in a heartbeat.

"Easy you two. I know you're hungry, but don't give yourselves stomachaches now," Pyrrha chided lightly as she too ate one of the fruits. Despite the less than ideal situation, she couldn't help but smile at the moment. Ever since they'd been thrown into the Digital World, she'd been met with more and more unfamiliar situations, yet she couldn't help but feel happy. For the first time in a long time, ironic as it sounded, she felt like she was just a normal girl, among friends she could be herself around. In this Digital World, she wasn't the Invincible Girl. She was just Pyrrha Nikos.

"Don't worry about us. We're fine," Gabumon said as he polished off another banana. By now they'd walked a good distance away from where they'd found the sleeping Bakemon, and so far nothing had really happened.

Apparently Murphy was bored, as even the thought of how uneventful it had been so far was enough to invoke him, evident by them having to quickly duck back into a corner when they found a few Bakemon floating around a room.

"That's quite a lot of them," Gabumon frowned as they peeked out of the corner.

"Hey, I think I see the way out on the other side of the room," Gomamon added.

"So they're literally floating between us and the way out, huh?" Jaune mused. "Any ideas?"

"Why not go all out?" Pyrrha suggested.

"...that works," the three of them nodded. Sometimes simple was the best.

 **(Play Brave Heart)**

"Gomamon, Evolution! Ikkakumon!"

"Gabumon, Evolution! Garurumon!"

The Bakemon floating around the room heard the calls and turned to where the voices came from...and were promptly met with a face full of blue flames, courtesy of Garurumon's Fox Fire. The few that managed to evade didn't even get a chance to get their wits together as they were met with Ikkakumon's horn, throwing several of them aside.

"Let's get out of here!" Jaune quickly said as he and Pyrrha ran to the exit, and soon found open air as the entrance seemed to lead to the graveyard behind the cathedral...before their partners burst out of the ground behind them, seeing as they were too big for the door.

"I feel like this should be disrespectful, but I can't really bring myself to care after what happened," Pyrrha commented with a sweat drop as she noticed their partners had destroyed several gravestones when they got out.

"Yeah...let's hope we don't come to regret that anytime soon," Jaune nodded awkwardly.

"How dare you disrupt Lord Bakemon's domain!" came an eerie voice, as several Bakemon appeared from the cathedral.

"Yeah well, we didn't feel like playing along with the whole offering thing," Jaune said.

"For this transgression, you will all pay dearly," the Bakemon said in unison.

"Oh yeah? What are you guys gonna do about it?" Ikkakumon shot back.

"Uh...I don't think you should be provoking them," Jaune groaned.

"Relax, they're weak as heck, and we're at full power. What's the worst that could happen?" Ikkakumon waved off.

"...you DO realize you just provoked Murphy, right?" Garurumon and Pyrrha deadpanned at that.

True enough… "You have all earned the wrath of Lord Bakemon!" the Bakemon called out, as they, and several of the ones that were in the tunnels, soon gathered together in the air, seemingly circling around, before they seemed to merge together, revealing another Bakemon...only this one was easily 10 times larger than a normal Bakemon.

"I'm guessing THAT is Lord Bakemon. You HAD to ask, didn't you, Ikkakumon?" Jaune said dryly.

"Yeah...that may not have been so smart," Ikkakumon admitted with a sweatdrop as the giant Bakemon descended.

"Hell's Hand!" he called out as from the 'sleeves' of his form, a pair of demonic blue hands shot out, grabbing hold of both Ikkakumon and Garurumon and throwing them both aside.

"Looks like his size isn't just for show!" Pyrrha said in alarm as she and Jaune got out of the way, avoiding a swing from the giant ghost.

Ikkakumon and Garurumon quickly got back on their feet and began counter attacking. "Harpoon Vulcan!" Ikkakumon called out, firing his horn, but Lord Bakemon grabbed it with his Hell's Hand, and threw it aside, causing it to explode in the distance.

"Fox Fire!" Garurumon called out, sending the torrent of flames, but Lord Bakemon shielded himself with his arms, and quickly dispersed the attack save for a few singes.

"Okay, he's holding his own against them. Not a good sign," Jaune frowned. "Well, in that case we'd better lend them a hand," he said, looking at his makeshift cross, and then to the advancing ghost. "And I think I know just how to make him stop."

"What do you have in mind?" Pyrrha asked.

"Something crazy and stupid, I must really be out of my mind to even try it," he sighed, before running towards Lord Bakemon. "I've been spending too much time with Pierce…" the blonde muttered before saying, "Hey you! Halloween reject!"

Lord Bakemon turned to face the human, not impressed by the insult.

"Open wide!" Jaune shouted, before rearing back...and throwing his makeshift cross at Lord Bakemon. The large ghost blinked...before gasping when he realized what it was...big mistake, as when he opened his mouth, the cross went right in, to which he swallowed. Immediately he was grasping at his throat, or whatever passed as it, as he looked like he'd swallowed something VERY hot.

"Thanks Jaune!" Ikkakumon grinned. "Harpoon Vulcan!" the attack struck true, exploding in Lord Bakemon's face and causing the ghost to cry out in pain, but through the smoke, a pair of Hell's Hand shot out, grabbing both the adult Digimon and began hitting them against each other, Lord Bakemon flailing around in pain, and dragging them for the ride.

"Okay...that's not what I had in mind," Jaune gulped.

"He's definitely weakened, but not enough," Pyrrha said, looking around frantically for something to help their partners. She soon found her answer when she eyed the large X on top of the cathedral. The METAL X at that. "I've got an idea."

"If you've got something, better make it quick. I think my plan may have backfired," Jaune gulped as both their partners were bodily thrown into a heap.

Pyrrha nodded quickly before reaching out with her semblance, plucking the X off the cathedral. Straining a little, she willed the metal to warp, changing its shape, adjusting a few things...and before long she'd made a crudely shaped metal cross. "Take this!" she shouted, Lord Bakemon turning to see her...before the large makeshift cross was rammed into him, causing him to shout in pain.

"Great idea, Pyrrha!" Jaune grinned, before turning to their partners. "Do it now!"

"You got it!" they both nodded.

"Fox Fire!"

"Harpoon Vulcan!"

The two attacks flew through the air, Lord Bakemon barely able to turn to see it, and with his powers so severely weakened, he could do nothing as the attacks hit, and he burst into scraps of torn cloth and data.

 **(End Song)**

The two humans sighed in relief as the fight was finally over, while their partners surprisingly stayed in Adult level for once.

Before any proper cheering could commence though, the ground cracked open, a portion of it collapsing away, allowing everyone to peer down into it.

"I really shouldn't be surprised." Pyrrha said with a frown as they looked at the large amount of Black Gears in the earth, all spinning about for some sort of mechanism.

And then they suddenly stopped, before breaking down into pieces, and the island jerked to a stop, sending them to the ground. "What now?" Jaune groaned.

"Look over there!" Ikkakumon pointed into the fog, which they could see was starting to lift, and finally, gave them a view of Mount Infinity.

"Maybe we'll be able to get back now." Garurumon said.

"The others will most likely be making their way towards the mountain." Pyrrha realised.

"Then that's where we're going as well." Jaune said with a nod, before he climbed up on Ikkakumon and Pyrrha got on Garurumon's back while the two Digimon ran out of the graveyard and jumped into the water, Garurumon surprisingly being able to keep up with Ikkakumon.

They had to hurry, as there was no telling the kind of situations their friends were in.

* * *

 **Done**

 **Yeah, chapter's just a bit shorter than others.**

 **I mean, Jaune and Pyrrha are a bit more wiser than Jyou and Sora were at this point in time, and Jaune has something a bit better than a sutra.**

 **So, yeah, everything went pretty differently from canon.**

 **Anyway, see you next time, because...**

 **The Adventure Evolves.**


	18. 17: The Digging Brothers, Drimogemon!

**Here we go!**

 **This one took a good amount of thinking to make, considering it was fully original.**

 **But, if you've played Digimon World on PS1, you'll recognise the area.**

 **Anyway, enjoy!**

* * *

 **The Digging Brothers, Drimogemon!  
**

* * *

The wind howled against the bed, while Ren and Wormmon clung on for dear life...something that was made a bit easier seeing as Wormmon had used his nets to help them stick to the bed. "I think we're losing altitude!" he said as he felt them start to fall. Craning his head upwards a bit, he saw that they were headed for an area of the island that had a mountain. It was nowhere near as tall as Infinity Mountain, but from where he was looking, it was MUCH wider.

"I don't think this is a good speed for landing!" Wormmon said.

"Can you slow us down?" Ren asked.

"I'll try! Sticky Nets!" Wormmon called out, creating a number of nets down below. The bed crashed into the first one, breaking through but slowing down a bit, before hitting the second one, this time robbing it of most of its momentum, so even when they broke through, they landed more or less softly on the forest floor below. Once they were at a complete stop, Ren slowly peeled himself off of the bed.

"It seems we've landed safely. Good job, Wormmon," he sighed, before giving his partner a smile.

"No problem, Ren," Wormmon smiled back, before frowning. "But it seems like we've been blown pretty far away...and the others aren't around…"

"Unfortunately there's nothing we can do about that," Ren frowned. "All we can do for now is try and find a way to get back."

"How do we do that though?" Wormmon asked.

Ren would have answered...if he didn't suddenly spot another shape coming towards the area they were in, and recognized it as another bed. "Its another of the beds. Looks like someone was blown here with us."

"And they're falling too!" Wormmon added in alarm, before acting quickly and spinning more nets, which caught the bed, allowing it to slow down to a safe speed and landing harmlessly on the ground. However, when it landed, something small came rolling out from the sudden stop, revealing Salamon, who looked understandably dizzy.

"Salamon? Then that means…" Ren blinked. He didn't get far as a blur suddenly shot from the bed, and he was promptly tackle hugged by a hyperactive carrot top.

"Ren!" Nora grinned as they tumbled on the ground a little.

"I'm glad you're okay too, Nora," Ren said with a wry smile.

"How are you feeling?" Wormmon asked as he went up to Salamon.

"Like I just got off a rollercoaster." the puppy Digimon answered with a groan.

"Sounds like a headache and a half then." Wormmon shot back.

Salamon eventually shook her head to clear it, and got to her feet. "Where are we?"

"Judging by the mountain, I think we're around Mount Panorama," Wormmon said.

"Mount Panorama?" came Nora's voice as she and Ren walked back to them.

"Compared to Mount Infinity being the tallest point on the island, Mount Panorama is the widest mountain on the island, covering a good 1/6th of the island, it's pretty much in between a lot of important areas." Salamon explained.

"So it's an access point to much of the island then? Or was anyway," Ren said.

Before they could respond, they suddenly heard the sound of rocks falling from nearby. "Think we should check that out?" Nora asked.

"I think so," Wormmon nodded.

It surprisingly took a good amount of walking before they reached an area that had a large sign hanging off a part of the mountain with the words 'DRILL CAVE' on it, completely lit up like a neon sign, below it was what looked like a collapsed cave entrance, and collapsed in front of that was what appeared to be large mole like creature with a purple back and a cream belly and legs, a drill at the front of his face with long whiskers on each side of it.

"That's Drimogemon!" Salamon said as they got closer.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Drimogemon_

 _Drimogemon. Data Type. An Adult Level Beast Digimon. Thanks to the drill attached to its snout, it can move around underground at high speed. It usually prefers to stay underground due to being rather shy. Its special attack is Drill Spin, using it's drill to attack it's opponent._

"Is he okay?" Wormmon asked, and was about to inch closer, when Ren picked him up.

"Easy there Wormmon, we don't know if he's infected or not," Ren cautioned, while Nora pulled out her Digivice.

"Nope. No black dots. He's clean," she reported, earning a nod from him as they moved closer.

As they got to the mon, they found that he was was unconscious. "So...how should we wake him?" Salamon asked.

"Oh! I know!" Nora said suddenly, before grabbing one of his whiskers, and yanking on it.

"Nora!" Wormmon said in surprise. "Don't yank on unconscious mon's whiskers!"

"Why does my mustache hurt?" Drimogemon groaned out, cutting off the conversation as he slowly stood, shaking his head.

"Oh uh...no reason," Salamon said quickly. "So...why were you unconscious?" she asked quickly, changing the subject.

"Unconscious? Why…? Wait! One of my brothers, he suddenly started going crazy, he just started thrashing around the tunnels and me and my other brother were trying to stop him." Drimogemon explained.

"Did he happen to have a Black Gear sticking out somewhere from his body?" Ren asked with narrowed eyes.

Drimogemon nodded "Yeah, a big black one sticking out his back, we've even found some deep underground but they gave us a creepy feeling so we sealed them back up."

"Called it," Wormmon and Salamon deadpanned at the same time.

"Where is your brother?" Ren asked. "If we can remove the Black Gear, we can get him back to normal."

"Well, last I remember, he should be somewhere in the tunnels. Not sure where exactly, but you can probably tell based on the tremors," Drimogemon said.

"How are we getting in the tunnel though?" Nora pointed to the sealed cavern entrance.

"You can leave that part to me, considering you're helping me with my brother, I'll help you get to him." Drimogemon said before his drill started to spin and he put it to work against the crumbled entrance into the tunnel.

"This is probably going to take a while so it doesn't just collapse again." Wormmon commented as they saw Drimogemon was doing his work rather precisely.

"Still better than being buried alive," Salamon shrugged.

"Salamon's right," Nora nodded. She may have been crazy at times, but she knew when to be serious.

"Well, if Nora's also agreeing, it's definitely a good idea," Wormmon chuckled.

The trip into the tunnels wasn't the fastest, but all things considered, it was probably for the best, as the alternative was a cave in.

Though Drimogemon was very happy to point out some of the machinery he and his brothers had installed as they kept going in deeper, all of it being powered by a few generators scattered about the cave system.

"This system is pretty expansive," Ren mused as they walked. "Have you been working on it for a long time?"

"Oh yeah, my brothers and I have put our hearts and souls into this project. Once it's done, we'll have a shortcut system for all of File Island," Drimogemon said with pride as he continued digging.

"So, where does it connect so far?" Nora asked, a bit curious.

"Oh, we have a path that ends up pretty close to the Misty Forest, one that comes out near the Gear Savannah, another close to the Great Canyon, one near Freezeland, and one not too far from Mount Infinity." Drimogemon continued, obviously very happy about these.

"Wow, you guys have done a lot," Nora whistled.

"And we're not nearly done yet," the Digimon grinned. "We still got plenty to do."

"Well then, hope your project works out well," Salamon nodded.

"Thanks!" Drimogemon grinned. The path went deeper, and after a while, it started feel...warmer. "Careful, we're gonna be passing a river of lava, so stick close to the walls," he warned.

They listened to his warning, and when they came up on a thin path next to a flowing river of lava, they stuck very close to the walls of the cavern, making sure to follow him closely.

"Apparently some hot head of a Digimon used to live around these parts a long time ago, might explain the lava honestly." Drimogemon said as he stopped to use his drill on the wall to make the path wider at times.

"I wonder what Digimon it was?" Wormmon mused.

Meanwhile, not too far from the current shard of the island, a certain mountain guardian made of flames sneezed.

Fortunately the section of tunnel that passed the river wasn't too long, so they were soon in the caves again...though the two humans were sweating quite a bit now from the heat. "Sorry about that, but no worries, there's gonna be a few underground rivers soon."

"I think we'd all like that." Salamon said, sweating just as bad as the humans thanks to her fur.

Nodding, Drimogemon quickly lead them to a new area. The area was a cavern that had more than one tunnel leading into it, it was decently sized, and was illuminated by what appeared to be crystals, compared to the rest of the tunnels so far that had artificial lighting to keep it illuminated. Furthermore, despite being underground, there was plantlife as well as a few gentle looking streams flowing through the moss covered grounds. All in all, it looked like the perfect place to rest and relax for a while.

"Wow…" Nora blinked at the sight, a sentiment shared by the others as well.

"Yeah, I thought you'd like it. We're thinking of making this place into a 'hub' or at least one of them, so travelers can rest a little before continuing on their way," Drimogemon chuckled.

Right after he said that, the world, or rather just the caverns, shook, and several large stones fell from the ceiling, either crushing a crystal or falling into the water.

"Oh come on!" Drimogemon said with a loud groan "That's it! I'm making him fix all this once he's freed, possessed or not!"

"Well, even more reason to hurry and stop him I guess…" Wormmon blinked with a slight sweat drop.

"Right, well...I guess we'd better keep going then," Drimogemon sighed. "Though if you want, you might as well wash your faces or something first. You all do look pretty sweaty thanks to the previous area."

"I think we will." Ren said with a sigh as he went towards the stream and used the water to clean his face, looking in amusement as Nora just splashed the water up at herself and Salamon dunked herself in the water before coming out and shaking her body.

"Personally I just need a drink." Wormmon said as he simply did just that.

"Alright, let's see what we find next. Seriously, that brother of mine, he messed up the tunnels so much it's hard to remember where everything is." Drimogemon said with a sigh before starting to dig once again.

A bit of time later, they all blinked in surprise as the section of earth Drimogemon had been drilling with his nose just crumbled away and came out to… a glade full of mushrooms, of all things.

"Well, that's… surprising." Salamon said with a tilt of her head.

"But helpful, most of these are edible." Drimogemon said with a bit of a laugh.

"Maybe you guys should eat up then, since the food earlier was fake and all." Nora said to the two Child level Digimon who nodded in agreement and, with a bit of help from Drimogemon telling them which were edible, ate their fill of mushrooms, the humans doing the same.

"These are delicious!" Wormmon smiled.

"I bet they'd taste even better in soup!" Salamon agreed.

"It's a shame we don't have the twins' pouches. It'd be great if we could carry some of these with us," Nora said.

"Well, it can't be helped I suppose. We should be glad we could find these at all," Ren said.

"That's true," Wormmon nodded as they soon finished eating. "Thanks for showing these to us. They were delicious," he said to Drimogemon.

"Hey, no problem. You guys are trying to help me get my brother back, so it's the least I could do to help," Drimogemon grinned.

After eating their fill, the group continued on exploring the cave system, and while they somehow never ended up finding Drimogemon's brother, they did reopen some of the paths that had been closed due to landslides caused by the various tremors, and, eventually.

"Booyah! We found our stuff!" Nora cheered after Drimogemon opened a hole back up which apparently was the quick path towards the Freezelands, which they could see in the distance, and hidden underneath some earth were Magnhild and Storm Flower.

Nora's grenade launcher/hammer combo was one of the weapons to have received the least damage, as while the barrels were all warped on the inside, she could very much still use it as a hammer

As for Ren's dual guns, well, they were still functional guns, and with new clips in place, functioned properly, but the blades on the front were completely destroyed for both of them.

"Hm...this seems deliberate," Ren mused. "Perhaps that Digimon we saw did this," he frowned.

"Well if so then we got even more reason to break his legs!" Nora said.

"Wow, remind me not to get on your bad sides," Drimogemon sweatdropped as they continued on through another tunnel. It wasn't long before the walls became brick-like, with characters written all over the walls.

"These are…?" Ren blinked.

"Digicode? What's all this doing here?" Salamon blinked.

"Oh that? Yeah, we found these old ruins recently. They were pretty well preserved all things considered, so we decided to leave it be," Drimogemon explained.

"Weiss will probably want to see these." Wormmon commented idly.

"Oh yeah, good point." Nora realised, and pulled out her scroll to start taking pictures.

"Good idea, we can show it to her later," Salamon nodded.

Ren had a small smile on his face as he watched the three for a moment, before turning to where Drimogemon was going. What he found was that the tunnel lead to what appeared to be an underground temple of some kind. "Is this the ruins you were talking about?"

"Yeah, this is the one. We figured we'd keep it preserved, since its history. You can't just knock over that," Drimogemon nodded.

"Huh, that's weird, there's some lion carvings on some of these walls." Nora noticed.

"Maybe it's related to Leomon?" Wormmon mused.

"Well I can see something that's not related to him." Salamon said a bit urgently as she went a bit further up ahead, the others picking up the pace a bit and soon seeing the sight of another unconscious Drimogemon.

"Aw shoot, he got knocked out too." Drimogemon said with a growl as he inspected his brother. "This guy's my middle brother, and the one hit with that gear thing is the youngest of us three."

"We'd better wake him up then," Ren said. "He might know where your youngest brother is."

"Good idea," Drimogemon said, before turning to his brother. "WAKE UP!" he shouted...and knocked his younger brother upside the head.

"I'm up!" the younger Drimogemon said, bolting up. The two humans and two child level Digimon had flat stares at the waking method used. "Huh? Why was I asleep?"

"You tell us," the older Drimogemon said. "Did you happen to see where our little brother went? These guys say they know how to get him back to normal."

"Our little...wait, I remember now! Yeah, he was going to the ruins, and I tried to stop him, but he was fighting like a mad Digimon, and knocked me out!"

"Then is he still in the ruins?" Ren asked.

"Not sure, but I think so," the middle Drimogemon nodded.

"Alright! Time to go and break that gear!" Nora whooped before running ahead, Salamon groaning as she went after her.

"She's right though. We should hurry," Wormmon admitted, earning a nod from Ren.

"We'll take care of your brother. You both stay out here first, alright?" Ren said to the two Drimogemon.

"Well...alright, but be careful in there. You don't want to cause a cave in if you're not careful," the older Drimogemon warned.

Just about a minute of running later, and they finally reached the deepest area of the ruins, and standing right in the middle of it, was a large statue of a lion, with large saber like teeth.

"Woah! Now THAT'S an awesome lion." Nora said with a grin as she looked at it.

"There's a tablet here." Ren noticed as he walked up to the statue, seeing a tablet sticking out of the pedestal a bit and pulled it out "It seems rather important, maybe this could be something Leomon would like to see if he can be brought back to normal."

Any further conversation was cut off when they felt a strong tremor hit the ruins.

"He must be nearby!" Wormmon said. "This way!"

After somehow managing to hide the tablet away like he does with his weapons, Ren quickly caught up as they soon entered a larger room in the ruins, and seemed to contain the reason why tremors kept happening.

Standing in the middle of the room was a very large, and rather banged up pillar, with a third Drimogemon using his drill to, well, try and drill it, a Black Gear sticking out of his back.

"That pillar looks very important. Something tells me we don't want him to bring it down," Salamon frowned.

"Evolution time?" Wormmon asked.

"I think that would be best, yes," Ren nodded.

"Let's break that gear!" Nora grinned.

 **(Play Brave Heart)**

"Wormmon, Evolution! Stingmon!"

"Salamon, Evolution! Gatomon!"

Drimogemon was busy drilling into the pillar, before he was suddenly knocked aside by a double kick courtesy of Stingmon and Gatomon. "There's no doubt about it, this pillar is a key support for the ruins. We must protect it at all costs!" Stingmon said.

"Right, we need to do that while dealing with this guy. No pressure, right?" Gatomon said with a light hint of snark. Drimogemon didn't seem to appreciate being kicked as he soon got back on his feet, with the two Digimon nodding to each other and getting between Drimogemon and the pillar.

"Let's end this quickly!" Stingmon declared. "Moon Shooter!" he called out, firing a large needle from his hand. Drimogemon saw the attack coming and managed to move to the side. However…

"Neko Kick!" He found himself right in the way of Gatomon's attack, before being kicked aside by the deceptively strong feline.

Drimogemon growled as he skidded to a halt, before using his drill and digging into the ground, disappearing from sight.

"Not good!" Ren's eyes widened. True enough, Drimogemon suddenly emerged behind Stingmon and hit him with his drill nose, knocking him away. He soon tried the same with Gatomon, but the smaller Digimon was able to avoid the attacks, albeit narrowly.

"We can't hit him if he keeps going in and out of the ground like this," Stingmon grimaced as he and Gatomon stood back to back, Drimogemon soon making what appeared to be a demented game of Whack-a-Mole due to how fast he was going in and out of his holes.

"Uh oh. We gotta help them!" Nora said, seeing their partners in a bind.

"If we can slow down Drimogemon even a little, that should give them the opening they need," Ren frowned, his mind racing to think of a way to help...before he remembered that they'd gotten their weapons back, particularly Nora's Magnhild. "Nora, shake him up a little!"

Nora blinked, before realizing he was looking at her hammer...and the plan clicked in her mind. "Got it!" she grinned. Hefting her hammer, she ran into the fight, and slammed it into the ground. HARD. The entire room shook, Stingmon and Gatomon actually needing to regain their balance, while Drimogemon was suddenly shaken about in his hole, forcing him to resurface...and was soon met with a hammer to the face, knocking him away. "All yours!" she said, giving the Digimon a salute. "Knock him into the ground!"

"R-right!" Gatomon said, needing to take a moment to process that yes, her partner WAS that strong...even if she acted so ditzy most of the time. By now Drimogemon was regaining his balance and was making a way for a tunnel.

"Not this time! Spiking Finish!" Stingmon said, before he surged forward, spike extended and coated with energy, before catching Drimogemon by the gear, causing the mon to thrash around.

"The finishing blow!" Gatomon said.

"Use this to help!" Nora added, before throwing Magnhild at her partner, the feline taking a moment to adjust to the weight.

"Take this!" Gatomon shouted as she hefted Magnhild over her head, and with a mighty shout, bright it down on Drimogemon's back, causing him to plow into the ground, while Stingmon ended up ripping the Black Gear out of Drimogemon's back. Down in the soil, Drimogemon was swirly eyed, while back in the chamber, the black gear shattered while it was still skewered.

"And that's that," Stingmon nodded at the sight.

 **(Song end)**

"Ok, this is thing is actually pretty heavy." Gatomon said with a grunt as she tried to balance it after swinging it down, before feeling her feet lift off the ground as Nora lifted her hammer up, while Gatomon was still holding on "I think I'm a bit jealous." the feline said with an amused smile before letting go and reverting back to Salamon, while Stingmon turned back into Wormmon after pulling Drimogemon out of the hole he was in.

At that moment, the other two Drimogemon brothers ran in "We got a bit worried with all the comotion, everything alright?" the eldest (the only way the could tell was because one of his whiskers was still a bit off after Nora had pulled it) asked, looking around the room.

"More or less," Ren said. "We managed to get the gear out, so he SHOULD be okay...aside from a bruise and maybe a slight bump on the head at least…"

"Well, in that case he should be fine," the middle brother said. "Trust us, we get hit in the head by rocks all the time. We're used to it. Thanks for getting rid of the gear though."

"About that, your older brother said you all found some more black gears. Where are they?" Wormmon asked.

"Why do you want to know?" the elder brother asked.

"Well, it would probably be a good idea to break them, you know?" Nora said with a shrug.

Minutes later, the group, now with the youngest Drimogemon awake, stood in a section of the caves that was higher in the whole complex "It was around here, I think… yeah, behind this wall." the middle brother said as he used his drill to move away the dirt and stone on the wall, revealing a whole system of Black Gears spinning constantly.

"Man I wish I had fire like some of the others right now." Salamon muttered as she glared at the gears.

"Leave this part to us," Nora grinned, hefting Magnhild again...only for Ren to stop her.

"We may want to be a little more careful with how we approach these," he cautioned. "Do you still have some of your grenades?" She gave him a roll of them in response. "Right," Ren nodded, before taking out a pair of his spare ammo cartridges, and loading them into Storm Flower. "Everyone, stand back."

The Digimon did as they were told, before Ren got some distance too...and threw a pair of grenades towards the gears, and in a quick motion, shooting them as they were upon the gears. The explosion was a little deafening, but when it was done, the intended result had happened, with the gears either destroyed or broken beyond repair.

And then, much to their surprise, they started to spin the opposite way, the ground shifting underneath their feet.

"It feels like we're moving." Wormmon said.

"We are, a bit faster than before, I can feel that much." the youngest Drimogemon said, before they all headed out to one of the many exits of the cave system.

"Well look at that, we're heading back to Mount Infinity, and it's morning now." the eldest of the three brothers said as the sun shone down on them.

"Looks like a few other island pieces are moving back as well." the middle brother pointed out.

"I bet that's where some of the others landed." Nora said, grinning a bit.

"Then it's very likely we'll meet back up with them soon, let's hope their all safe." Ren said, looking towards the tallest mountain of File Island.

* * *

 **And done!**

 **Yeahp, Mount Panorama, and the Drimogemon trio you find in it's caves in Digimon World.**

 **Also, Leomon's Ancestral Cave, and the tablet says something completely different it originally did in-game.**

 **Hope you all enjoyed, and next time, we'll see what Blake and Patamon are up to, but for now...**

 **The Adventure Evolves.**


	19. 18: Angemon Awakens!

**Welcome back everyone!**

 **No, you're reading that title correctly.**

 **It's time to free File Island!  
**

* * *

 **Angemon Awakens!  
**

* * *

The bed soared through the air at a speed that was anything but safe, while the occupants were clinging onto it for dear life. However, it wasn't long before the bed started to descend.

"Blake, the ground's getting a lot closer!" Patamon said in alarm.

"Yeah, we'd better get off soon!" she agreed.

"But how do we do that?" Patamon asked.

"...we wait till we get close, then we jump," Blake said after a few moments. "Not the best idea I know, but it's the best we have."

"Ok." Patamon said, a bit nervous, the ground getting closer and closer, before he felt Blake grab him tightly and jump, the two of them going into a roll as the bed crashed down into a lake at the bottom of a waterfall.

The young Digimon shook his head free of dizziness as his partner let him go, looking around to try and see where they were at.

Their bed had been flying around for a good few hours, that much they knew, as the sun was already starting to peak out over the horizon. Looking at where the bed was going one more time, Patamon turned to Blake. "Are you okay, Blake?" he asked worriedly.

"I'm alright. My Aura took most of the hit," she reassured.

He nodded, before he got a thoughtful look on his face "How does Aura work?"

Blake looked at him, smiling a bit as she relaxed onto the ground, ready to explain "Aura is an energy brought forth from a person's soul, it acts as a shield to protect them from harm, and is also partially responsible for a semblance, as only those with active auras can develop them."

Patamon listened, tilting his head as he thought of something "That's weird, it kind of sounds a bit like what Digimon do."

Blake blinked, intrigued at that "Really? How so?"

"It's kind of like, we use this energy we feel inside of us to do our attacks. It's a bit weird, but it feels like it's a big part of ourselves too." Patamon tried to explain as best as he could.

Blake frowned a little in thought. That WAS rather similar to it. But then Digimon always could use their attacks so...could it be they were literally born with an awakened Aura? If so, then it meant that they were a lot more similar to them than appearance suggested. However she quickly shook her head. This, while interesting, was something better considered later. "This is something we could discuss more later," she sighed. "We should keep moving."

"Okay," Patamon nodded, before frowning as he looked up at the waterfall.

Blake noticed though, looking at him in concern "Are you ok?"

"It's just...if I could evolve, I bet I could fly us over this waterfall, and maybe we could see where the others went.." he said softly.

Blake smiled gently, before bending down and petting him on the back. "Its okay, Patamon. I'm sure you'll evolve when the time is right," she reassured.

"Thanks, Blake," Patamon smiled gratefully.

"For now, we should continue moving. We might find something if we look around," she said, picking him up before the two were soon on their way.

Blake kept on walking, the number of trees in the immediate area being rather scarce, and dotting her view were what appeared to be lever crossings.

She stopped in front of one that had the warning lights blinking, she knew it was silly, but considering how strange the Digital World had been so far, she decided not to take any chances.

While they were waiting for a train that may or may not pass, Patamon suddenly spoke up. "Hey, Blake?" he started.

"Yes?" she asked.

"Why do you keep hiding behind that bow?" he said suddenly.

Blake stiffened for a moment, but soon sighed. "You remember what I said about how things are in Remnant, right?"

"Yeah… is it related?" Patamon asked innocently.

Blake smiled a bit as she was reminded that he was still only a month old "It's because I want people to judge me for who I am, and not what I am. Most people would probably see what I'm hiding before they saw me."

"Then you don't need to wear that anymore. I know you, and I'm sure everyone else would agree," Patamon smiled.

She sighed again "I wish it was that simple. I'm sure most of them would accept me as I am, but I'm worried about Weiss. I know the twins gave her things to think about, but I doubt she'd accept this so easily… especially considering my past."

"What about your past?" Patamon asked, frowning a little bit.

"You remember our first day here right? When we mentioned the White Fang? I used to be a part of it until just a few months ago. I was essentially born into it, as my father was the original leader who wanted to get equality for the Faunus through peaceful means. But, when he stepped down, I thought he and my mother were cowards, and stayed as it became violent." she paused as she took a shuddering breath "The only good thing I can say, is that never once have I harmed another person… though my previous partner, who was someone I looked up to like an older brother… he despised humans, and when he got the chance…" she didn't feel like finishing that phrase.

Patamon frowned at that. He could tell it upset his partner greatly, but he didn't know what to say or do. "But...you're trying to change, right? You're trying to be better than that now," he said.

Blake paused at that. It was...extremely simplified...yet at the same time...he wasn't wrong. She WAS trying to change, to move on from that time in her life. But at the same time, she didn't think it could be that simple. "Maybe…" she sighed, but didn't say anything else.

Patamon frowned a bit again, but ultimately didn't say anything, knowing this conversation was over. By now the lever crossings had been raised up again, allowing them to continue on their path. "Hm? Are those bubbles?" Patamon asked.

"It looks like it." Blake said with a raised eyebrow, before looking at where they were coming from, seeing what, at first glance, seemed to be a village of some sorts.

"I wonder who's making all of those?" Patamon said as he looked towards the village as he and Blake continued on towards it.

"I guess we're about to find out." she said, noticing how the grass beneath her feet seemed to be getting softer the closer she got towards the village. At first she didn't think anything of it, but that soon changed when she took a step...and her foot promptly sank into the ground, before rebounding out, causing her to bounce in surprise, Patamon getting tossed out of her arms in the process. What followed was the two actually bouncing on momentum alone, sending them deeper into the village, and when they finally stopped, they were both flat on their backs. "That was...unexpected," Blake blinked, looking at Patamon who was lying next to her. A pause went through both of them, before Patamon snorted and started laughing, his partner likewise unable to suppress the chuckle bubbling out of her, as while that was a surprise, it was actually pretty fun.

After the mirth died down, Blake slowly got up, and took in the surroundings. They were in...well...the best she could describe was that this place looked like a child's heaven, not quite how Toytown was, but one all the same. Perhaps if Toytown was a place for everyone, this place looked like it was tailor made for toddlers, what with the large blocks, as well as the toys hanging from the trees, not to mention the soft bouncy ground.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say this place is a nursery." she said as she and Patamon started looking around for whatever had made all those bubbles.

"Um… I think it is." her partner said, having flown ahead a bit and looking around a tower of blocks.

Blake followed after him, curious about his words, before blinking as she saw the largest collection of cribs ever.

Walking towards the collection of cribs, she glanced into several of them, always being met with a pair of eyes looking back up at her, all from different Digimon.

"These little guys are all Fresh Level, so, this has to be where the Digimon of File Island all come from." Patamon realised as he looked at a crib that had a Botamon in it.

"We probably shouldn't disturb them then," Blake said, knowing that disturbing a baby was a sure fire way to make them cry...and with how many there were…

"You're probably right," Patamon said, flapping away from the crib. Turning a little, he saw something else. "Ah, look over there," he said, flying towards what he saw, Blake carefully following after him.

What she saw, once again, made her blink, rubbing her eyes to make sure they weren't playing tricks on her, as she looked at a field of eggs.

"This… is not what I expected." she said slowly as she and Patamon walked through the egg field.

"These are all Digi Eggs," Patamon said. "They're Digimon that haven't hatched yet."

"So Digimon all come from eggs?" Blake blinked in mild surprise.

"Yeah," Patamon nodded. "Don't humans do the same?" he asked innocently.

Blake opened her mouth a few times, trying to think of how to put it, before settling on simple "That's not the case for humans and faunus no."

"Then where do they come from?" Patamon asked, tilting his head.

Blake covered her face, which was tinted red "I'll.. tell you another time."

"Okay," Patamon nodded, not quite understanding, but accepting. With that in mind, his attention returned to the eggs...and a note that was under one of them. "What's this?" he asked as he pulled it out from under the egg carefully.

"What does it say?" Blake asked curiously.

"It says…'Rub me'?" Patamon blinked. "Who do you think is asking to be rubbed?"

Blake thought about it for a moment, before slowly saying, "If I had to guess...the eggs I think…" she said.

"Oh… should we rub one then?" Patamon asked.

"Well… I am a bit curious." Blake muttered, picking up a white egg with yellow lines on it and starting to rub it, for what reason, she wasn't sure.

It started to shake in her hands after a few moments, and she slowly understood what was going on, before the top of the egg cracked and flew off, a small, white, jelly like creature coming out of it. "Huh, so that's what happens," Patamon blinked. "Though, I wonder where the cribs came from."

As if to answer his question, the egg shell vanished in a puff of smoke, and in its place was one of the many cribs.

"Okay...not the strangest things I've seen so far…" Blake admitted, before gently putting the crib down, careful not to disturb the newborn.

"Do you think we should rub the rest too?" Patamon asked.

"I don't think we should. A nursery like this must have a caretaker, and I don't think they'd appreciate it if we went and increased their workload just like that," Blake shook her head.

"That's true, I guess," Patamon deflated a little, but nodded all the same...before brightening again when a thought crossed his mind. "Think we should keep an eye on the babies while the caretaker is gone?"

Blake paused for a moment, considering it. "Well...I guess it wouldn't hurt. The babies we saw so far seem calm enough," she said with a light nod.

* * *

Meanwhile, not too far away from the nursery, a stream ran through the land, and standing by it was what appeared to be an almost rabbit like creature, though it clearly had features from other mammals as well, having nine tails that looked like peacock feathers, claws on its hands and feet, it's fur being red with a blue pattern over most of its back while its belly was white.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Elecmon_

 _Elecmon. Data Type. A Child Level Mammal Digimon. Elecmon is a well known lover of harmless pranks, most of which other Digimon can appreciate and find enjoyment in. Similar to a peacock, he can fan out his nine feather like tails to intimidate opponents and avoid battle. His special attack is Sparkling Thunder, sending out a spiralling beam of lightning from it's tails._

Elecmon looked at the water intently, waiting for something. Suddenly he leaped into the air and… "Sparkling Thunder!" fired his attack into the water, causing it to ignite for a moment. Once he was done, he landed into the water, and in a quick motion began throwing out fishes he'd killed with his attack, and before long he had a large haul of fish. "Perfect," he said with a smile before putting them all on a large leaf and dragging it with him. "The babies must be hungry by now. Better get all these to them as fast as I can," he grinned, the feeling of satisfaction in doing his job as caretaker of the babies putting a spring into his step like it always did. However, when he got back...he was met with an odd sight.

He saw a Patamon, slumped on the ground, next to a group of smiling and laughing babies, all of them circling around a girl (though he didn't know what she was specifically) who was looking a bit overwhelmed, her eyes turning to him when he arrived and they just screamed 'Help me!'

Elecmon shook his head with a sigh "What is it with people thinking taking care of babies would be easy." he said, before grabbing one of the fishes and throwing it in a direction away from the girl, the babies turning to it and moving away from her.

* * *

Once the babies were gone, Blake slumped to the ground, but not before managing a quick 'thank you' to the Digimon who'd just arrived. From the looks of it, it seemed that he was the caretaker of this nursery….and boy did he come back at a good time. She would never look at infants the same way after what just happened.

"Don't mention it, though I really wish strangers didn't keep trying to take care of the babies when they have no idea what to expect. These little tykes are a lot harder to handle than most think," the Digimon chuckled.

"So I guess that makes you Elecmon, then?" Patamon said as he got up.

"That's me," Elecmon nodded. "Caretaker of Primary Village, easily one of if not the most important place in File Island," he said, with a puff of pride.

"I can understand why if this is where Digimon are born." Blake said, sitting up after a few moments. "Still...isn't it hard doing all this by yourself?"

"Well...yeah, but it's a job worth doing," Elecmon said with a grin.

"Well...think we can help a little?" Patamon asked, before adding, "With you teaching us of course."

"Heh. Maybe," Elecmon chuckled.

* * *

Meanwhile, on a temple at the top of Infinity Mountain, Devimon appeared in the main hall, a frown present on his face. "It seems all of my attempts to kill the Chosen Children so far have failed," he frowned. "However, I still have a chance. All but one have evolved...as long as I eliminate this one, my plan can eventually go unimpeded," he smirked.

From the shadows, Ogremon and Leomon emerged. "Both of you, I want you to go to Primary Village. One of the Chosen Children is there. Eliminate her and her partner at all costs," he ordered.

"You got it," Ogremon nodded.

"Chosen Children...destroy…" Leomon said blankly, before they soon disappeared into the shadows again, Devimon's evil laughter soon filling the room.

* * *

The day had went by quickly, as before long the sun was setting.

"That was more exhausting than I thought it would be." Blake said with a sigh as she sat down.

"I didn't think babies would be this bad." Patamon added, collapsing next to her.

"Well, it's clear you two aren't cut out for this business, I do appreciate the assist though, let me do more work than normal. Tell you what, I'll go look for some food as thanks, you just wait here." Elecmon told them, before running off with a smile.

Blake just had time to nod before he ran off, sighing as she just relaxed. However, before she and Patamon could properly relax, she heard something else. The sound of distress coming from another part of the nursery. "Something's wrong," Blake said suddenly.

"Huh?" Patamon blinked.

"I heard something in another section of the nursery," she said quickly. "We need to check it out!" With that she soon took off, Patamon soon going after her.

What they saw, hidden in cover, wasn't a pleasant sight.

Leomon, sword in hand, scanning the area around him carefully, most likely looking for her, while Ogremon stood, his club in one hand, while the other held onto one of the newborn Digimon.

"Come on out kid! Unless you're ok with knowing this little one is going to get hurt!" Ogremon called, looking around as he tried to spot her.

Blake felt a growl in her throat at the sight "Damn coward!" she hissed in anger.

"We have to do something." Patamon said with an angry frown on his face.

"There's not much we CAN do, as I don't have my weapon, and even though it's proven true so far, I don't want to put myself in deliberate danger just on the off chance you'd evolve." Blake said with some annoyance.

"But we can't just leave the babies alone either," Patamon frowned. "If only we could get it away from him…"

Blake's mind was racing at this point. There had to be something she could do. She wanted to save the newborn, but at the same time, a dark part of her mind reminded her that even if she DID do something like give herself up, there was no guarantee they'd do as they promised either. If only she could get...closer… "...I may have an idea," Blake said.

"You do? What is it?" Patamon asked.

"Its to do with my Semblance," she said, before giving off a humorless chuckle. "Let's just say...I'm very good at running from danger when it comes down to it…"

* * *

"Well then, I guess you don't care what happens to this little squirt," Ogremon said, as Blake and Patamon still hadn't shown up.

"No, I'm here," came Blake's voice as she walked out from behind several blocks, the girl coming out alone.

Ogremon blinked, thrown for a loop, apparently not expecting this, though he quickly recovered "O-Oh! Well, good then! For us that is!"

He saw her roll her eyes at his words, figuring she found him ridiculous, he decided to press his advantage "Get closer! Unless you want the little one to get squished of course?" he said...though if Blake looked carefully, he never actually started squeezing or anything beyond maintaining his grip on the baby.

However, she didn't get much time to think about it, as Leomon was now standing over her, his sword raised. "Chosen Children….destroy!" he roared, bringing down his sword, intending to cut the girl in half. The blade fell, it hit her head...and she promptly vanished, and suddenly there was another of her, rolling out of the way from where the first had been.

"Now!" Blake shouted the moment her Shadow Clone vanished.

Ogremon and Leomon stared at the spot where she'd been...until Ogremon felt something in his fingers, and turned to look. "Hey!" he growled when he saw Patamon trying to get the baby out of his grasp. Unfortunately it seemed his grasp was a bit stronger than expected, as while Patamon managed to get the baby out, he took too long. "Why you!" Ogremon growled, and just as the baby got out, he smacked Patamon aside with his club, knocking the small mon away.

"Patamon!" Blake said in alarm...and left herself open for a moment that Leomon took advantage of.

"Fist of the Beast King!" he called out, firing his attack right at her. The attack hit, blowing her into a nearby wall, before she fell to the ground, her Aura breaking from the attack. She groaned as she struggled to get up, but when she did, she saw Leomon once more holding his sword over her, ready to strike her down, and this time, it would actually stick.

Time seemed to slow down for her as the sword came down on her, too dazed to get out of the way in time, her aura broken, she could only wonder, did she live a good life?

Just at that moment, something small, brown, got in between her and the sword. Patamon, she quickly realised.

"Leave us ALONE!" he shouted at the top of his lungs, and at that moment, Blake's Digivice shone.

 **(Play Brave Heart)**

The Digivice sent out a signal, calling forth the light that released the stream of data one last time.

"Patamon, Evolution!" Patamon called out as the data and light flowed into him, before he transformed. "Angemon!" Patamon's evolution was far more radical than any of the others in the group. Gone was the small guinea pig like creature and in his place was a man who stood roughly between 9 and 10 feet tall, donned in a white outfit covering his whole body, a blue cloth draping down from a belt, and two more, one around his left arm and one around his right leg. His left shoulder sporting a golden pad reminiscent of the sun, metallic, golden wings on his left leg and foot, while a cross was on his right foot. A grey helmet covered the top portion of his head, a cross incorporated into it, as long orange hair spilled forth from the back, while six, large white wings shot out from his upper back, a golden staff in his hand as he blocked Leomon's sword with it. For some reason, Blake could almost swear she heard the ringing of bells as her partner evolved.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Angemon_

 _Angemon. Vaccine Type. An Adult Level Angel Digimon. A being of perfect virtue, Angemon is known as a Digimon to bring happiness and protect others against the darkness. When fighting an enemy, he faces them with the utmost calm until they are completely destroyed. His special attack is Heaven's Knuckle, charging his fist with holy energy, it has both a short range and long range version that causes the energy to be released upon the opponent._

"You will not harm Blake!" Angemon declared, before pushing back against the sword, knocking it away, before slamming his staff into Leomon's gut, the blow pushing him back considerably.

Leomon grunted before firing his Fist of the Beast King in retaliation...only for Angemon to effortlessly block it by spinning his staff.

"S-seriously?!" Ogremon gasped at the sight, unconsciously taking a step back.

Likewise, Blake was speechless at how easily Angemon fended off an attack that they'd already seen in the past had great power.

However, not everyone watching the fight was in awe at the show of power…

"...useless fools," Devimon frowned. "I gave them one job, and they fail even that. Very well, I suppose it's time I made full use of my puppet," he said, before with a thought, several Black Gears went flying, going straight for Primary Village.

Back at the fight, Leomon was pushed back again from a failed attempt to strike at Angemon, but before he could recover, he cried out in pain as a number of Black Gears entered his back. Immediately the evil power filled his being, his skin growing paler and his hair turning black, while his body started to grow till he was almost twice his original size.

"This is…!" Angemon said in alarm, before he quickly grabbed Blake, and avoided a large Fist of the Beast King headed her way. By now fortunately they'd taken the fight outside of the nursery, so none of the babies were in danger (it helped Elecmon had returned in the midst of the fight, and had evacuated the babies while Ogremon and Leomon's attentions were on Angemon).

"I didn't know the Black Gears could do that," Blake couldn't help but say, eyes wide at the sight.

"The power in the gears is amplifying the power of the evil will controlling Leomon. If we are to save him, the evil must be extinguished," Angemon said, placing Blake a safe distance away.

Despite the situation, Blake couldn't help but quirk her eyebrow at hearing him speak. She knew most of the Digimon went through some personality changes when they evolved, usually becoming a bit more mature, but Angemon seemed almost completely different from Patamon. Not to mention he sounded a whole lot more regal. However, she decided not to voice it seeing as there were, quite literally, bigger things to worry about.

Once his partner was secure, Angemon went back to the fight, Leomon attempting to hit him, though the nimble angel proved a difficult target. However, at the same time Angemon found trying to find an opening to retaliate to be harder than expected, as while Leomon had grown larger and stronger, he hadn't lost any of his speed, meaning the fight was now at a stalemate.

However, at that moment…

"Meteor Wing!" a familiar set of meteors impacted against Leomon, knocking him off balance.

"Mega Flame!"

"V-Breath Arrow!"

The two attacks impacted against Leomon, further pushing him back.

"I dunno who you are, but if you got something planned, do it now!" came Gyro's voice from one of Birdramon's legs, as he, Pierce, and Yang were hanging from it.

Angemon nodded, before turning to Leomon. Raising his right hand, it started to glow with holy power. "Now, I free you from the evil will!" Angemon declared, before he surged forward. "Heaven's Knuckle!" he landed a strong blow to Leomon's gut, the energy releasing through his being, before coming out from his back, the Black Gears along with a dark phantom being blown out along with it before all of them vanished into the light.

 **(End song)**

Ogremon, who had been more or less sidelined the entire fight on account of not exactly wanting to get caught in the crossfire looked at the situation carefully. "Well...this looks bad. In that case, time for my final move," Ogremon said...before doing an about face, and running away. "He who fights and runs away, lives to fight another day!" he laughed.

"Is he for real?" Blake deadpanned from her spot at the sight of the fleeing ogre. At the same time Birdramon flew closer, depositing her friends.

"Trust me, I realised he's that kind of moron last night." Gyro said with a twitching eyebrow as he looked at the same sight.

"Hey, where's Patamon?" Yang wondered, looking around in confusion.

"Is he hiding?" Pierce added, just as confused.

In response, Blake looked a bit awkwardly at Angemon.

They followed her gaze, and it took them a total of two seconds to process the truth. "Holy shit, seriously?!" Gyro exclaimed in shock.

"Yeah, I was surprised too," Blake admitted.

"But seriously...how the heck does a small guinea pig with bat wings turn into well…" Pierce gestured at Angemon for emphasis.

"I think we got bigger things to worry about though," Yang said, pointing at Leomon who'd fallen to his knees and was shrinking down now.

"Right. Hopefully tall dark and ugly doesn't turn him evil again," Gyro nodded as the four of them soon went down to check on Leomon, their partners reverting after the fight.

When they reached Leomon, he was rubbing his head with a groan. "Thank you," he managed to say. "And I greatly apologize for everything I tried to do under Devimon's control." It seemed he was also somewhat aware while he was being controlled.

"Eh, its fine," Pierce waved off. "If you wanna make it up to us, help us kick Devimon's ass to next year."

"THAT, I can agree with whole heartedly," Leomon smirked.

"Though...we should probably wait for the others. Knowing them, they'll probably be on their way by now," Gyro said.

As if on cue, the group were treated to the sound of buzzing wings in the air, making them look up to see not only Kabuterimon, carrying Weiss, Ruby and Palmon, but also Stingmon, who had Ren, Nora and Salamon in his arms. "Huh...convenient," Gyro blinked.

A few minutes of regrouping later, as well as everyone seeing Blake scowl at the damage to her now returned weapon, as well as Leomon receiving the tablet Ren and Nora had obtained, found the group sitting under a tree near the edge of the Primary Village, Elecmon cleaning things up after the fight.

"As Centarumon mentioned to two of you earlier today, the coming of the Chosen Children was foretold millenia ago during the dawn of the Digital World, it was said they would arrive when we would need them most, and I can't think of a more perfect time for you all to have arrived." Leomon explained.

"So, I'm guessing that the Digivices were kind of like heralds of our arrival then." Pierce said as he looked at the device in his hand.

"What I'm curious about is when Centarumon said they can evolve just like Digimon." Weiss mused.

"We may have seen something like that earlier, albeit an already evolved one." Gyro said "There's another human in this world, he's been here for at least 10 years."

"You speak of Frigimon's son, correct? She has told me about him before." Leomon realised.

"I'm rather surprised we aren't the only ones here." Ren said, a bit surprised.

"Yeah, well, that's not even the half of it." Yang said with a sigh, remembering the story Frigimon had told them this morning.

"You know, I wonder what'll happen after we beat Devimon?" Ruby wondered.

"Well… will the Digital World still need us?" Nora asked, making the others blink at the valid question.

"Perhaps it won't, there's no way to know for sure right now." Salamon mused, shaking her head at the end.

"It...is a possibility," Weiss mused. "If we were brought here to end the evil plaguing this world, then it would make sense that we would no longer be needed once that function is fulfilled."

"So...we save the world, then we can go home?" Ruby asked.

"...possibly," Weiss sighed.

"Doesn't seem like such a bad deal," Pierce shrugged. "I mean, we WERE planning to beat Devimon anyway. Not to mention no way we'd leave this world hanging just to go home, right guys?"

"Yeah! Let's go and kick butt!" Veemon shouted.

"There's a lot more of us than there are of him." Wormmon added.

"We'll teach him not to mess with our home!" Biyomon cheered.

"I'm gonna punch him so hard he's gonna get TKO'd!" Palmon said, throwing a few jabs.

"Alright, we're all in agreement then, let's go and beat Devimon!" Agumon shouted as he raised his claw high.

With that said, it didn't take long for the group to get to the base of Mount Infinity, slowly starting the climb up to the top, and towards the final battle against Devimon.

"I still think we should have waited for Jaune and the others." Ruby said in a bit of worry.

"Don't worry, I'm positive they were heading here themselves, they'll catch up to us in no time." Gyro reassured her, earning a somewhat nervous smile from the silver-eyed girl.

At the same time, at the top of the mountain, Devimon growled as he smashed the gear that acted as a viewing glass for him, a snarl on his face "Meddlesome children. Useless fools. It seems if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself." he said, before he turned to the remaining Black Gears. "Come to me, oh powers of darkness!" he called out, the few Black Gears that remained in his palace like home flew into him… and then more came from outside, so many that were all visible to the group climbing up the mountain, as well as to those who were still on their way. It seemed as if just about every single Black Gear spread through the Island were now gathering into one place.

Before the group had even reached the halfway point, the top of the mountain exploded, and Devimon appeared, now a giant that towered over all of them, so much so, a good portion of the mountain was pretty much gone by the time he fully emerged.

"Okay...where's a Megazord when you need one…?" was the weak joke Pierce managed as the group realized the rather daunting task they had ahead of them.

"Megazord?" Blake quirked an eyebrow.

"Giant robot," Pierce quickly explained.

"Ah...yeah, that would have been useful," Blake nodded.

Devimon soon spread his now titanic wings and soon landed at the base of the mountain, and even then he towered over them still.

"How did he get so big?!" Ren asked in alarm.

"Its the power of darkness! He must have drawn all of it to him!" Leomon said.

"Well, look at it this way guys. The bigger they are, the harder the fall!" Gyro encouraged.

"Yeah, let's get him!" Agumon agreed. However, before they could start to attack, they were stopped by a sudden wave of dark energy, forcing them against the mountain side.

"Devimon!" Leomon growled, before he too was hit with a blast of dark energy, one that pushed him back till he fell off the other side of the mountain.

"Leomon!" the hunters and Digimon shouted in alarm, but they soon had bigger things to worry about as they felt the energy hitting them intensify a little.

"Fools! All you've done is walk to your own doom. This place shall be your graves!" Devimon declared as he continued the flow of dark energy.

He was about to increase the output, until…

"Harpoon Vulcan!"

"Fox Fire!"

A volley of missiles and a blue flame slammed into his back, cutting his concentration, before something suddenly stabbed his leg, while he felt another thing claw at his back and bite one of his wings, making him growl in annoyance as he tried to shake it off.

"That's Ikkakumon and Garurumon!" Weiss quickly noticed.

"Guys!" they all heard, making them turn to see Jaune running up towards them with Pyrrha following next to him "Now's your chance! While he's distracted!"

"Right, you heard him everyone! Time to evolve!" Gyro said.

 **(Play Brave Heart)**

"Agumon, Evolution! Greymon!"

"Palmon, Evolution! Togemon!"

"Wormmon, Evolution! Stingmon!"

"Biyomon, Evolution! Birdramon!"

"Tentomon, Evolution! Kabuterimon!"

"Salamon, Evolution! Gatomon!"

"Veemon, Evolution! Veedramon!"

"Patamon, Evolution! Angemon!"

When the light subsided, Devimon found himself surrounded by all 10 of the Chosen Digimon, all in adult form. "Damn! I was so close!" he growled. "No matter, even with all 10 of you gathered, it won't change anything!"

"No, Devimon, that's where you're wrong," Angemon said. "This is where we will put an end to your twisted ambitions!"

"Get ready you bastard, we're taking File Island back!" Greymon growled, earning various sounds of agreement from the others.

"Mega Flame!"

"Fox Fire!"

The two attacks hit Devimon, but he blocked it with his arm, before Garurumon jumped onto his arm and started biting down, while Greymon grabbed hold of his right leg. Devimon growled as he was about to throw them both aside, but before he could...

"Meteor Wing!"

"Mega Blaster!"

Birdramon and Kabuterimon peppered him with their attacks, obscuring his vision with the smoke, but when it started to clear…

"Spiking Finish!"

"Neko Punch!"

He growled in pain as the two attacks struck him in the chest, pushing him back a little, while behind him, Ikkakumon, Togemon, and Veedramon were already prepared.

"Needle Spray!"

"Harpoon Vulcan!"

"V-Breath Arrow!"

The three attacks impacted on his back, causing him to roar in anger, before in a single sweep, he blew them all back. "Fools! Did you really think those would work?" he laughed.

"Wasn't really trying to!" Garurumon said with a smirk.

"We just needed to keep your attention!" Gatomon grinned.

"What?!" Devimon gasped in alarm, right before…

"Heaven's Knuckle!" Angemon called out, this time firing his attack in a beam of holy light, smashing into Devimon's torso, causing him to roar and double over in pain, some of the Black Gears he'd absorbed leaving his body and shattering.

"Damn you…!" he growled, glaring at them all hatefully.

"Devimon, this is the end," Angemon declared. "Now everyone, let us bring an end to his evil!"

"You got it!" Everyone, humans and Digimon agreed.

In response, Angemon raised his staff over his head. "Come to us, O Holy Power!"

The Digivices all glowed brightly, before beams of light shot out of them, and hit their respective partners, all of them soon glowing with holy power.

"S-stop it!" Devimon gasped, shielding his eyes from the bright light.

"No way, you're gonna get EVERYTHING you deserve, you bastard!" Veedramon growled, before they all let loose their attacks.

"Mega Flame!"

"Fox Fire!"

"Neko Punch!"

"Meteor Wing!"

"Mega Blaster!'

"Needle Spray!"

"Spiking Finish!"

"V-Breath Arrow!"

"Harpoon Vulcan!"

"Heaven's Knuckle!"

The attacks all met their mark, and where they did, the holy powers empowering the Digimon further were released in a massive surge of energy. Devimon roared in pain as every fiber of his being was hit with the light, destroying every last trace of his power, a fact that was visually shown by a massive burst of light that forced the Hunters to shield their eyes for a moment. When it was over, their partners were once more by their side, having reverted to their child forms, and before them, Devimon's body was breaking apart into fragments of data.

"Curse you, Chosen Children!" he glared hatefully. "But don't think you've won. Even if you defeat me, dark powers are gathering across the ocean, held by Digimon far more powerful than I! Enjoy your victory while it lasts, for when all is said and done all of you WILL perish!" he said, before letting out one last evil laugh as he faded completely. And with that, the battle for File Island was won.

 **(Song end)**

* * *

 **And that's it for the Devimon arc!**

 **And quite obviously, Angemon's evolution was handled rather differently here, it was less last minute, meaning he was there from the start to weaken Devimon.**

 **As well, if you notice, Angemon's words are a bit different than they were in canon, as here, he called upon the holy powers from the Digivices to go into everyone, thus giving them all super boosts, instead of all into him which would have made him overclock and then die.**

 **That's the way Timeless and I see it at least.**

 **Also, yeah, I know, the end feels somewhat like a cliffhanger, but that's because we felt that was a nice place to end it, and Gennai will appear at the start of the next chapter.**

 **But for now...**

 **The Adventure Evolves.**


	20. 19: Set Sail! To A New Land!

**Wow, this one turned out bigger than we expected honestly.**

 **A whole 25 pages.**

 **And this is just bridging between two arcs!**

 **Although, a lot of stuff DOES get explained here.**

 **Anyway, let's go!**

* * *

 **Set Sail! To A New Land!  
**

* * *

The group was now gathered at the base of the mountain, the adrenaline of the fight finally wearing off, leaving them all dead tired. Despite that, Devimon's last words still bugged them. "We knew there was more to this world than just this island, and that other islands were more dangerous…" Gyro sighed, looking at where he knew there was a beach. "But now it suddenly feels a whole lot more daunting."

"I know what you mean…" Jaune sighed. "But hey, we managed to save File Island. That's a start, right?"

"It was, but...for now we should probably regroup then plan our next move," Pyrrha sighed, looking to where Leomon was slumped against a nearby tree, the group having gone looking for him after the fight, the lion-like Digimon having a few bandages wrapped around his torso courtesy of the twins' hammerspace pouches.

"That's probably for the best. We don't actually know how we can get across the ocean, or what to do next," Blake sighed. However, as if in response to her words, the ground near where they were cracked, before an odd device revealed itself from the ground, and from it a beam of light appeared, as what appeared to be a holographic image soon appeared.

"Is this...some kind of projector?" Weiss asked.

"Indeed it is." came the voice of an adult male as a person appeared within the projector.

He appeared to be just over 6 feet tall, making him just a bit taller than most of them, wearing a beige colored robe with brown edges that made him look like some sort of sage, his skin was tanned, with short spiky brown hair that was tied into a low ponytail on the back, his blue eyes looking at the group in a mix of amusement and pride.

"I have to admit, I'm impressed with how soundly you all kicked Devimon to the curb." he said with an easy smile.

"And who are you supposed to be?" Pierce asked guardedly.

"You can call me Gennai. I've been trying to contact you all for a while now, but Devimon was constantly running interference with his Black Gears. Now that he's gone, I'm free to speak, though the range is a bit of an issue." the now named Gennai explained.

"Are you human?" Ruby asked suspiciously.

"Yes and no. I've always been in the Digital World, but my appearance is quite obviously based on that of a human." he added.

"That's… weird." Yang said after a moment.

"Everything's weird in this world." Ren said idly.

"Are you some kind of ghost person?" Nora asked as she moved her hand through the hologram before Ren pulled her away.

"I am not a ghost person." Gennai said dryly "I'm simply on the Server Continent at the moment, which is where you need to go. You may have defeated Devimon, but there are more evil Digimon out there."

"Yeah, he kinda made that last detail clear, even if it was in the vein of 'if we go, we die'," Blake said dryly.

"And like it or not, he had a point. It took all of us to defeat him. If we go up against a Digimon who is far stronger than he is…" Weiss sighed as she trailed off. Never let it be said they were all pessimist, but the logic spoke for itself.

"And that's where these little things called Tags and Crests come in." Gennai said, before right in his hand in the hologram appeared a small gold colored object similar to an army dog tag, and a tiny little glass piece that seemed to be made to slide into it. "If you can obtain them, they'll allow your partners to evolve to Perfect and beyond."

"We can really evolve higher?" Agumon asked in excitement.

"Indeed, each of you has a Tag with a corresponding Crest, tailor made for you specifically." Gennai explained further.

"Wait, I have to ask, were you the one who brought the humans here?" Tentomon asked with a raised arm.

"It wasn't me no. However, I know who it is, but he requested that I keep his identity a secret for now as he will reveal himself to you in time." Gennai spoke, and from his tone it was clear he respected whoever this other being was "At the very least, I can tell you he's basically my boss."

"Okay," Gyro nodded slowly. "So...where do we find these Tags and Crests?" he asked, figuring Gennai not wanting to go against his boss was reasonable enough...even if that made him feel a bit suspicious, but hey...free power up.

"About that…" Gennai sighed, scratching the back of his head. "The Crests are scattered all over Server Continent, while the Tags...to my knowledge, they had ended up in the hands of Devimon, who in turn hid them somewhere. Where exactly...I'm not sure."

"Of course," Jaune sighed. "It's never simple, is it?"

"Judging by how you said how they were 'tailor made' for us...let me guess," Pierce sighed. "The bad guys broke into your base, and stole the stuff, before picking up the Villain Ball, and scattering them, thus giving us the chance to find them instead of doing the smart thing and destroying them. Sound about right?"

Gennai chuckled awkwardly "That's… pretty much accurate actually, thankfully we were able to get the Digivices and the 10 Digieggs away in time, it helps we had a few extra pair of hands."

"So… that means you made us then?" Veemon asked after a moment, looking at Gennai curiously.

"More like we worked on your eggs to establish the links to the crests and Digivices and made sure you were as healthy as possible, though we may have worked on your data a bit to ensure what kind of Digimon you'd hatch as… though, Agumon was the curious case out of all of you." Gennai said in a bit of amusement as he looked at the lizard.

"How was I curious?" Agumon wondered.

"Because you'd already interacted with your chosen partner, it made setting the link easier in your case." Gennai explained with a smile.

"About that, so basically all this has been basically planned out. That we were always meant to come here and save the world, huh?" Gyro frowned. As much as he liked being reunited with Agumon, and meeting all their new friends...he still didn't like the idea that they were destiny's puppets the whole time.

"In a sense…" Gennai admitted with a sigh. "Look, its not THAT simple, but as it is, I can't explain everything right now. While Devimon's interference is gone, the connection can only last so long. For now, I'll send you all a map to lead you to Server. When you all arrive, and when we meet in person, I promise I'll explain the story."

Gyro looked at the man for a moment longer, before nodding, accepting that for now "I'll hold you to it."

"Personally, I'm curious about why you chose people from two different worlds." Weiss added with a confused frown.

"I'll explain that part as well." Gennai promised, before his form on the projector started to waver a bit and fizzle "Looks like I'm out of time. I'll leave you all with this, good luck Chosen Children." he managed to say before the projector turned off.

"Well...he kept his first promise that's for sure," Weiss said, as on her scroll was a map detailing the distance between File Island and Server Continent.

"Looks like it'll be quite a distance. No way we can swim that far," Ruby frowned, looking at the map.

"Guess we'll need a boat then," Jaune sighed. "How are we gonna get one of those though?"

"First things first, I guess we should all calm down a bit. We DID just fight for our lives," Gyro sighed. "Anyone up for looking for something to eat?"

"We should make sure Leomon is okay too," Blake added.

"So, he's really back to normal?" Gomamon asked.

"Yeahp, he even helped us get to the mountain." Palmon answered happily.

"Just a small question before we keep going, everyone can feel the little tremors right?" Salamon asked.

"Yeah, it's just the island pieces coming back into place." Biyomon said from up high as she watched the last few pieces come back in.

"Glad to hear that," Yang nodded. "Now...how do we get the big guy here down? Anyone got the energy to Evolve again?"

"That...won't be necessary…" came Leomon's voice, as he started to slowly get to his feet.

"Easy there," Pyrrha said. "You took a bad fall earlier."

"I've had worse," Leomon reassured. "I was somewhat conscious while you were talking. If you want to get a ship...I recommend visiting File City."

"...there's a city on this island?" Ren blinked in surprise.

"Its called that mainly due to it being the largest settlement on the island, but yes," Leomon managed a weak chuckle. "It's not too far from Primary Village, so we can get there easily enough."

"We'll let you lead the way then, but don't push yourself, we aren't in a rush." Jaune advised him.

Leomon simply nodded before starting to walk at a slow pace, the group following him.

* * *

The trip down the mountain was at a sedate pace, the group more focused on ensuring Leomon's well being than reaching their destination quickly. Eventually though, they could see it.

It looked like a decently sized town with a good number of houses, several different stores were also present, as well as a restaurant, a clinic, what looked like a boxing ring, a bank, and a blacksmith.

That last one caught their attention "Um, Leomon? I think we need to make a stop before seeing whoever we need to for a boat."

Leomon stopped walking at that and turned to them, before noticing what they had stopped in front of and nodding "Understood." he said before sitting down on a bench not too far while the group went in.

Inside, they were met with a very hot room, and standing in the middle, seemingly checking on the quality of tools, was a completely red Monochromon.

"Tentomon? Who is that?" Weiss whispered with a raised eyebrow.

"Vermilimon, he's a Perfect Level Digimon, besides that he's pretty similar to Monochromon except he can survive in hotter climates." the bug explained simply.

"Heh, you sure know your stuff," Vermilimon chuckled. "So, you're all definitely new in town. What'll it be?"

"Do you do repair jobs?" Pierce asked.

"That depends what you have in mind," Vermilimon nodded. In response, all 10 of their weapons were plopped on the counter. "...okay, I'll admit these aren't the stuff I usually do. Hm...are there specialized mechanisms I see in these things?"

"Lots and LOTS of specialized mechanisms." Gyro said with plenty of emphasis.

"Right… this could take me a few hours." Vermilimon muttered "It might also help if one of you lent me a hand, since I assume you made these yourselves."

"Everyone has blueprints in their scrolls right?" Pierce asked, receiving nods all around, for the most part.

"Um, I don't." Jaune said with an awkward laugh.

"Actually I wanted to talk to you about that Jaune. I can't find a way to integrate a gun, but we might be able to make the weapon better." Gyro said as he searched through his scroll and forwarded a file to Jaune, who looked at it, his eyebrows going up after a few moments.

"This is… actually pretty cool, and that would mean it would go to two handed style." Jaune said, before his voice dipped into muttering as he tried to picture it.

"I could help you practice if you want? I use a one handed style myself, but I practiced with different styles before settling on what I have." Pyrrha told him with a smile.

"I think I'd like that very much." Jaune told her, and Pyrrha's smile brightened.

Gyro did the smallest of fist bumps before focusing back on the situation at hand "Alright, I think we all know who the best person to work on the weapons is." he said, before everyone looked at Ruby.

She blushed a bit at the implication "Um… thanks guys. I'll do my best!" she said with a grin before having the various blueprints forwarded to her scroll.

"I'll stay and see if I can help with anything too," Palmon added.

"Right, we're counting on you," Yang grinned.

"Oh, before we forget, we have some Chrome Digizoid, think you could work it into our weapons?" Pierce asked as he pulled out a piece from his pouch.

"I'd be honored, but, at the moment it's not the best idea, trying to both repair and upgrade at the same time could actually be harmful to your weapons in the long run, so I'll have to decline the chance to work with it." Vermilimon explained.

"Well, that's too bad." Weiss said with a sigh, but nonetheless, they all accepted it.

"Now that that's being worked on...we should look into where we can get a ship," Gyro said...before several growls came from their stomachs. "...and somewhere to get food, hopefully with some takeout too."

"Think we should split up for that part?" Patamon asked, figuring they could cover more ground.

"Well we're in a city, and with Devimon gone, the island is peaceful again." Agumon said as the idea had merit.

"He's right, so let's do just that, and just send a group call when you find something, Agumon and I will go with Leomon in the meantime." Gyro said as everyone walked out of the blacksmith, while he paused to pat Ruby on the shoulder encouragingly, receiving a smile from her.

With that, the group split up, finally being able to just enjoy a day in town. So far things were going well, as even though they had a mission to do, they could still take the time to enjoy themselves. The town may have been small, but it was well stocked, such as Blake and Patamon visiting a local bookstore, Jaune and Gomamon managing to find the shipyard, Yang and Biyomon finding a boxing ring run by a BlackGaomon, which was a, obviously, black canine Digimon wearing boxing gloves and a headband. Then there was Pierce and Veemon who found a restaurant, though Pierce was smart enough to check currency before buying anything, and found that the Muchomon chef, a red bird Digimon, accepted all forms of currency and treated them at the same amount.

Overall, the day had been both productive and enjoyable. Along the way, they'd managed to get some info on how they'd get to Server Continent, such as the facilities/materials needed to make a ship, as well how far the distance would be, thus they could better predict how to prepare.

However, the crowning moment came when Gyro and Agumon followed Leomon to meet the elder of the city, who lived in a home that looked like an old hut… made out of cardboard for some reason.

"Yeah… this world has no logic at times." Gyro said dryly as he followed Leomon inside.

"Elder Jijimon, I brought one of the Chosen Children." Leomon announced into the house.

"What? Truly?" said a very old sounding voice from the back of the home, before both Gyro and Agumon looked on in confusion as what could only be described as a rather short old man with hair and a beard that covered his face, hobling into the room, holding onto a cane that had a cat glove at the tip, and wearing what looked like a simple rag.

"Well… this is new." Agumon said after a moment.

"What, never seen an Ultimate Level Digimon before?" Jijimon said, and they could hear the amusement in his tone.

"Wait what?" Gyro blinked. "Ultimate? Judging by the name, I'm guessing THAT'S the level beyond Perfect, right?"

"Of course," Jijimon nodded.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Jijimon_

 _Jijimon. Vaccine Type. An Ultimate Level Ancient Digimon. A Digimon said to have existed since the dawn of the Digital World. Jijimon is ever present to guide those in need of his words of wisdom. His special attacks are Cat Cane, where he clobbers the enemy with his cane, and Energy Grenade, which rather speaks for itself._

Gyro...could only manage a blank stare at the supposed 'Ultimate' . If that was true, then this old looking Digimon was supposed to be even stronger than Andromon...though...appearance really didn't paint him as such. Either way, he decide it best NOT to voice any of those thoughts.

"Now then, I assume you managed to beat Devimon, right?" Jijimon asked.

"Right, it took a lot of effort to get to him, but our Digimon were able to delete him." Gyro said with a nod after recovering.

"Good job then, congratulations are truly in order, I may be of the Ultimate Level, but I'm not the strongest Digimon, I only reached this level through age, and not through battle." Jijimon explained as he pulled out a few cushions and sat on one seiza style, the others in the room copying him when he passed them the cushions.

However, before they could talk more, one of the windows suddenly broke, as something broke into the room. "Prepare yourself old mon!" came three young sounding voices.

The reactions were instant, as Gyro and Agumon tensed, Leomon's hand reflexively went to his sword...while Jijimon just let out a tired, but amused sigh. When they all got a good look at the soon to be assailants...Gyro stopped short.

"...you're kidding, right?" he deadpanned as he beheld what appeared to be three Child Level Digimon judging by the size and voices.

The first looked like a short dinosaur like Digimon with purple fur covering most of his body, though the tip of his tail and his snout where white, with a red gem on his forehead and small black bat wings on his back.

The second looked similar in body structure, and with his body covered in fur, though his was a pale yellow, and he wore a samurai inspired armor… although it could be his natural body armor.

The third was the only one that was standing completely upright, his whole body covered in a golden armor with sharp claws on his hands and feet, a white cape attached to his back, while on top of his armored head was a rather large sword like horn with a silver 20 stamped onto it. Of the three, this one was the only one who seemed dangerous in any way.

"Dorumon, Ryudamon, Zubamon, haven't we done this same song and dance enough times already?" Jijimon sighed.

"No way! We're not gonna stop till we beat you, old mon!" Dorumon said. "Let's get him guys!"

"Right!" Ryudamon and Zubamon said before the three moved to pounce on Jijimon.

Gyro and Agumon were about to intervene...when they noticed Leomon had let go of his sword and honestly looked...annoyed...like this was a common occurrence. It soon became clear that that was the case, as Jijimon sighed and lifted his staff. "Cat Cane!" Jijimon called out, and in a quick motion, all three of the attacking mon were on the ground, goose eggs present on their heads, their eyes swirly.

"...okay, that had to be the worst attack attempt I've ever seen...and that's saying something," Agumon deadpanned, which was true seeing as he was only a bit over a month old right now.

"How often does this happen?" Gyro asked dryly.

"Give or take once a day." Leomon sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"... wow… I don't know if I should admire their dedication, or pity they have nothing better to do." Gyro said as he shook his head with a sigh.

"They're harmless for the most part really," Jijimon shook his head in amusement. "They're not bad kids honestly."

"Though I still believe you should take a more firm stance to discipline them," Leomon sighed. "These three may have potential, but they're wasting it like this."

"Ever think of maybe giving them a better outlet?" Gyro suggested.

"We have." Jijimon started.

"But they keep breaking everything." Leomon finished.

"Ah…" Gyro and Agumon sweat dropped, honestly not sure what to say to that.

"Yes, that's a common reaction from a lot of mon who asked," Leomon sighed.

"So uh...where were we again?" Gyro asked awkwardly, deciding to try and change the topic.

"I do believe I was about to have someone send word that the Chosen Children were in the city. I was originally going to ask Tsukaimon to do it… but these three seem to have volunteered." Jijimon finished, and everyone was sure he was grinning at the end.

"I'll go get a kettle," Leomon smirked as he got up and went to a different room.

"This is going to be funny." Agumon said with a small laugh.

"Yeah." Gyro shook his head in amusement, before turning back to Jijimon "So, I was wondering, is there anything you could tell us about Server? It's our next destination and we'll need a boat to get there."

"Well, you're welcome to use our shipyard to construct it, as for Server itself, it's been a long time since I was there, but I've heard talk of a few powerful and evil Digimon who live there, I don't know their names, but I do know they are at the Perfect Level, nothing else though." Jijimon explained as he stroked his beard.

"That helps yeah," Gyro nodded. "At least we have SOME idea about what's there. So...how long would a trip to Server take on average?"

"Depends on the weather and everything, but if you can maintain a decent pace, a week tops," Jijimon said.

"Huh… spent a whole week on land and then spending another on sea… well, as long as there aren't any Black Gear Digimon, I'm pretty sure nobody will mind." Gyro said after a moment.

"You lead your group well," Jijimon nodded in approval.

"Wha-Leader? Me? No! No, no! I'm not the leader… am I?" that last part was directed to Agumon.

"I always thought you were." his partner answered, and Gyro actually blushed a bit as he covered his face.

Jijimon laughed at that. "Then that just means you're all the better for the role," he said in a jolly tone. "Trust me when I say that many times the best leaders are the ones who neither want, nor think themselves fit, for the role, yet play it well anyway."

"I… I guess that makes sense. Personally I always thought that Ruby and Jaune would be better suited for the role than I was." Gyro said, honestly not sure what to think about this, he DID know though that he'd be talking to the others about the 'leader situation'. Quickly shaking his head to focus on what was important right now, he turned back to Jijimon. "At any rate, we're really grateful for any help you can give us."

"Think nothing of it. Compared to the service you've rendered us, helping preparations for a single voyage is cheap," Jijimon waved off. "Speaking of which…" right as he said that, Leomon was back with a kettle of water, which he promptly poured on the three troublemakers.

"We're up!" the three of them shouted as they got up, as the water had been cold.

"We'll deal with these three for now. You two should regroup with the others," Leomon said to Gyro and Agumon, who nodded and left the room, though not before hearing the start of Leomon chewing the three young mon out.

 **(Play Seven by Kouji Wada)**

It didn't take long for everyone to regroup in the shipyard. "Okay, so looks like we can use the shipyard, but we'll need to get the materials together ourselves," Yang said as the 18 of them were gathered together, Ruby still working in the forge to fix their weapons while Palmon accompanied her.

"Good thing we got Jijimon's permission to use the nearby woods for materials," Agumon said.

"Whelp, no point in wasting time. Time to get chopping," Nora said with a grin, hefting one of the axes they'd been allowed to borrow.

"Still though...this could take a while…" Blake frowned.

"Unless of course you don't mind a helping hand," came Leomon's voice, drawing their attention. Turning, they saw the lion-like Digimon walking towards them, though they also noticed his bandages were still present.

"Well, you won't be doing anything too big, not with those injuries." Pierce said with crossed arms.

"Maybe not, but that's what the others are here for." Leomon said with an amused smile.

Everyone gave him a questioning look at that, before they quickly got their answer when several familiar faces strolled into the shipyard.

Thundermon, the Kunemon, Meramon, the Yokomon, Andromon, the Numemon, Monzaemon, the FanBeemon, Waspmon, Frigimon, Mojyamon, Centarumon, Elecmon, and the Drimogemon brothers.

"Wow, who ordered the party?" Yang couldn't help but ask with a grin.

"Let's just say a little bird told us you were gonna build a boat to Server," Thundermon said.

"We decided to see if we could help," Andromon nodded.

"It's the least we could do after all the help you guys gave us," the oldest Drimogemon finished with a grin.

"Well then, glad to have you all helping," Pyrrha smiled.

* * *

"Timber!" Gomamon shouted as he and several of the smaller Digimon ran out of the way as one of the trees came down.

"How many does that make so far?" Gabumon asked.

"We're already at half the amount we need," Waspmon reported, having felled the tree with his Turbo Stinger.

"Really? Feels like we've gotten a lot already," Patamon frowned.

"Well, if you wanted to build a raft or a small boat, sure," Fanbeemon, the one with a red scarf, said. "But we're aiming to build something that can handle any normal rough weather that might happen."

"He's correct. It would be best to properly build this boat," Centarumon nodded as he and Meramon were moving some logs around.

"Well, if you say so, then its fine then," Biyomon accepted the explanation.

"Speaking of which though…" Ren said, coming out from behind a nearby tree.

"We found a bunch of trees already felled not far away," Wormmon said. "Think we could use them?"

"Huh, that's pretty weird, nobody's been beyond this point yet." Thundermon mused.

"Nonetheless, it seems someone prepared assistance for us, and it would be rude to decline." Andromon said as he followed Ren back to where the felled trees were along with a few of the others.

"Think Ogremon had a change of heart?" Gyro said in a joking tone as he saw the large amount of trees.

"Well, he didn't make these ones fall, these were cleanly cut… although those ones over there are definitely his handiwork." Leomon said, pointing to a pile of tree trunks that had the base smashed.

"Now that I think about it, he never DID make good on any of his threats when we were fighting," Blake mused.

"Guess he's not that big of a jerk after all." Patamon said with a smile.

Not too far from them, Ogremon was hiding, his face red as he groaned a bit. "I must be getting soft," he grumbled to himself. "Then again, never did like that bastard anyway, so good riddance that they got rid of him."

"You really should be more honest with yourself." Falcomon snickered from a branch higher up.

"Hey! You two are in no position to talk, you're hiding too!" Ogremon hissed at the owl like Digimon and Keenan, who were both hiding in the shadows of the tree. The two of them had the decency to blush a little at being called out, but ultimately didn't say anything to defend themselves.

Not far from them, Frigimon who happened to be nearby noticed the conversation, and let out a knowing chuckle before resuming helping with the construction.

The process took a good few hours, but with everyone chipping in, it wasn't long before the boat was ready. "Man...it's hard to believe we managed to make build THIS in just a few hours," Gyro whistled as he looked at the sizeable Caravel style ship. It was honestly very big all things considered, easily able to hold more than 20 people, complete with a lookout on top the mast, a storage area for supplies, a dining room (small kitchen included), a living area, a covered steering section, and even, from the looks of it, an optional paddle system in the event they were hit with a lack of wind or had to navigate through rough weather.

"Oh this is nothing. You should see what we can do when we got better materials," Fanbeemon buzzed with pride, something shared by the rest of the hive, as they'd been the ones mainly to work on building the ship. And boy did they do a good job.

"Yeah, we can tell," Nora grinned. "Though...who's the figurehead?" she asked, referring to the wooden carving of a mermaid, albeit one with a pirate hat, complete with braided hair and an anchor at the end.

"Oh that? That's Mermaimon. We figured it'd be good for luck," Mojyamon said.

"Well, it's really well made. Thanks," Jaune chuckled.

"A ship like this would need a name if you ask me." Tentomon said.

"Totally! What should it be though?" Biyomon wondered.

"How about the Black Pearl?" Pierce said in a joking tone.

"No, we are not doing a Disney reference." Gyro cut off the idea quickly.

"Do you have an idea then?" Yang asked him.

"Well… how about Ocean Destiny?" Gyro said after a few moments of thought.

Everyone took a moment to consider the name, before slowly, they all voiced their approval of it.

And with that, the Ocean Destiny, ship of the Chosen Children, was born.

 **(End Song)**

The group agreed to set sail the following morning, not only because it was finally dark now, but also because their weapons weren't finished yet.

"Do you think Ruby is finished with the repairs?" Weiss mused.

"Guys!" they all heard her voice shout as she ran into the shipyard, pulling a small wagon behind her.

"Speak of the devil." Gyro said in amusement as they turned to her and Palmon as they slowed down and looked at the ship in awe.

"So cool~" She whispered as she looked at the ship with stars in her eyes.

"Meet the Ocean Destiny!" Nora said with a grin.

"It honestly turned out better than we would have expected." Ren said with a smile.

"Only because we had a LOT of help," Pyrrha reminded with a smile.

"So, about the weapons…?" Jaune trailed off with a curious look.

"Here they are!" Ruby grinned, showing them the weapons that were all in the wagon.

"Wow, they look good as new," Jaune whistled.

"Feels good to have them back to normal." Gyro said with a relieved sigh as he flipped Ascalon between it's different modes before sheathing them at his hips.

"Man, you did a great job," Pierce grinned, seeing as Pandora was fully functional again.

"Now we only have the issue of limited ammo," Ren frowned slightly.

"Took care of that too actually." Ruby said as she lifted up several ammo cartridges, or rolls of shotgun shells for Yang.

"Ok, so how does mine work?" Jaune asked as he put the sword in the sheath and looked for how to activate the bastard sword mode.

"Twist the pommel." Ruby said simply, Jaune doing just that as he felt the blade lock itself inside of the sheath as sharp edges extended out, doing it a few more times to see it was working perfectly.

"Huh...neat," Gomamon commented.

"Yeah, it is," Jaune nodded, moving away and doing a few practice swings. "It works great! Thanks."

Ruby just smiled and gave a quick salute.

"So, how much is it gonna cost us?" Gyro asked, just about ready to use up all his money.

"Vermilimon said that normally it'd cost 700 Lien, but when he heard about what we did, he said he was willing to give us a discount, so its only 350 Lien," Ruby said. "He also gave us the option of starting a Tab if we couldn't pay for it right now."

"No need, we got the money," Pierce said as he and Gyro pulled out their wallets.

"Hey, don't act like we're not here either," Jaune chuckled as he pulled out his wallet too, something they all soon did.

"Its for all our weapons. It's only fair we all pay for it," Blake said with a light smile.

"Pretty sure I would have called you all out on it if you didn't try to pay honestly." Gyro told everyone dryly, earning a few laughs.

After a quick trip to the forge to pay their bill, the group had their dinner in the local restaurant run by Muchomon, before settling down in the Inn for the night.

The following morning, apparently everyone had learned that they were the Chosen Children, because they kept receiving thanks and praise for saving the island, while also being gifted with a few extra supplies.

"Wait… what did you say these seed packets are for?" Gyro asked the Digimon in front of him, one of the purple flowered Palmon from a few days ago, apparently called Alraumon.

"These ones are for meat apple trees, and these ones are for meat plants." Alraumon said as she pointed at the different packets in question.

Gyro was silent for several moments "Are you telling me that meat grows in the same way a strawberry does?"

All he received was a nod, but it was enough to make him sigh as he put the packets away. He was far beyond even bothering to question how things worked in this bizarre world. Once everything was ready, the 20 of them had boarded the ship, and were now raising the anchor, while unfurling the sails.

"Bye! Thanks for everything!" Wormmon and Salamon said while waving.

"Don't be strangers now, feel free to come again sometime if you can!" Jijimon called back to them.

"We will!" Veemon, Gabumon, and Agumon all said.

"You guys take care too okay?!" Ruby called as she waved, and it wasn't long before File Island was fading in the distance.

Once the ship was out of sight, the residents of the city soon returned to their daily business...though Leomon seemed to be looking around. "Something wrong?" Jijimon asked.

"I feel like we're forgetting something," Leomon frowned. "Hm...has anyone seen those three trouble makers? They're usually hard to miss."

"Oh, I'm sure they've just run off again. They'll be back soon enough," Jijimon chuckled.

* * *

"Gotta admit, I think I'm gonna miss File," Jaune admitted with a chuckle as by now File was just a little dot. For better or worse, File was the start of their journey, and it was a nice one overall too.

"Look alive everyone, we got a lot ahead of us," Gyro said with a grin as he was using his Semblance to push some extra wind into the sails.

"And so far we're on to a good start," Pierce added as he was at the wheel.

"A whole week of just sailing on the ocean… kind of makes me wish I could work on my tan honestly." Yang said… within earshot of Pierce, and could see his ears turn red from a blush, making her grin.

"What's with the sudden idea?" Ruby asked cluelessly.

"Oh right, you guys weren't there. Her and Pierce are dating now after they had an incident while we were all split up the other day." Gyro said as he sat on top of the cover for the wheel.

There was a pause in activity from the hunters as they took the information in "Huh… didn't see that coming, pretty neat though." Nora eventually said.

"Well...we're still testing the waters really, but yeah," Pierce said, fighting down his blush.

"We wish you both all the best, right everyone?" Pyrrha said.

"I don't really get it, but yeah, congrats." Gabumon said with a smile, the others joining in, which actually made both Yang and Pierce blush a bit at all the attention.

After that, the day continued to move on, rather uneventfully, but after the previous week, the group welcomed the calm of the waves.

This actually continued on into their second day at sea, after they'd layed anchor and slept the night away in actual beds.

Finally, it was during their third day that things changed. At first it seemed that things were going to be smooth again, and for a while they were. Suddenly the waves started rocking the boat a bit more violently. "Hm...rough waters we're having today," Blake mused as everyone grabbed hold of something.

"But so far nothing the boat can't handle," Pierce nodded as he was once again steering. However, that soon changed when Jaune by chance glanced over the edge...and gulped.

"Uhhh….guys?" he asked, sounding VERY nervous.

"What did you see, Jaune?" Weiss deadpanned, already used to the life and death situations this world tossed at them.

"There's a big shadow under the ship," Jaune said flatly.

Everyone peered over the railing at that, before paling as they just HOW big said shadow was.

"Well… this is going to be a problem." Ren said after swallowing nervously.

"Maybe their just passing by and won't do anything?" Veemon said hopefully.

"Somehow, I doubt it'll be that simple." Biyomon added.

As if to prove the point, the huge shadow moved ahead of them, before the water started to rise, revealing…

"Holy shit it's Moby Dick." Pierce whispered with his eyes wide.

"You and I both know Moby Dick is a white whale, this one's blue… but still just as much of a problem though." Gyro said in a bit of annoyance.

"That's Whamon! But why is he attacking us? He's a good Digimon!" Agumon shouted as the waves caused by Whamon rising rocked the boat.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Whamon_

 _Whamon. Vaccine Type. A Perfect Level Aquatic Digimon. Living in the deepest depths of the Net Ocean, Whamon carries enormous amounts of data in its body that would overload a normal computer. There are rumours of a rare, White Whamon that carries an island on its as it swims through the skies. Its special attacks are Jet Arrow, which launches a high pressure jet of water from its blowhole, and Tidal Wave, where it uses its tail to create, well, a tidal wave._

"Hang on!" Pierce shouted as he spun the wheel in an attempt to get away, but Whamon wasn't about to let them go.

"Damn! If he's supposed to be a good Digimon, do you think something's causing him to go berserk like all the others?!" Yang shouted over the sound of the water.

"Its possible! But we defeated Devimon already!" Weiss said.

"Maybe a few of the gears survived!" Ruby suggested.

"Whether that's the case or not, it isn't helping our current situation!" Tentomon said, as the boat was rocked all over thanks to the waves Whamon was kicking up. That's when he seemed to decide to stop playing and opened his mouth.

"Uh….guys?" Gomamon said, and somehow his fur was turning paler than normal.

"...well, guess we're gonna say hi to Pinocchio…" Gyro could only say flatly before they were promptly eaten.

It was dark for a moment, before a small crack was heard and Pierce was holding up a glowstick.

"Seriously, Azure even put THOSE into your pouches?" Jaune asked in deadpan, and before he could receive an answer, the ship started to move again, travelling down Whamon's throat.

"I don't wanna come out the back!" Ruby shouted as she easily guessed they were travelling down into his stomach.

"What are THOSE things?!" Yang said as she pointed to the weird, slimy, stuff falling from the top.

"I think it's his immune system." Blake answered.

"It must think we're a bacteria of some kind!" Weiss added.

"Well I dunno about you guys but I did NOT come this far to die by white blood cells!" Pierce growled, manning the wheel again, and actually managing to avoid the various blobs, till finally they reached a single large area...and they noticed the bottom of the boat was starting to sizzle.

"We're in the stomach," Jaune gulped.

"Ah! Look over there!" Salamon and Patamon shouted, causing them to look at where they were pointing to see a Black Gear.

"So I guess some DID survive Devimon's destruction," Pyrrha mused.

"Well, we'd better get rid of it," Palmon said. "Poison Ivy!" Using her vines, she latched onto the gear. "Now, someone climb up and get rid of it!"

"Well, best it's me since I can fly." Gyro said as he actually started running up her vines, before aiming his Digivice at the gear when he got close, the light shining on it and making it break down in pieces while he floated back down to the ship.

"I really hope that was the last one." Nora said in a bit of annoyance.

Before anyone could answer her, the whole area around them started shaking a bit, before suddenly a jet of water started to make the ship move upwards.

"I swear, if this ship breaks, the luxury gods will feel my wrath!" Gyro said through grit teeth as he hanged onto the railing. The ship was soon in the air, before crashing back down into the water. The ship creaked and groaned, but it held together despite the damage it had taken.

"Is everyone okay?" Gabumon groaned.

A chorus of 'yeah's was heard. "Good."

"Stop...the...violent shaking…" came a new voice.

"Huh?" Biyomon blinked as she walked over to a crate that happened to get launched out of the storage room in the chaos. "Did everyone else hear that?"

"Why do I feel like I've heard that voice before?" Gyro and Agumon mused. They got their answer when Tentomon opened the crate, and out came three figures who ran to the side...and started throwing up.

"We have stowaways?" Ren blinked in surprise.

"Yeah, and I recognise these ones. The troublemakers of File City apparently, the purple one is Dorumon, the samurai looking one is Ryudamon, and the golden armored one is Zubamon." Gyro said with a sigh.

"Okay...why are they here though?" Gomamon asked.

"Why don't we ask them...when they're done throwing up anyway…" Jaune sighed.

"In the meantime, we should deal with Whamon," Pyrrha said, just as Whamon soon resurfaced.

"Thank you, young ones, thanks to you I'm finally free from that dark influence." Whamon told them.

"We were happy to help." Agumon said.

"Besides, this means that we're just pissing off Devimon from his grave by getting rid of more Black Gears." Pierce added with a laugh.

"Devimon you say? I actually remember seeing him in these parts a few years ago, he came around here and hid something deep beneath the waters." Whamon remembered after recovering from his surprise.

"Maybe it's the Tags." Weiss realised.

"Do you think you could take us there Whamon?" Gyro asked hopefully.

"Of course. However, as it is underwater, please take refuge in my body," Whamon said. "Fear not, I can control what goes on in my body. You'll be safe now that the Black Gear is gone."

With that, their ship once more entered Whamon's mouth, though this time they stayed there instead of travelling down his throat as everyone was given a glow stick so they could actually see.

"Now then, while we travel there… what to do about you three?" Gyro said with a sigh as he looked down at the three troublemakers.

"Why not start with why these three are here," Weiss suggested.

"That works, yeah. Care to explain?" Gyro said.

"Going to Server sounded fun! So we hopped in a crate and snuck on board!" Dorumon exclaimed.

"Yeah! And I bet we can learn stuff to help us beat the old mon!" Ryudamon added.

"We'll show him who's boss!" Zubamon finished.

Everyone looked at the trio for several moments, before sighing "Why do we get stuck as babysitters?" Jaune groaned.

"Because apparently stupidly impulsive kids is a universal concept…" Blake sighed dryly.

"Well, no choice I guess," Yang sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"What do we do with them?" Biyomon asked.

"Take care of them until we can send them back to File, and make sure they don't get themselves killed," Pierce sighed.

"We won't get killed!" Dorumon protested "We're strong!"

"Can you evolve?" Agumon asked dryly, earning silence from the trio "That's what I thought."

"Let's just… focus on getting the Tags for now." Gyro said with a sigh.

True enough… "We have arrived," Whamon reported as he came to a stop, before opening his mouth, revealing that they were in a cave of some kind, which was actually very spacious. "The objects Devimon hid should be here. I will wait here till you all return.

"Thanks a bunch, Whamon," several of the Digimon grinned as they all got out.

"Not you!" Yang suddenly pointed at the trio who was about to get off the boat "You three are staying there, and if we see you actually get off, you're in trouble, is that clear?" she said with narrowed eyes.

The three looked at her a bit nervously before they all nodded in unison.

With that problem avoided, the group of 20 walked on into the cave, curious about what they would find, until…

"Really? A Convenience store?" Ruby said with a bemused look on her face as she looked at the store.

"It's literally a 7/11." Pierce added as he looked at the glowing neon sign above the door.

"Well...could be worse. It could have been a garbage disposal," Gyro shrugged.

"Good point," several of the others nodded as they walked in.

"Now...looking at this place I think we should split up and search. With all of us covering ground we should find the tags fast enough...assuming they're here anyway," Weiss suggested.

"Good idea," Jaune nodded.

Before they could even move into the store however, the ground shook, before it burst open in front of them, revealing… Drimogemon?

"Is… is that another Drimogemon?" Ren asked, blinking in surprise.

"No, that's NiseDrimogemon, the only difference between the two is that his mustache is scribbled on." Wormmon said, and everyone looked at the mustache which was, indeed, drawn on in marker.

"That's the dumbest difference so far." Blake said dryly.

"You think that's bad? Since evolving I've gained some new information, there's a variation of Angemon that just wears pink instead of blue and has less wings." Patamon shot back.

"Okay...what?" Ruby asked, though it seemed she was trying to hide her laughter at the mental image THAT gave her.

"Okay guys, weird recolors aside, I think we should focus on the Digimon in front of us," Ren reminded. Just in time too, as they had to dodge a swipe of the claw from NiseDrimogemon.

"He's definitely not friendly," Nora chuckled, before hefting up Magnhild.

"Hey guys, mind if we ask you all to stay out of this one first?" Gyro said.

"What?" the Digimon gasped.

"Well, we just got our weapons back," Pierce chuckled.

"And we wouldn't want to get rusty," Yang finished.

"Well...okay, I guess…" Veemon said, looking a bit unsure.

"But we're gonna jump in the moment things look dangerous," Wormmon said.

"Fair enough," the Hunters nodded, before they set their sights on Drimogemon, and with the wide cavern, mobility wouldn't be an issue.

 **(Play This Will Be The Day)**

NiseDrimogemon (for ease of writing NDrimogemon) growled as he moved forward, drill nose spinning, aiming at Blake who simply stood there, before at the last minute, she seemingly jumped out of herself, causing NDrimogemon to plow into a wall, while she took the chance to slash him in the back. He roared in pain as he got out, and turned to face them...only to get peppered by bullets as Ren ran past and around him. He tried to fight back, but Ren was far too fast for him. Even then it turned out it was just a distraction as Yang came from his blindspot, and uppercutted him in the chin, followed by a blast from her gauntlets knocking him back further….right into Nora's waiting hammer, sending him flying forward...and crashing into the convenience store.

"Careful guys, we don't want him accidentally destroying the tags!" Ruby warned as she took aim and fired her sniper rifle at NDrimogemon, catching his attention and leading him out of the store.

"This is starting to feel like a slaughter," Gyro chuckled as he zipped around NDrimogemon with his semblance, while doing a few strikes with his sword when he found an opening.

"Not that we're complaining!" Pierce grinned as he launched the bottom of his weapon like a grappling hook as it grasped onto NDrimogemon, before electrocuting him, effectively being like a taser.

"Let's not prolong this more than necessary," Pyrrha chided as she and Jaune ran forward, both of them ramming into NDrimogemon causing him to teeter back, and they kept pushing, making him lose more balance...and revealing a Black Gear in his chest.

"Of course…" everyone sighed, before Weiss created a black Glyph, which promptly launched NDrimogemon back, causing him to tumble and roll onto his back.

"Well, that's that. Ruby, care to do the honors?" Gyro offered.

"Sure!" Ruby grinned, before turning Crescent Rose into its scythe mode, and cutting the Black Gear, causing it to dislodge from the damage and shatter.

 **(End Song)**

NDrimogemon quickly shook his head clear as he rolled back onto his stomach, noticing exactly how many people were looking at him, and eeped as he tunneled back underground.

"Ok… I think that was the last one this time." Gyro said with a relieved sigh as they all put away their weapons.

"At least he didn't break the store too much." Weiss said, indicating the entrance which was the only broken part.

"That was pretty awesome though!" Agumon said, walking up to Gyro.

"Totally! I didn't think humans could be so strong!" Salamon added in agreement.

"Yeah! That's cause we're Hunters!" Nora said with a cheer.

"In training." Ren tacked on to her sentence with an amused smile.

"Now we just need to get the doors open." Jaune said.

"Give me a moment." Pyrrha said, stepping up and using her semblance to remove the now broken glass doors which only had a metal frame left.

When they stepped inside, they were well surprised to see just how stocked the place was.

"Grab everything!" Ruby said as everyone did just that, grabbing everything they could and stuffing it into the hammerspace pouches.

One of the finds was a bit funny to Gyro, but also made him realise something "Hey, girls! I found pads if any of you are starting soon!" Gyro said as he shook a pack of, well, period pads.

"Gimme! I need one!" Yang said as she walked up him and grabbed an offered one before going into the bathroom. The other girls looked at each other, before taking some themselves, though they thankfully didn't need them quite just yet.

The group continued searching till… "Hm?" Patamon mused as he saw something, before squeezing under a fallen shelf.

"Did you find something, Patamon?" Blake asked. She got her answer when out came a small chest/box, followed by Patamon.

"Think this might be it?" he asked.

"Well, only one way to find out," Nora grinned as she came and picked up the box, and promptly opened it.

"Nora…" Salamon groaned at her partner's antics.

"Here they are!" Nora grinned, turning the box around and showing it to everyone. True enough, inside were 10 tags, exactly like how Gennai had showed them.

"Perfect," Jaune nodded, before they all each took one (including Yang who'd gotten back from the bathroom by now)

"All we need are the Crests and we're good to go," Yang said as she put her Tag around her neck, something they all soon followed suit.

"Alright, everyone go to the bathroom before we leave, we still have some shelves to clear out right now… and thankfully for you girls, still plenty of pads." Gyro said, adding the last part with a laugh while Yang gave him a light shove.

While they were finishing up with clearing the store out, Pierce turned as he felt someone tapping his shoulder, before Gyro handed him a box "Be responsible." was all he said with a grin, prompting Pierce to look down… and see a box of condoms, making him blush as he looked back at Gyro dryly.

"Real funny bro." he muttered, yet still put the box away in his pouch.

He wasn't planning on doing anything, but having them on hand could be… needed, one day.

It wasn't long before they were back over the water, standing on Whamon's head while their ship was safely in his mouth. Their journey was far from over, but now they knew they had the first half of the means to get a fighting chance.

* * *

 **And voila!**

 **Yeah, lots of stuff in here.**

 **File City is a thing, though obviously, it's been moved away from Mount Infinity like it was in game.**

 **They meet their first Ultimate Level in Jijimon.**

 **Gennai isn't an old man here, which I'm sure everyone's gonna come at me, saying I'm wrong, well, I'm not wrong, and the story is going to explain WHY he's in his young appearance, well, eventually.**

 **Also, yeah, the stowaways.**

 **Before anyone asks, no, they aren't partnered to anyone in the story, they are all solo Digimon.**

 **Anyway, for now...**

 **The Adventure Evolves.**


	21. 20: Etemon, Setting the Stage of Evil!

**And we're back!**

 **Sorry about the wait for this chapter everyone, Timeless was unavailable for a few days, something which he has told me will be the case again next week.**

 **But anyway, we're now entering the Server Continent!**

* * *

 **Etemon, Setting the Stage of Evil!  
**

* * *

The morning sun greeted the group as they all awoke from their slumber. "Morning already, huh?" Gyro yawned, before rubbing his back a little. As much as they appreciated Whamon's help...his back was not a very comfortable bed...not that he or any of them were gonna actually SAY that.

"Why didn't we sleep on the boat again?" Pierce asked as he stretched his body outwards and sighed in relief when his back cracked slightly.

"Because we knew we'd be arriving this morning and we're sending the boat back with Whamon." Weiss said as she tried, and failed, to stop a yawn.

"Oh yeah…" Pierce sighed. "Well, at least we left those three trouble makers on the boat. No way they're getting out of there now."

Everyone stopped and gave him a look at his words "Pierce…" was the only thing Veemon sighed out.

"Yeah, I realised it the moment I said it." Pierce said with a groan.

"Let's...just get on land when we get there…" Jaune sighed. He sincerely hoped, even if it was likely in vain, that for once Murphy didn't screw them over. He had a feeling they wouldn't survive having to take care of those three on top of trying to NOT get killed by the next evil Digimon that would no doubt try to kill them.

"We shall be arriving soon," Whamon said, as they could now see the fast approaching land...and it was a LOT of land.

"That's a really big island." Patamon said in awe.

"It's not exactly the same thing." Blake said in a bit of amusement.

"We're probably going to encounter one of those evil Digimon Jijimon warned us about soon." Agumon said with a frown.

"Hopefully we managed to find at least one of the crests before fighting them." Gabumon said in worry.

"Well, if we don't, no need to worry," Gyro said. "There's always the ultimate secret technique," he said, gaining interested looks from everyone...except Pierce, who already knew where this was going.

"What is it?" Salamon asked, Nora also leaning closer.

"Why it should be obvious. When faced with an opponent that could slaughter us easily, and the fate of the world isn't IMMEDIATELY at stake, there's only one thing left to do. Tighten our butts...and run for our lives!" Gyro laughed at the end.

He was not surprised when he witnessed several facefaults at his words.

"THAT'S your brilliant plan?!" Yang all but roared as she was less than pleased at him riling them up only to give them that kind of plan.

"Oh? You have something better then? By all means, share YOUR brilliant plan with the rest of us." Gyro told her dryly, and was met with silence. "Thought so."

"Yeah… I'm with Gyro on this one," Ren admitted, seeing the wisdom in the plan.

"Same here," Wormmon nodded, followed by a few murmurs of agreement from the other Digimon as well.

"Can we take potshots at them at least?" Ruby asked as she held up Crescent Rose.

"By all means, it'll piss them off and be hilarious for us." Gyro said with a grin as Ruby pumped her fist with a small 'Yes!'

Any further conversations were halted when they realized that they had arrived. "This is as far as I can go," Whamon said. "I wish you all the best of luck."

"Thank you very much, Whamon," Pyrrha smiled as one by one they soon got off from his back.

"Thanks again for taking the ship back. It'd probably be better back on File than with us," Blake said.

"And it's a good thing we didn't wake up those troublemakers." Gomamon said with a snicker.

"Their probably still asleep and don't know that they're going back." Palmon said with a laugh.

"Well, we'd better not take too long then," Biyomon nodded.

"I wish you all the best of luck. If you follow this path, you should reach a village of Koromon. They should be able to help you get started on your way," Whamon said, before he soon turned around and was on his way back to File.

"Take care Whamon!" everyone was waving until he was gone from sight.

"Alright, we have a long road up ahead, so let's cover it as best we can." Gyro said with a grin.

"Welp, you're the boss." Nora said with a grin of her own as they all started moving, and reminding everyone of the conversation they had the last day, where Gyro had brought up the issue of who should be the leader.

He had been quickly silenced before he could suggest Jaune and Ruby as everyone said it should be him, even his brother.

At the very least, he was able to make it so that should he not be available, they would look to Ruby and Jaune for guidance.

The trip down the path was rather uneventful, something the group was glad to have...albeit the fact that it was taking a while to even find the village with nothing but rocks around them.

"Okay...I know Whamon said this was supposed to be the path to the Koromon village, but...where is it?" Blake frowned.

"We...really should remember to ask for an estimate of how long a path will take next time," Tentomon sighed as they continued down the path.

Along the way, Agumon took a tentative sniff, and turned to the others. "I smell Koromon. That way," he said, pointing to what appeared to be trees in the distance.

"A forest? Well, that's definitely more reassuring than barren rocks," Pyrrha nodded.

"Let's go then," Palmon smiled, to which they did.

It wasn't too long after that before the village was in sight. However…

"...okay...this isn't what he said would be here…" Weiss frowned, as what met them wasn't a village of Koromon, but a village of Pagumon.

"Not these jerks again," Yang growled, remembering her last encounter with this type of Digimon.

"Easy there, Yang. Not every Digimon of the same species is like all the others," Pierce said, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Still though...didn't Whamon say this was supposed to be a Koromon village?" Gyro mused.

"And I DO smell Koromon...but I don't see them…" Agumon frowned.

"You sure?" Patamon asked.

"Positive." Agumon said with a firm nod.

"In that case, let's keep our guard up, Agumon's nose hasn't been wrong so far." Gyro said as they fully stepped into the village, having remained outside to have their conversation.

"Welcome~ Welcome~! To our Pagumon village!" The Pagumon practically sang the moment they saw the newcomers, giving them basically the red carpet treatment.

"Okay...they're...friendly…" Jaune said awkwardly.

"Too friendly, right?" Nora chuckled under her breath, but just enough for the others to hear.

"Yeah, that's about right," Jaune nodded.

"Keep our guards up then?" Salamon chuckled.

"Yep," the other Digimon nodded.

"Hey, do you guys know where the Koromon village is? We could have sworn it was over here." Pierce said, playing the part of a clueless person, the others quickly catching on… but the Pagumon didn't.

"Ah, they, uh, moved out!" one of them said nervously.

"Y-yeah! A few years ago, so, we decided to take the houses they left behind." another one agreed, sweating a bit.

"Is that so?" Ruby pressed, making them sweat a bit, before… "Boy, you all are lucky," she said cheerfully, making them breath a sigh of relief at having successfully fooled these suckers. Little did they know that when the group was out of sight, Gyro and Ruby did a fist bump.

* * *

"...this stuff isn't another illusion, right?" Veemon said cautiously as he eyed the fruit laid out for them. It seems the Pagumon were laying it on extra thick by treating them to a feast...while singing about how their village was a village of happiness.

"One way to find out I guess," Wormmon said, before taking a bite. "...seems real enough to me."

"Isn't that what we all thought about the food Devimon left out though?" Gabumon said as he eyed an apple suspiciously.

"Yeah, but I'm putting some of it in my pouch, and it's all still there, so I think we're good this time." Pierce said as the Pagumon had 'graciously' allowed them to restock on supplies.

"Glad to hear that," Patamon smiled as he ate a bowl of grapes.

"Still, I gotta admit, I always thought Pagumon were rascals. Guess I was wrong," Gomamon said, winking a bit at Gabumon.

"Guess that just shows you shouldn't believe everything you hear." Biyomon added, faking a cough to hide a laugh.

"Yeah, that's right," the Pagumon nodded as they gave them more food.

"Guess Pagumon are actually really nice Digimon," Veemon chuckled.

"And they make good food too," Wormmon added, figuring a bit of truth would make the act all the more believable.

"Thanks for the compliment," more Pagumon smiled.

Once the meal was done and the sun had set, the group were asleep...or so it seems. Once the Pagumon were sure they were asleep, they left the hall quietly. What they didn't notice was Salamon opening one eye, then in a move that could easily have been sleep movement, nudged Patamon, who in turn nudged Tentomon, and so on. Once the group was sure their 'gracious hosts' were gone, they all had to fight to suppress some snickers at how well that went. It was time to get to the bottom of things.

* * *

"So, what should we do about them?" one of the Pagumon asked as they bounced out of the village.

"I say we lock them in the cages," another suggested.

"No, we should rob them blind," another smirked.

"Rob them blind AND stick them in cages," another laughed.

"Hey, what are you lot blabbering about?!" came a new voice.

"Ah! Gazimon!" the Pagumon all said in surprise, turning to see three Gazimon looking at them.

"Seriously though, what are you talking about?" one of the three Gazimon asked with a raised eyebrow.

"The Chosen Children are here!" one of the Pagumon said with a grin.

"Seriously? Wow, guess they got here a little early." the first Gazimon said, blinking.

"Did they actually fall for your act?" the last Gazimon asked with a snicker.

"Hook, line and sinker." the leader Pagumon said with a laugh.

"What a bunch of idiots." the second Gazimon laughed.

"Well then, keep them in the village. In the meantime, I'll inform Lord Etemon of their arrival," the first Gazimon said, before running off into the distance.

"Roger~!" the Pagumon all said, before getting devilish smirks. Unfortunately for them...they weren't as private as they'd have liked.

"Called it," Gyro said as he and Agumon were watching from a nearby tree.

"And I don't need to think too hard about what happened to the Koromon. I can smell them. They're nearby," Agumon said.

"Yeah, but for now we gotta go back. Can't let these little bastards know we're on to them just yet," Gyro nodded.

"Right," Agumon said, before both of them quickly made their way back to the village, Gyro sending a quick text using his scroll to tell the others to get back to the hall.

* * *

At the same time, the Gazimon that had been running actually kept going on for several hours, the sun eventually rising as he reached his destination, already hearing the music in the distance.

Quickly enough, a trailer came into view, being pulled forward by a Monochromon, and the music was even louder as the side of the trailer slowly opened. From the trailer smoke came out as the sound of guitar solo was heard. "Yeah yeah!" came a voice from within the smoke, revealing what appeared to be a monkey-like Digimon, though it was hard to tell what he was exactly due to the fact his body seemed to be some kind of suit. He had a pair of sunglasses on, and what appeared to be a Monzaemon doll at his hip. "Who's the strongest in the world?" he smirked. "That would be me, the great Etemon!"

 _Digimon Analyzer: Etemon_

 _Etemon. Virus Type. A Perfect Level Puppet Digimon. The self proclaimed King of Digimon, Etemon is a surprisingly powerful opponent, contrary to what his appearance would have you believe. A musician at heart, Etemon is nonetheless a smart enemy and combines his love of music with his love of fighting. His special attacks are Love Serenade, which weakens Digimon of a lower level and can even cancel evolution in some cases, and Dark Spirits, launching an orb of energy that consumes the data of whatever it touches._

"All hail Etemon! The king of Digimon!" the Gazimon called with a grin...and got a knock on the head for his trouble.

"Quiet! You're way too loud for this early in the morning!" Etemon scolded.

"Shouldn't you follow your own advice?" Gazimon muttered as he rubbed his head, thankfully Etemon either didn't hear him, or chose to ignore it.

"Now then, the plan is almost ready, I'm going to catch those Chosen Children when they get here later today, and I don't want your stupidly loud voice alerting them from where they are on the ocean." Etemon said with a grin as he looked at a digital map that was on the wall of his trailer.

"Uh, sir? That's an outdated transmission." Gazimon pointed out.

Etemon's grin fell as he heard that "Say what?"

"The children arrived at the village we stole from those Koromon yesterday." Gazimon added.

"SAY WHAT?!" Etemon shouted this time, before slamming a hand on his computer, the image updating with the latest transmission, showing that the group had indeed landed further down south the previous day "Stupid computer! These things should beep when they update!"

"Uh, sir? They actually do… I think you may have muted it… by accident of course." Gazimon said, adding the last part when Etemon turned to him and he could feel the glare behind those sunglasses.

Etemon growled. "Now my plan is ruined! I'll never forgive them for this!" he said as if this was somehow the Chosen Children's fault, something that made even the Gazimon sweat drop as he watched Etemon fiddle with the controls, causing the harness on the Monochromon to be released, allowing it to run off. But when it did…

"Arise, my Dark Network!" Etemon called out, as a pair of black cables rose out of the ground, forming what appeared to be tracks, the trailer starting to be pulled along, to which the Gazimon scrambled inside before it closed.

"Won't you be gathering your followers, sir?" the Gazimon asked.

"No need. I'll be more than enough to handle the Chosen Children," Etemon said arrogantly as his trailer was pulled to his destination.

However, little did he know that not far away, a pair of figures were watching. The first, dressed in a white robe and hood, similar to Gennai's robe save for the color, that covered their features turned to their companion, who nodded and soon took off after the trailer.

* * *

"Isn't today just a lovely day?" Ruby said.

"It sure is," Palmon nodded as the two were lying down.

"Just the kind of day that makes you wanna lie down and do nothing all day," Yang said as she and Biyomon were also lying down.

"That's right, its a lovely day to lie down!" The Pagumon agreed as they danced around the village.

"...they're seriously buying that?" Weiss sweat dropped from the roof she was sitting on a bit further away.

"Just roll with it," Tentomon said, as all over the village the others were doing their best to keep the Pagumon distracted so they didn't notice Gyro and Agumon not being in the village.

At the same time, Gyro and Agumon were discreetly walking through the woods, following the scent of what Agumon was positive were the Koromon that are supposed to live in the village.

Eventually, they reached the waterfall that was near the village, and Agumon took one last sniff of the air "I'm positive now, the Koromon are here."

"Then let's free them." Gyro said as the two walked behind the waterfall, finding a cave that had quite a few locked cages full of Koromon, one of them looking up at the two newcomers.

"Who are you?" he asked a bit fearfully.

"I'm Agumon, and this is Gyro. Don't worry, we're here to free you, after all, I was a Koromon once as well." Agumon said with a smile, trying to reassure them.

"Hm...these are all simple locks. Normally I'd suggest smashing them, but I'd rather not accidentally hurt someone," Gyro mused, examining the locks, before pulling out a lock pick. "Thief games don't fail me now," he said, before getting to work on the locks.

"Hold on, you two ain't allowed to do that!" came a new voice from behind them. Turning they were met with the sight of two Gazimon, their arms folded in front of them, looking rather cocky. "You two and all the Chosen Children are going to be offered up to Lord Etemon."

"I'm guessing Etemon is the evil Digimon that's got control of this area," Gyro sighed.

"Sounds like it," Agumon frowned.

"He's not just any Digimon," the first Gazimon growled.

"He's the king of Digimon!" the other Gazimon smirked. "So you'd better show him the proper respect."

"I got all his respect right here," Gyro deadpanned, before well...flipping them the bird.

"Oh you asked for it now," the two Gazimon growled. "I'm sure Lord Etemon won't mind if we took out one of the Chosen Children first."

"Oooh, two Gazimon are going to attack us. Whatever shall we do?" Agumon said melodramatically, before he and Gyro shared a knowing smirk.

"Oh, we know!" they chuckled, as Gyro grabbed his Digivice, causing it to shine.

"Agumon, Evolution! Greymon!"

Gyro had to fight not to laugh his guts out as he saw the Gazimon's confidence literally evaporate as they looked up and up and up till they saw Greymon's chin, their ears drooped and their pupils becoming pinpricks as they realized they'd just bit off more than they could chew. It didn't help that Greymon had busted part of the cave entrance by just growing to this current size. "So...still wanna 'take us out'?"

"NOPE!" The Gazimon both shouted as they did an about face and tried to run for it.

"Mega Flame!" Greymon called out, and the Gazimon were launched out of the cave and down the river.

Gyro chuckled at the sight, before grabbing his scroll from his pocket and hitting Jaune's number, the call being answered seconds later "You guys can drop the act now, we found the Koromon."

"Uh, yeah, about that, we kind of dropped it already when we found a Botamon in the village, then Pierce grabbed the Pagumon in a net that shot out of Pandora." Jaune answered.

Back in the village itself, the Pagumon were loudly trying to break free of the net, before Pierce slammed the bottom of his weapon into the dirt next to the net. "If you don't shut up soon, I'm gonna use you guys like a pinata, and then Yang's going to use you as a punching bag!"

As if to emphasize the point, Yang grinned as she cracked her knuckles. At this point the Pagumon all wisely shut up.

"I see…" Gyro chuckled. "Well, we'll get the Koromon out. You guys come as soon as you can," he said, before hanging up. "Alright then buddy, let's get the Koromon out."

"Right," Greymon said, as he used his strength to rip the cages open, while Gyro picked the locks on a few. It wasn't long before the Koromon were all free.

"Thank you!" they all cheered, glad to be free.

"No problem," Gyro grinned, before he noticed their friends had arrived...and he couldn't hold the smirk back when he saw the Pagumon all still trapped in a net. Now he wished they'd left more cages intact. Maybe spending some time in them would teach the Pagumon a lesson. Oh well, there were less Pagumon than Koromon anyway so…

A few minutes later had the Pagumon all bouncing in dismay as they were now locked in the remaining cages. "And stay in there until you realize what you did was wrong," Salamon said as the Digimon all blew raspberries at them, even Agumon who'd reverted by now.

"Now then, I'm sure you all want to go back home, but do you need any help?" Ruby asked the Koromon.

"Nah, we're good. Thanks again for saving us," the Koromon smiled. However…

"Ahem. Testing, testing. Hey, is this thing on?!" came a new voice, one that clearly came from a microphone.

"Lord Etemon!" the Pagumon smirked. "Oh you all are gonna get it now! Lord Etemon is the strongest ever!" they laughed...until Nora casually tipped their cages over, causing them to fall in a clang, rattling them up a bit.

"So the boss is coming early, huh?" Pierce frowned. "Now might be a good time to use that secret technique, bro."

"Don't think that's gonna work." Gyro said as the opening in the middle of the waterfall caused by the rocks having risen let everyone see the trailer as it rolled into sight, with who they assumed was Etemon standing on top, a guitar in his hands.

"Oh great. We need to find an escape route now." Jaune said nervously.

"The cave goes on pretty deep." one of the Koromon said, specifically the one that was holding onto the lone Botamon that the group had found in the village.

"We need to distract him then." Pyrrha said simply.

"Maybe make him believe he was able to defeat us so he doesn't come running." Weiss added lowly.

"I dunno what you lot are planning, but its not gonna work! Dark Spirits!" Etemon called out, throwing a sphere of dark energy, forcing them to dodge as a section of the cave wall was destroyed.

"Okay, no choice. Time to evolve, guys," Pierce frowned. At that Veemon and Gabumon stepped up.

"Veemon, Evolution! Veedramon!"

"Gabumon, Evolution! Garurumon!"

The two Adult Digimon were soon out of the cave, and wasted no time in beginning the counter attack.

"V-Breath Arrow!"

"Fox Fire!"

"Hey, no shooting at the star!" Etemon smirked, before with a strong punch, he destroyed both attacks. "Looks like you kids need a lesson in respect!" With that, he jumped off his trailer, and landed a strong kick to Garurumon, sending him reeling back. Veedramon tried to grapple him, but Etemon soon lifted him over his head, and threw him at Garurumon.

"Is that all you got? If so, then you guys don't stand a chance," Etemon laughed.

"Crap...this guy is WAY stronger than Devimon," Jaune gulped.

"Should we all evolve?" Gomamon asked.

"Something tells me that's not gonna work here," Gyro frowned. "We need to find an escape route."

"But where would we get that?" Blake asked. However, before they could start discussing, a grating sound could be heard. "What IS that?!" she shouted.

"Love Serenade!" Etemon grinned as he began to 'sing', causing Veedramon and Garurumon to roar in seemingly pain, before they reverted to their child forms.

"My strength's gone…" Veemon groaned.

"Mine too…" Gabumon groaned.

"That song...its taking away all our strength…" Patamon groaned as he landed on Blake's shoulder.

"Okay...this...is REALLY bad…" Pierce gulped. Their enemies powering themselves up was one thing, but the power to sap the strength from their Digimon...how the hell were they supposed to beat that?

"Man, who thought this would be so easy? Oh wait, I did." Etemon said with a laugh "I knew you kids wouldn't be able to hurt me, Chosen or not." he said as he cracked his neck, and took a step forward, until…

"Koyousetsu!" a feminine voice called out as several glowing leaves show down from the sky and striked where Etemon was about to step, making him stumble backwards.

The monkey man growled as he glared up at the top of the waterfall with a look of pure fury on his face "Dammit, not you again! Quit butting into my business Renamon!"

Though the group couldn't see at first, quickly enough, a yellow figure landed a few feet in front of Etemon, letting them see who this 'Renamon' was.

The figure was revealed to be a bipedal yellow fox with a feminine frame, wearing purple sleeves on her forearms while her blue eyes were narrowed at the simian.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Renamon_

 _Renamon. Data Type. A Child Level Beast Man Digimon. A powerful Digimon, even amongst Child Level, Renamon is easily able to take on Adult Level Digimon with nothing but her fists. Calm, cool and collected, Renamon fights strategically, and is known to be rather blunt with her words. Her special attack is Koyousetsu, firing several sharp leaves at her target._

"Hmph, if you actually bothered to think, you'd already know the answer to that request," Renamon smirked, seemingly not the least bit intimidated by the Perfect level before her.

"Tch!" Etemon growled, before smirking. "Well you talk big, but I know you had to have been nearby. You don't have the strength to evolve anymore than these twerps!"

Renamon however smirked. "Since when have I needed to evolve to fight back?" she chuckled. "After all...I'm not alone."

At that moment, on the top of the rocks, the figure in white reached into their robe...and pulled out a Digivice much like the one Keenan had, but colored silver instead. They then reached into a pouch at their hip...and drew forth a card.

 **(Play Slash! By Oota Michihiko)**

The card spun in the air for a moment, before a hand grasped it. The figure soon brought the card which had a magnetic strip on the side, and scanned through the slot on the side of their Digivice. "Card Slash!" they called out, their voice feminine but strong, revealing them to be a woman. At the same time on her Digivice screen there was the image of the card seemingly splitting and opening revealing a mass of data and parameters inside. "Snimon!" she declared as she finished scanning the card, the image of said Digimon appearing on the screen.

Back at the fight, Renamon's gloves glowed, and from them a pair of curve sickles grew out, leaving the Digimon now armed with a dangerous new weapon.

"Ok, what the hell?!" Gyro said in shock as he looked at the sickles.

"That's not natural at all! Those things belong on a Snimon!" Tentomon said as the sight was even more confusing for the Digimon.

"Did anybody else hear that thing about a card slash?" Nora asked as she had a hand cupped next to her ear.

"Now that you mention it, yeah." Ruby said with a frown.

"The voice almost sounded familiar honestly." Yang added, just as confused as her little sister.

Back at the fight, Etemon was hardly impressed. "Your new toys don't scare me! Dark Spirits!" he called out as he threw the orb at Renamon. However, Renamon was much faster, disappearing in a blur as the orb flew past where she had been. Renamon suddenly appeared in front of Etemon, and with a quick slice, cut some of his suit. "Hey! I just had that dry cleaned!" he growled. "That does it! You're Data Dust when I'm through with you!" he roared as he lunged for the fox, who avoided without much difficulty. Landing a quick kick to his head, Renamon managed to make hims tumble a bit.

"Run! Go through the cave!" Renamon instructed the Chosen Children, before going off to fight Etemon. "I will hold him off!"

"Are you insane?!" Biyomon said in alarm.

"You should listen to them. There's no way a Child Level could ever beat a Perfect like me," Etemon grinned...only to yelp when he suddenly had to dodge a sudden gun shot.

"A Perfect Level is afraid of a gun?" Renamon snarked at him.

Instead of answering normally, Etemon growled as he started to try and attack her again, having to dodge both gunshots and Renamon's sickles.

"Guess we don't have much of a choice." Gyro sighed, before turning around "Come on! Let's head deeper!"

 **(Song end)**

"Dammit! I knew we needed those Crests, but I never thought we'd need them THIS badly!" Pierce growled as they ran. That little run in with Etemon really hammered it in how outclassed they were right now.

"For now let's just get away from him so we can regroup!" Pyrrha said.

"Good idea!" Gabumon nodded tiredly.

Aside from them, the Koromon joined as well. "This way!" one of them said as they took a few turns through the cave. Eventually they reached what appeared to be a dead end, but they also noticed the odd carving on the wall, one that resembled a sun of some kind.

"What's this thing?" Agumon said as he looked at the carving, for some reason it felt… nice, like it was something good.

"We were told that if anything bad ever happened to the village, we should come here, and that it would guide the way." one of the Koromon said.

"Did somebody predict today would happen or something?" Jaune wondered.

"If so, they should have been more precise in their words." Gyro said with a sigh, before him and everyone else blinked as the area around them was starting to glow in an orange color, the brightness concentrating on the carving.

Then, the wall blocking the way started to shrink while glowing even brighter, until it was the size of a thumb.

"Is that…?" Ruby started in surprise as she looked at the small orange object that floated in front of them all.

"A crest." Gyro said in awe, before the crest flew into his tag, locking itself in place "MY crest?" he corrected himself in surprise.

"Well, at least there was a good reason for it to be here." Pierce said, bringing everyone's attention back to the front, as they noticed the crest has been hiding what was essentially a back door out of the cave.

The group stepped out of the cave, revealing a mountain range. "This is the mountain far from our village," one of the Koromon said.

"We'll hide out here for now until things calm down," another said.

"Stay safe all of you," Agumon smiled, while Gyro was looking at the Crest they'd just gotten.

"Guess we finally got a Crest, huh…" Gyro said slowly, before grasping it tightly. "Now we have a fighting chance," he grinned.

* * *

 **And there's the chapter!**

 **Etemon makes his debut, the chosen find their first crest, and a mystery figure and a Renamon save them.**

 **I'm pretty sure a few of you have already figured out who the figure is.**

 **If you have, don't mention it in a review, say it to me in a PM.**

 **Anyway, for now...**

 **The Adventure Evolves.**


	22. 21: Semi-Perfect! Greymon VS Greymon!

**And the next chapter!**

 **Everyone remembers what came next right?**

 **Well... prepare for twisting.**

* * *

 **Semi-Perfect! Greymon VS Greymon!  
**

* * *

"Starting to wonder if we made the right choice…" Jaune groaned.

"Yeah...maybe going into the desert of all places wasn't such a hot idea…" Yang admitted.

"Please don't say 'hot'," Weiss and Palmon both groaned. Right now the group, having escaped Etemon, and intent on putting as much distance as possible, was making their way through a desert that bordered the mountains they'd been in.

"Remind me again why we're going through the desert," Gomamon panted.

"Because we thought this would be a good place to hide from Etemon until we figure out our next plan," Wormmon and Tentomon sighed.

"Technically we already know our next plan. We just need to find somewhere to implement it," Gyro said as he was currently walking in the front of the group.

"Right, figuring out how to get that Crest to work," Ruby nodded, looking at the where she knew Gyro had his Tag, now with a Crest in it, hidden under his clothes.

"Kinda wish we could find another projector or something. Maybe then we can ask Gennai for an instruction manual or something," Pierce couldn't help but chuckle.

"Dunno about a projector, but I think I see something over there," Nora said, Salamon hopping on her head to get a better look.

"Hey! I think its an oasis!" Salamon said, her eyes brightening up.

"I think we just found where we can plan...provided that's not a mirage," Ren said, to which Gyro put on his goggles and activated its binocular function.

"Looks real to me. Let's go guys!"

"Right!"

* * *

"Ah...this shade feels nice…" Palmon sighed contently as the group was now gathered near the water, everyone having gotten a drink and some time to rest.

"So, how should we start to figure out how to make the Crest work?" Agumon asked.

"How about we recap what we know about the process so far," Weiss suggested, earning a few nods from the others.

"First of all it takes a lot of energy, so a Digimon can't do it if they're out of power," Blake started.

"Nothing a bit of lunch can't fix," Pierce said as he and Gyro opened up their pouches to start digging into their supplies.

"Second, it tends to happen more easily when the need is there, namely their corresponding partner is in danger," Pyrrha frowned.

"Out of the question," Gyro said, shooting that idea down.

"No objections here," everyone else nodded.

"So I guess first order of business is lunch then," Patamon said, and on cue, several growls were heard.

Being in an oasis, finding food wasn't too difficult, and with the supplies they had, it wasn't long before everyone was eating their fill. However, Gyro frowned a bit as he looked at his food, wracking his brain to think how best to approach the issue. He'd already eaten some food so he wasn't too hungry anymore, and considering how much energy evolution usually needed… "Here," he suddenly said, pushing the remainder of his food to Agumon.

"Hm? What's wrong, Gyro?" Agumon blinked after he swallowed his food.

"Well, seeing as evolution needs a lot of energy as is, I figured going to a higher level might need more so…" he shrugged at the end.

"I get it, so maybe he'll need extra energy to evolve to the Perfect level," Weiss said in understanding.

"Not sure if it'll work or not, but...its worth a shot," Gyro admitted.

"Okay then, let's try it," Agumon said, accepting the extra food and soon at his fill...though he seemed a little stuffed after that, but not too bad.

"Now...I guess the next bet is to try and have him evolve to Adult," Gyro mused.

"But...wouldn't that just tire him out if it doesn't work?" Jaune questioned.

"I'll be okay," Agumon said. "I've gotten pretty used to evolving, so it shouldn't be a problem if its just evolving."

"Right then, let's try it," Gyro nodded, and one evolution later, and Greymon as standing just outside the oasis. "Now for the hard part…" he sighed, pulling out his Tag and Crest. "What the heck am I supposed to do with these…?"

* * *

"So…" Pierce said through stifled laughter. "Are you quite done playing Chuunibyou, brother?" he laughed.

"Har har, I'd like to see you do better," Gyro said dryly, while not far away Greymon sweat dropped as he sat on the ground. For the last half hour or so, Gyro had been trying all manner of ways to try and get the Crest to activate, from trying to see if it could be attached to the Digivice in anyway, to trying to see if it needed some kind of gesture, to well...admittedly hammy phrases as if the crest had some kind of activation phrase.

"I'm sure I could have done waaay better than 'Its evolving time'," Pierce laughed.

5 seconds later and everyone was watching Pierce being chased by an irate Gyro swinging his swords around angrily.

"Well… at least we know we can probably stay in Adult Level longer now." Greymon said, trying to look for the positives of the situation.

"That's true," Salamon nodded.

"So...are we going to stop Gyro, or wait till they both get tired?" Veemon asked awkwardly. On one hand it WAS his partner being chased. On the other hand...he didn't feel like getting caught in the middle of that...not even if he evolved into Veedramon.

"Stop them, because something weird is going on." Jaune said as he pulled out his tag, which was glowing softly.

Greymon glowed as he reverted to Agumon at that moment "I'll do it." he said simply, before running closer to the two "Hey Gyro! Stop chasing your brother! Jaune's tag is glowing!"

Thankfully that did it as Gyro stopped running, with Pierce sagging in relief as he panted after being chased around so quickly and getting several threats of his goatee getting chopped off, Yang coming up to him and letting him lean on her as he caught his breath. "Geez, remind me never to bring up anything regarding this again. I thought for a second there he was seriously trying to take my head off," Pierce sighed.

"So, glowing tag?" Gyro asked as he got closer.

"Yeah, I'm thinking that maybe my crest is nearby." Jaune said with a shrug.

"Well, that would be the most sensible idea yeah." Gyro said before jumping to the top of one of the palm trees around the oasis and looking through his goggles for anything of importance, stopping when he spotted something "I see a colosseum over North of here." he called back down.

"It sounds like as good a place to search as any." Pyrrha said before they started heading towards it… though as they walked down a dune, Nora tripped on something and rolled the rest of the way down.

"What's a cable doing in the desert?" Wormmon wondered as Salamon ran down the dune and tried to pull Nora out of the sand mound she'd rolled into with only her legs sticking out.

"Well...seems like this cable leads to the Colosseum too, so...I guess we'll find out?" Ruby said with a shrug.

"...probably the best we can do," Ren nodded, moving to help Salamon get Nora out. With that they continued on their way to the colosseum.

* * *

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the desert, Etemon's trailer was moving through the area. Inside, Etemon was seated before a screen showing his next destination...while he had a few bandages wrapped around him. "Damn that Renamon...always getting in my way. I guess I should be glad she's not a Chosen Digimon, or that could have been a problem," he growled. "Oh well, I'll deal with her and her group after I'm done dealing with the bigger fish. Just you wait. I'll stuff you all like turkeys!" he laughed as his trailer continued to its destination.

And then he blinked when his screen started beeping, looking back at it "What's this now?"

Outside, a Gazimon was following next to the trailer on, strangely, a moped, with big enough tires that it could gain traction in the sand.

And then he almost crashed into the sand when Etemon suddenly shouted out from inside the trailer "STOP!"

"What's wrong, Lord Etemon?" the Gazimon asked as the trailer stopped and open, revealing Etemon fiddling with his controls.

"Seems something just got caught in my Dark Network. Let's see...area L-7...ah! That's where the Colosseum is!"

"The Colosseum? That's really far away," one of the Gazimon said.

"True, but that doesn't mean I can't still prepare something special for the Chosen Children," Etemon chuckled as he started to make a call to his followers in that area.

* * *

"Wow...it feels like we're in Rome," Pierce whistled.

"Rome?" Tentomon asked.

"A city back in our world. The colosseum is a lot like the one there too," Gyro quickly explained.

"What is a colosseum anyway?" Agumon asked curiously.

"Nicely? Its an ancient stadium. Not so nice...it was a place where warriors were often made to fight to the death." Pierce said simply.

"Remnant has its own stadium as well actually." Weiss said idly.

"You mean the one for the Vytal Festival, right?" Blake asked to clarify "I've never seen it before personally."

"Yes, that seems about right," Pyrrha nodded.

"Though...since when did a colosseum have a soccer field in it?" Jaune couldn't help but ask, pointing at the two nets, painted field, and of course, the ball in the center. There was even a large television screen up at the back of the stands.

"Honestly...its kinda refreshing to see such a tame oddity," Yang couldn't help but say.

"Good point," Jaune chuckled, before noticing the glow of his Tag becoming stronger. "Looks like my Crest is somewhere in the field," he reported.

"Well, I don't see anything that could be an obvious crest… maybe it's hidden?" Gabumon suggested.

"Then let's search the field. We're bound to find it eventually," Gomamon suggested.

"Sounds like a plan," Veemon nodded. With that, they began searching the field, using Jaune's Tag like a dowsing rod of sorts in a massive game of 'hot and cold'. Eventually…

"Hot!" Nora grinned as Jaune's tag glowed brightly at one of the goal posts.

"Okay...the tag's glowing brightly, but where is the Crest?" Wormmon asked.

"My guess...we'd better start digging," Pierce said, pinching the bridge of his nose, before Pandora shifted...into a shovel.

"Ok, how many forms can this thing take?" Biyomon said in confusion.

"A lot." was all Gyro said as they started moving the stone tiles on the floor away.

"Huh, there's a black cable here too." Ruby noticed after they had removed a few of the tiles.

"Once is weird, but twice is starting to get suspicious." Palmon said.

"That's not how the saying goes, but you're right about that." Yang said with a frown as she looked at it.

"Oh, hey, I think that's the crest right here." Gomamon said as he dusted some dirt away with one of his flippers, looking at a marking that looked like a cross with triangles in it's corners.

As if in response to his words, the stone slab it was engraved on started glowing, before slowly shrinking down, the others stepped off of it, before it was now a small grey crest that flew into Jaune's tag.

"That makes two now, we just have to figure out how they work." Gyro said with a sigh of relief.

"So...since we just found the Crest...anyone up for a game of soccer before we move on?" Ruby suggested.

Before anybody could even agree to the idea, they all stopped as they heard the huge TV come to life, as it produced a clapping noise.

"Well now, I'm impressed you kids managed to make it all the way out here." Etemon said as he appeared on the television.

"How did you even find us?!" Pierce shouted incredulously.

"I have my ways." Etemon said with a grin that simply served to annoy them.

"Man, the boss's Dark Network is pretty awesome huh? All those cables spread all over the place." everyone could hear a voice say in the background of the television.

While Etemon's jaw dropped in disbelief at what just happened, it was time for the hunters and Digimon to grin at the accidental information. The grins turned into chuckles when they heard the sound of fists impacting skulls, no doubt Etemon giving whoever had given them that tidbit a good whack on the head. "W-well, that doesn't matter!" Etemon suddenly said. "Because this place will be where you all die!"

"Yeaaah, I don't think so," Ruby said, as they started to get away. "No way we're gonna sit here and wait till you come!"

"Who said I would do the dirty deed myself? I have a surprise for you all actually, a special guest who'll do the honors for me." Etemon said with a sinister grin.

"Oh yeah? I doubt it's anyone too smart if their working for you." Gyro couldn't help but take a chance to tick the monkey off.

Etemon scoffed, before his grin returned "While their not the brightest, they can get the job done. Ladies and Gentlemen! I give to you, the one, the many…!" Etemon started as everyone could hear the rapid approach of heavy footsteps, before a shadow was visible coming down one of the colosseum entrances. A very familiar shadow at that "GREYMON!"

"Okay...that's...different…" Gyro admitted. Of all the mon he had expected Etemon to sic on them...he wasn't really expecting another of his partner's kind.

"He's got one of those cables around his neck, and his helmet is pretty scarred." Agumon noted as this Greymon's helmet was indeed covered in many battle scars.

"Well, if he's sending Greymon after us…" Gyro started, before grinning slightly "Time for a mirror match, Agumon!"

"Right!" Agumon said as he ran forwards while Gyro's Digivice glowed.

 **(Play Brave Heart)**

"Agumon, Evolution! Greymon!"

"Now let's begin!" Etemon grinned. "Its show time!"

The fight was soon on as the two Greymon clashed, their horns meeting each other. After a few moments, Gyro's Greymon reared his head back and landed a strong head butt against Etemon's Greymon, causing it to reel a little, before countering with a strong tail strike, causing Gyro's Greymon to stagger a little, but he soon pressed the offensive, running forward and ramming into Etemon's Greymon, knocking him back, before Etemon's Greymon countered with a grapple, the two soon locked in a stalemate.

"Kick his ass buddy!" Gyro shouted as he pumped his fists in the air.

"Yeah! Go Greymon! I mean, go, our Greymon!" Veemon added, before correcting himself.

"Grab him by the tail!" Pierce added his advice into the mix.

Gyro's Greymon heard him, and did just that, managing to grab hold of his opponent's tail right as it was being swung towards him, and actually threw Etemon's Greymon aside.

"Heh, you're not bad," Etemon admitted. "But that was just the warm up! Arise, my Dark Network!" he called out, as cables appeared from the ground, and attached to the collar around his Greymon's neck. Immediately Etemon's Greymon roared and charged forward, Gyro's Greymon managing to stop him...before he was soon pushed back, followed by a strong horn strike, sending him flying back. Before he could get up, Etemon's Greymon grabbed him by the tail and started spinning him around, before throwing him aside, causing him to slam into the nearby spectator seats. Gyro's Greymon tried to get to his feet, but he was soon being stomped on by Etemon's Greymon who was roaring as if in a frenzy.

"Hey! That's cheating!" Nora shouted as she pointed at the screen.

"No rules kid! Nothing says I can't power up my weapons in a fight." Etemon sneered.

"Well, he's right about that. But that means we don't have to play by the rules either." Weiss said as she grabbed her Digivice.

"I'm already on it." Tentomon said as he flew towards the fight while Weiss's Digivice glowed.

"Tentomon, Evolution! Kabuterimon!"

"I'll go too!" Patamon said as he followed after Kabuterimon while Blake's Digivice started glowing.

"Patamon, Evolution! Angemon!"

The two Adults slammed into Etemon's Greymon, knocking him off his feet.

"Are you alright, Greymon?" Angemon asked, as Kabuterimon helped him on his feet.

"Better than how he's gonna be real soon," Greymon growled, fire bubbling up in his throat. "Mega Flame!" the attack hit Etemon's Greymon, knocking him back...but he was soon up and kicking real soon.

"He's pretty tough," Kabuterimon observed. "But we're tougher! Mega Blaster!"

Etemon's Greymon took the attack head on, getting pushed back a little, but soon began pushing back, and actually knocked the attack aside, though he seemed a little winded.

"Holy Rod!" Angemon called out, before striking the side of his head with his staff, knocking him aside, but he was soon back on his feet, and fired a strong Mega Flame at them, causing them to scatter.

"What kind of steroids is Etemon using on this Greymon?!" Jaune couldn't help but ask incredulously. "Its 3 on 1 and he's still fighting back!"

"Then let's put the odds in our favor then!" Gomamon said, before turning to the others "Let's go everyone!" he said before running forwards, all the other Digimon following him as the remaining Digivices glowed.

"Gomamon, Evolution! Ikkakumon!"

"Wormmon, Evolution! Stingmon!"

"Gabumon, Evolution! Garurumon!"

"Salamon, Evolution! Gatomon!"

"Veemon, Evolution! Veedramon!"

"Palmon, Evolution! Togemon!"

"Biyomon, Evolution! Birdramon!"

At the sight of the now 10 to 1 fight, even Etemon had a 'I did not think this through' look on his face as his sunglasses slid down a bit. "Uh…" he started, thinking about how to make a counter...without sounding like a complete hypocrite (he had SOME standards)...he ultimately found himself at a loss as his Greymon was now losing very badly due to basically having 10 Adult Digimon ganging up on him.

"I feel like I should be feeling bad about this, but somehow I'm not," Gatomon snickered as she delivered a Neko Kick to her target's head, knocking him aside.

"Probably cause this is oddly cathartic," Ikkakumon laughed before launching a Harpoon Vulcan, sending Etemon's Greymon crashing into the stands.

"Stay down if you know what's good for you!" Garurumon growled.

"Uh...boss?" One of the Gazimon started, all of them staring at the slaughter.

Etemon finally got his wits about him, before turning to them. "Set the Dark Network to full power! We're going to use THAT!" he ordered.

"R-Roger!" The Gazimon nodded, eyes wide, before doing as ordered.

Back in the fight, the cables suddenly started glowing with red electricity.

 **(End song)**

"That doesn't look promising." Pyrrha said as the electricity seemed to pump into the Greymon's body.

"Definitely not. Guess we should get in there just to be safe." Gyro said as he pulled out Ascalon, the others following his example as they grabbed their weapons and went close to their Digimon, some of them mounting on their backs, or in Gyro's case, getting up to the top of Greymon's helmet.

"How you holding up buddy?" he asked as he readied himself to use his semblance, the wind shifting ever so slightly.

"A bit better now that everyone's here. But be careful. There's no telling what Etemon's planning." Greymon said.

"Right," everyone nodded. However, they soon got their answer, as Etemon's Greymon roared, before his body started to glow.

"Is he...evolving?" Ren frowned.

"Seems like it," Blake grit her teeth.

Etemon's Greymon started to grow, its form shifting, and when it was over…

"W-what the hell?!" Yang cringed at the sight.

"What IS that thing?!" Ruby shouted, somewhat fearfully.

"That's… that's just wrong." Weiss said, her face one of disgust.

"THIS is what Greymon evolves into?!" Jaune shouted as he fell down on his butt.

"Surprised?" Etemon laughed.

"What the HELL is that thing?!" Gyro shouted, anger in his tone, because whatever it was, it just felt WRONG.

"I give to you… SKULLGREYMON!" Etemon shouted in glee as standing several feet over everyone was a gigantic, skeletal dragon, that honestly looked nothing like a Greymon, a large, organic looking missile attached to it's back while some sort of core pulsed in it's chest.

 _Digimon Analyzer: SkullGreymon_

 _SkullGreymon. Virus Type. A Perfect Level Undead Skeleton Digimon. A Digimon who focused only on fighting, even in death, it wanted to continue to battle, and as it's skin rotted away, it's skeleton continued to do battle. It doesn't have a shred of intelligence left, and as such, is a threat to the whole Digital World. It's special attacks are Ground Zero, firing the organic missile on it's back for massive damage, and Curse Breath, breathing out a deadly, poisonous fog._

"Now then, as a parting gift, I'll tell you this much," Etemon laughed. "I have absolutely NO control over SkullGreymon. When he's out on the field, he'll fight and destroy till there's nothing left in sight! So long, Chosen Children. It's been fun!" he mocked.

The group couldn't retort as SkullGreymon was soon advancing. Realizing the danger, the group quickly moved to get some range. "Is this...really Greymon's evolved form?" Pierce couldn't help but ask. The idea that their friend would evolve into this hideous thing...it wasn't comforting at all.

"I don't know," Veedramon said. "Everything about him feels wrong, but I can't say if that's really supposed to be his evolved form or something else."

"Whatever the case, he's our enemy right now!" Pyrrha said, as true enough, SkullGreymon took a swing at them, forcing them to dodge.

"I don't care if he's a Perfect or what! There's 20 of us and only one of him! We can take him!" Gyro said encouragingly, earning nods of agreement from the others.

"Gyro's right! Let's break his legs!" Nora agreed, shifting Magnhild into its launcher mode, and fired several grenades at SkullGreymon.

"She's got the right idea here!" Veedramon nodded. "V-Breath Arrow!"

"Let's take this creepy thing down!" Yang agreed, firing several shots, while Birdramon flew overhead and launched a Meteor Wing at SkullGreymon.

"You know what," Pierce smirked. "FIRE IN THE HOLE!"

At that, everyone who had a long range move fired everything at SkullGreymon. The attacks all hit, causing SkullGreymon to seemingly rear back, the explosion and smoke covering the scene...before he walked out of it seemingly completely unaffected.

"Okay...shouldn't he at least have felt SOMETHING from all that?" Jaune gulped. He got his answer when Ikkakumon, Garurumon, and Togemon were promptly knocked away by a swipe of SkullGreymon's arm (Ikkakumon and Garurumon having had time to buck their partners off before the swipe hit).

"Its like he didn't feel anything!" Blake said in alarm, something that made Weiss gasp.

"What's wrong?" Ren asked.

"Of course he didn't feel anything! He's a SKELETON! Skeletons don't feel pain!" Weiss explained...right as Birdramon, Kabuterimon, and Stingmon were knocked out of the sky.

"Are you saying the only way we'll have any idea if we're making any progress or not is by taking him out?" Ruby gulped.

"I'm afraid so…" Weiss admitted...right as Gatomon, Veedramon, and Angemon slammed into a nearby wall, leaving Greymon the last one standing.

"Okay...we need a new plan, and fast," Pyrrha couldn't help but gulp from where she was making sure that the Digimon were okay. Fortunately while that attack had been hard, it hadn't caused anything too severe.

Gyro looked around. It didn't seem like this monster was going to let them leave, and with how destructive just swinging its claws were...there was no way they'd get out of this unscathed if they tried running. With that in mind… "If we're gonna go down, it's gonna be in a blaze of glory! It's got one obvious weakness if you ask me, so let's see how much that core of it hurts! You with me, buddy?"

"Always," Greymon nodded, as Gyro readied his swords again.

"Then let's go!" he said as he used his semblance to create a vortex of wind. "Give it your best shot! I'll do the rest!"

"Okay! Mega Flame!" Greymon fired his attack through the vortex, the wind feeding the flames and creating a massive burst of fire, hitting SkullGreymon dead on, but the monster quickly shrugged the attack off, but in its momentary distraction, Gyro was already upon it, and with a savage shout, he drove one of his swords into its core.

For the first time in the entire fight, SkullGreymon roared in pain. Sadly it wasn't enough, as Gyro felt something hard slam into his chest, sending him flying back, while also pulling his blade free. He would have hit a wall if Greymon hadn't stopped his impromptu flight.

"Well that's a pain, pretty sure he just broke my aura." he muttered with a grunt as he climbed back on top of Greymon's head after being caught in his arms "But even that, we're not stopping here, I'm not giving up until this abomination is put down!"

"I'm with you all the way, Gyro!" Greymon nodded, and at that moment, a soft light shined within Gyro's clothes.

"Huh?" Gyro blinked in surprise, before fishing out his tag to find the Crest faintly glowing.

 **(Play Brave Heart)**

Gyro's Digivice sent out a flash of light, shooting into the back of the tag and out through the front, a projection of the Crest symbol flying out, as energy seemed to gather to it, before it released pulses of energy.

Greymon's body began to glow as he felt the energy flow into him.

"What?" Gyro gasped. "Did I...activate the crest?"

However, what happened wasn't evolution...sorta. Instead of transforming, Greymon was covered in an 'aura' of sorts, which started to change and shift, before it took the form of something larger than Greymon.

Wings formed within the orange colored aura, though there were shaped a bit oddly compared to normal wings, the left arm taking on a more bulky and blocky shape with three long claws at the end, and finally, the only other easily noticeable difference was that the back of the neck seemed to have fuzzy spikes on it.

"What the heck is going on?!" Jaune couldn't help but ask at the odd sight.

"I dunno, but whatever it is, I hope it helps us out," Ruby said, as by now the other mon had reverted to their Child Forms.

SkullGreymon didn't seem the least bit phased by the sight, and promptly swung down his arm, intending to crush Greymon...only for his arm to be stopped when Greymon lifted his arms, the aura mimicking his movements, and blocking the strike, stopping it dead. SkullGreymon tried to put more pressure, but he was soon pushed off, forcing him back a little.

Greymon didn't waste any time, and soon charged forward, the aura following, and when it made contact, SkullGreymon found himself being pushed back.

"N-No way!" Etemon jaw dropped at the sight of his berserker being mon handled so easily. However, he quickly regained his wits, and grit his teeth. "What are you doing, SkullGreymon?! Finish them already!"

Whether SkullGreymon understood the order or not was debatable, but the moment he regained his balance, he bent down, and fired the missile from his back. The missile flew towards Greymon...only for the aura projection to raise its left arm, and knock the missile aside, causing it to land a good distance outside of the colosseum with a massive explosion.

There was silence from everyone as the explosion in the distance illuminated the area brighter than the sun could, before they all turned back to the fight "Ok… I'm really glad that didn't hit us." Weiss said, a bit paler than normal.

"Good thing Greymon was able to do this aura thingy." Nora said in relief.

"Even though we don't know what exactly this is." Salamon added.

Etemon and his followers were too busy trying to pick their jaws off the floor right now to make any comments.

Back to the fight, SkullGreymon didn't seem the least bit deterred, and soon tried to attack again, only for Greymon to rear his left arm back. "Trident Arm!" he called out as the left arm of the aura projection extended, smashing right into SkullGreymon's chest and impaling him, while also pushing him back, till he hit the television screen, smashing the glass and getting embedded in it. Greymon immediately pulled his arm back, and moved for the finisher. "Giga Destroyer!" he called out, as the aura projection did...something...that ended with what appeared to be two missiles being fired from its chest, both flying to the helpless SkullGreymon, and the moment they hit, a massive explosion happened, destroying the screen and SkullGreymon.

With the enemy gone, the aura around Greymon started to fade, before his body glowed, and he reverted...leaving Koromon looking utterly exhausted where Greymon once stood.

 **(End song)**

Just as Gyro touched back down from where he'd been on top of Greymon's head, their attention was drawn upwards was something was floating down and glowing, before Pierce pulled out his tag… which was glowing "Two in one day?" he said slight surprise at what was apparently his own crest stopped in front of him, being gold in color with an M like shape surrounded by arrowheads, before it flew into his tag.

After that, Gyro focused back on his partner, picking him up "You feeling alright Koromon?"

"I'm tired… and kind of hungry." Koromon said as he sagged in Gyro's arms.

Gyro couldn't help but chuckle at that, leave it to his partner to be getting hungry after a fight "Sure thing buddy, I think everyone wants to rest now anyway."

"What was that aura thing though?" Ruby wondered as everyone went up to Gyro.

"I'm not sure, my crest glowed a bit, so I think it was almost like an evolution, but something was off." Gyro said.

"It felt like I had just half the energy from it honestly, something was missing." Koromon added.

"So… I guess you could say that was a Semi-Perfect form then?" Palmon said.

"That sounds about right." Ren agreed with the idea.

"Still though, even though we didn't see the full thing, Greymon's evolution looked pretty different from SkullGreymon." Yang pointed out.

"Well, it's like Koromon said a while back, his evolution line has probably the most variations out there." Biyomon remembered.

"Another type of Perfect Level Greymon then? Now I'm getting curious." Gyro said with a small smile.

"Me too. I hope we manage to get a hold of it soon." Koromon agreed with a grin.

"At least we had a productive day, considering we found two crests and Gyro was able to partially awaken his own." Blake said with a slight smile.

"Yeah, but we'd better get out of here quick. Don't think Etemon would take us destroying one of his followers AND this stadium too kindly," Pierce commented, before idly kicking a rock, not noticing his Crest light up for a moment...before the rock hit a wall that had remained intact, and the wall actually opened to reveal a secret passage.

"Ok, I'm pretty sure your semblance just decided to turn on right now." Yang said with a small laugh as they all entered the secret passage, using their scrolls to light the area (though Gyro was focusing more on feeding Koromon so he'd get his strength back).

They kept on following the passage for a few minutes until they reached what could only be described as a parking lot.

"This is starting to get a bit ridiculous." Pyrrha said with a raised eyebrow.

"We live in this world and even we think this is weird." Gabumon added, the other Digimon nodding in agreement.

"Hey guys?" Jaune said, looking in another direction "I think I just found something helpful."

With that the others turned to what he was looking at, and soon everyone was happy that Pierce found the passage.

"I'm driving." Gyro said with a grin.

* * *

Minutes later, in the dunes outside the colosseum, one of them suddenly exploded in a shower of sand as something drove out. It was big and almost truck-like in shape, with a build that made it clear this thing was made for some serious terrain. It was an 8 wheel RV, with a blocky shape to it. The cockpit was equipped with reinforced glass, and a pair of sturdy side view mirrors, what appeared to be high powered headlights, with a bumper made for ramming through dunes. The rest of the machine was the living space, with a few windows here and there. From the looks of things, it seemed the space was actually able to expand, to make for sleeping arrangements, with some storage compartments dotted around the space, a roof window to allow someone to look out from up top, and a couple of doors on the side that were bolted shut from the inside for security. The living space itself was pretty long, so much so that the front was semi-connected to it, allowing for the front to move a bit more freely to pull the back along, while still allowing the driver and co-pilot to get into the living space without needing to leave the vehicle. Overall, this vehicle could probably carry a sizeable group of passengers comfortably.

"Ok, this is going to be perfect to get around the desert." Gyro said with a grin as he drove around to get a feel for the vehicle.

"This is really fun!" Koromon said from the passenger seat.

"And convenient." Gyro added with a smile "I mean, there looks to be just enough beds for everyone when we extend the thing, plus we have a kitchen and a full working bathroom, it's the literal definition of a mobile home."

"So, where are we heading next then?" Koromon asked after calming down a bit.

"Not sure, but wherever it is, I think we're going to find more of the crests." Gyro said, before they drove off into the desert.

* * *

 **And boom!**

 **None of you saw this coming!**

 **This time around, it was Etemon's Greymon who became SkullGreymon, while the Chosen Greymon experienced what I like to call a semi evolution, where he gains the power of his next form, if only for a few moments.**

 **Also, yeah, two crests in the colosseum as opposed to just the crest of Reliability, they also found the crest of Miracles.**

 **And don't worry, the crest randomly shining at times will get explained eventually.**

 **Also, a huge freaking RV!**

 **Yeah, me and Timeless figured that considering how much larger their group was, they deserved to have it to get around easier.**

 **Anyway, see you all next time, because...**

 **The Adventure Evolves.**


	23. 22: Phantom Flames! Kyubimon!

**Oh man, this chapter.**

 **I wasn't too much into this one, so I'm not ashamed to admit that Timeless did a lot of the work on this one.**

 **It also turned out pretty big compared to the others so far, as you can all see.**

 **Anyway, let's start.**

* * *

 **Phantom Flames! Kyubimon!  
**

* * *

"Man am I glad we found this RV. It makes going through the desert sooo much easier," Yang grinned as she and Biyomon watched the landscape go by. On a whim she'd put her hand out a little...and was met with the arid desert wind, so she pulled it back in and closed up the window quickly, enjoying the cool airconditioning. Though, Gyro purposely didn't set it to full blast, saying that if it was too cold, they'd be hit extra hard by the heat if/when they had to get out of the RV.

"Yeah, the heat's real bad for some of us." Biyomon said with a nod.

"Not me." Agumon said as he walked past them towards the front, having evolved back from Koromon rather quickly after they left the colosseum a day ago.

"You don't count! You're a fire lizard!" Gomamon complained from his spot in a small tub of ice water to keep hydrated.

"You know complaining will just make you warmer right?" Jaune said with a raised eyebrow as he ate a sandwich.

"I have every right to complain." Gomamon muttered as he crossed his flippers.

When he didn't get a reply from Jaune, he looked up, and noticed him staring elsewhere, following his eyesight to see him looking at Pyrrha who had just stepped out of the bathroom with her armor obviously back on, though she hadn't put her circlet back on and her hair was down.

He rose an eyebrow, before looking back at Jaune in confusion "Why are you staring at her?"

"Oh, uh...no reason," Jaune quickly said, realizing he was staring. On the side, Pierce hid a knowing grin at the little moment, one Gyro had as well, though he was more focused on driving.

"Still...its great that we have this vehicle, but without a direction to go, we're not going to make any real progress…" Weiss frowned as she was fiddling with her scroll again.

"Weiss does have a point. Where do we go from here?" Tentomon asked.

"Well...we know we need to find the Crests...and that the Tags light up when we're near them...though that doesn't really help us much for directions," Blake sighed as she sat next to one of the windows, Patamon resting on the cushion next to her.

"We can't forget about Etemon's Dark Network either," Ren added. "We don't know how far it stretches. For all we know, its spanning all of Server."

"Then that means he'd be able to find us no matter where we go," Ruby frowned.

"Then we'd better beat him as soon as we can," Wormmon frowned.

"On the bright side, we've got 3 of the Crests already. Not to mention how strong Greymon's evolution was. If that was it when it was incomplete, I can just imagine how frikking strong he'd be when he's got the complete version," Pierce encouraged.

"That's true," Palmon nodded, before out of curiosity walking to the cockpit. "Hey, what's that?" she asked, pointing at something in the distance.

"Huh?" Agumon blinked, looking where she was pointing and… "Is that a giant cactus?"

"I...think it is…" Gyro blinked, not sure what to say.

"Can we see?" Palmon asked, looking at it with a bit of wonder, to which Gyro couldn't help but chuckle a little, remembering the the small plant DID turn into a big cactus.

"Sure," he nodded, and set a course for the cactus.

"Hey, what's going on up here?" Ruby asked as she poked her head into the cockpit.

"There's a giant cactus over there." Agumon pointed ahead.

Ruby blinked a few times, before squinting as she looked ahead "Huh, well what do you know?" she muttered, before sitting on the empty passenger side seat.

"Any particular reason you came up to the front?" Gyro asked curious.

"Yang and Pierce started acting like a couple again. I don't feel like watching that." she said with a shrug, making Gyro laugh a bit.

"That'll probably be how you act with a guy… or a girl, I'm not judging." Gyro said, before adding on the last bit.

"Guy, I've never been really interested in anyone, but I'm positive I'm straight at least." Ruby answered.

"How do you know for sure?" Gyro asked her with a raised eyebrow, not really looking straight at her as he had to concentrate on the road, so he missed her blush as she glanced at him.

"... Reasons." she eventually said a bit nervously, and Gyro easily guessed she was embarrassed about something, but couldn't tell what.

The drive to the cactus was quick, the RV covering ground no problem...until they noticed something. "Huh...there's no shadow," Agumon blinked.

"Guess we were driving to a mirage…" Gyro blinked.

"Aww…" Palmon deflated as the cactus vanished into thin air, while Ruby patted her on the back. However, as that happened, their Digivices began to react.

"Huh?" Ruby blinked, and checked. "Guys...why is there a white dot on our radar?"

"These things just keep showing more and more don't they?" Gyro said as he looked at his own, seeing that there was a white dot not too far from their current location, turning the RV towards where the dot was as he slowed down a bit since it wasn't too far, till it showed that whatever it was, it was just a few feet in front of them.

Leaning out the windows to get a better view, they didn't see anything of note at first… until they looked at the ground, and saw a projector, just like back on File.

"Oh, that's cool. I'll go tell the others." Ruby said as she walked back into the main portion of the RV while Gyro, Agumon and Palmon got off and went towards the projector, soon being joined by the others.

"Chosen Children...Chosen Children…" came Gennai's voice from the projector as they crowded around it, and before long, the projection appeared.

"Good to see you again Gennai." Gyro said with a small grin and a wave as the man appeared before them in the projection.

"It's good to see you as well. And I'm glad you've made it to Server." Gennai greeted with a nod as he smiled.

"So, how's the reception here? Have enough time to explain everything?" Pierce asked with his hands behind his head.

"It's better." Gennai said, before grimacing "But Etemon's Dark Network causes a lot of connection errors, so it's likely I don't have much time to talk to you."

"It's fine, we'll wait until we meet you in person then." Pyrrha said with a shrug.

"Buuut, if it's something I can explain quickly, I can definitely help. I STILL have more time to talk than on File since the signal is stronger," Gennai quickly added.

"In that case, we've found 3 crests so far, and I think I was able to activate mine halfway, because Greymon was surrounded by an aura of what we think his Perfect Level is." Gyro explained.

"That's good news, and yes," Gennai nodded. "You see, each Crest represents a virtue/concept. To activate your Crests, you need to show what the Crest represents, in the way that best shows its nature," he explained. "The Semi-Evolution you triggered means that while you were on the right track, you were still off on the kind of virtue/concept you needed to show."

"I see," Gyro nodded. "So...what virtue WAS I supposed to show?"

"About that…" Gennai scratched the back of his head. "I'm not sure…"

At that, everyone face faulted. "How can you not be sure?!" Jaune asked incredulously. "Didn't your group make them?!"

"Well, yes, but, that was another division. I was part of the one in charge of overseeing the Digieggs." Gennai explained with an embarrassed shrug.

"Well… I guess that's a good reason." Veemon said with a sigh.

"Okay, next question," Weiss sighed. "Etemon made us fight another Greymon earlier, and in the fight it evolved into a skeletal monster. SkullGreymon, he called it. How in the world is something like THAT possible?" she asked in disgust, remembering the monster.

"Well...Digimon have multiple Evolution paths, which is why they are so varied," Gennai started. "While evolution itself isn't inherently good or evil, what triggers it can have a strong impact as well," he sighed. "What you saw is what we often term 'Dark Evolution'. Unlike the average evolutions, Dark Evolution is often time caused by negative stimuli and/or emotions, which 9 times out of 10, will result in a berserk Digimon that is unable to tell friend from foe…"

"Okay….that's bad…" Nora gulped. "How do we avoid that?"

"Oh don't worry, I'm sure you're all well on your way. You need simply raise your Digimon well," Gennai said with a smile. "Only with a good upbringing can Digimon evolve in the way that best suits them."

"Well… I'd like to think we're doing a good job so far." Yang said with a smile as she patted Biyomon's head.

"They're definitely doing a good job of that." Tentomon agreed.

"Still though," Weiss frowned. "If there's ever any problems, don't be afraid to tell us, okay?" she said to all the Digimon.

"Of course," the Digimon all nodded.

Gennai smiled at the sight...but soon frowned when his projection started to waver. "I'm afraid I'm almost out of time. Good luck, Chosen Children!" he managed to say, before the projector went dead.

"And there he goes," Ren said, scratching the back of his head.

"Well, we got some helpful information out of him at least." Gyro said with a shrug as they all walked back into the RV, with Gyro flipping a switch above himself after getting seated, which turned on a set of two way speakers, letting him talk with the others without having to shout.

"So, basically now all we gotta is keep doing a good job at taking care of the Digimon, and figure out what each virtue was assigned to us." Jaune summed up the important part of the conversation.

"Pretty much, yeah," Blake nodded.

"Speaking of virtues though…" Ren suddenly said, before pulling out his Tag. It was glowing.

"Whelp, you guys see the glowing Tag," Yang chuckled. "Gyro, we're gonna go Crest hunting again."

"Right. Ren, please come to the front. We'll use your tag as a dowsing rod," Gyro nodded.

* * *

"Okay...this is weird…" Ren frowned as his Tag stopped glowing, but soon started glowing again.

"Yeah...I'm starting to think wherever your crest is...its not stationary," Gyro nodded with a frown.

"That's...very possible," Ren admitted.

"So...what? We're looking for a slab of rock on wheels?" Veemon joked.

Gyro was about to respond to that...but suddenly stopped.

"...what? Did I guess right?" Veemon blinked from the back.

"Well...more like a slab of rock...possibly on a cruise liner…" Gyro said.

A very long silence went through the RV at that "... I'm sorry, what?" Weiss eventually said.

"A slab of rock… on a cruise liner… I wish he was joking." Ren answered, seeing the same thing Gyro was, their partners staring with wide eyes.

"We're in the middle of the desert." Blake tried to counter.

"Blake… when has this world ever made sense?" Nora, of all people, said, just as stunned as everyone for once.

As if to further hammer it in, the sound of a horn/vent that would normally be present on large ships was heard, and no longer being able to resist, everyone in the back stuck their heads out of any available window...and beheld the massive cruise liner passing by...through the sand.

"Dear Oum, what's next, an upside down pyramid?" Yang said incredulously.

"Let's not even consider it." Patamon said, shaking his head at the idea.

"Still though...if Ren's Crest IS in there...how are we supposed to get onboard?" Pyrrha asked...and in response, the ship stopped, and a doorway opened with a platform extending, welcoming them into the interior.

"...obvious trap is obvious?" Pierce deadpanned.

"Obvious trap is obvious," everyone, hunters and Digimon, all nodded in agreement.

"Right, so, most of us should try and keep as much attention as possible while Ren looks for his crest… Nora, go with him, your brand of distraction isn't subtle enough for this." Gyro said, adding the last part quickly, earning a disappointed sound from the hammer crazy girl.

"What kind of distractions would we need?" Ruby asked.

"Pierce, Yang! Be sexy!" Gyro said, grinning a bit.

"Can do!" the blonde couple said together as they high fived.

"Maybe Blake and Weiss should head for any room that contain documents or books, not only would that mean they need to keep an eye on them, we can learn some more stuff as well." Jaune suggested.

"Good call. Besides, I'm not saying this to be rude, but I'm pretty sure Blake and I have the best memory retention skills out of all of us." Weiss said.

"Not even gonna disagree on that one Weiss-cream." Yang said, and the grin was audible as a few groans sounded out.

"One of these days Xiao Long." Weiss muttered with a sigh.

"But not today," Gyro sighed. "We'd better do this as fast as we can," he said, before driving up the platform and into the liner.

When they got in, the place seemed almost deserted...save for what appeared to be a few Numemon milling about, wearing sailor uniforms.

Gyro hummed in thought, thinking of a way to grab their attention, before having to stop himself from laughing at a rather funny one "Ok, question, Pyrrha, how good is your acting?"

"I've been in a few commercials before, why?" she asked, wondering where this was going.

"And how many celebrities have you met that were total jerks?" Gyro added, his chuckles starting to spill out.

Pyrrha blinked at the question, before understanding what he was getting at "oooohhh… I think I can do that. Given the proper preparation of course."

"Here, you'll want these." Yang said as she held out her sunglasses to the scarlet haired girl.

"This too." Pierce added as he lent her his jacket.

"Feels like something's still missing." Gabumon said as he looked at his partner.

"Oh! A scarf!" Biyomon said as she realised what was missing.

Pyrrha hummed as she looked around, before looking down and grabbing the cloth tied around her waist and moving it to her neck, placing it like a scarf.

"Yeah but now something's missing from the legs." Jaune said with a contemplative frown.

"Oh! I got this one!" Ruby said as she unhooked her cloak and passed it to Pyrrha, who tied it around her waist, making it look somewhat like a long skirt.

"And voila, one stereotype celebrity, order up!" Gyro laughed.

"Right," Pyrrha nodded. "Now for the character…" she started, coughing a little to clear her throat. "Out of my way, can't you tell I'm in a hurry? Honestly, children these days…" she said, and punctuated it with upturning her nose a little.

"Snobbish… but how do you do with angry? Say your coffee isn't made the right way?" Pierce asked.

"This isn't what I asked for! Do it again right this instant or I'll speak to your manager!" Pyrrha said, adding a scowl into the mix.

"I don't think I like it when you're acting that way…" Gabumon grimaced despite knowing it was all an act.

"That just means it's good," Pierce snickered.

"Besides, it's only going to be for an hour at most, so you won't be seeing her like this for long." Gyro said as he, Ren and their partners stepped into the main part of the RV.

"Personally I do feel a bit uncomfortable doing this role." Pyrrha admitted as she broke character, frowning a bit.

"Well, we know you won't be meaning anything you say, so you don't have to worry about insulting anyone." Jaune said, earning a nod and a small smile from her.

"Alright, we'd better not take any longer than needed. Let's go," Ren said, to which everyone nodded, and making sure all their weapons were at the ready.

"Hey, wait, I think we can make this better." Veemon said as he went into another room in the RV, before coming back and carrying a rolled up red carpet over his head.

"Ok, I think this is going to be a lot of fun." Gomamon snickered.

"Stay out of sight you guys." Gyro said to Ren, Nora and their partners before opening the door and rolling out the carpet at the same time.

The Numemon inside blinked at the sight, before 7 of the remaining 8 humans and their Digimon got out, and stood in two lines on opposite sides of the carpet. "Presenting, her Royalness herself, Queen Pyrrha!" Pierce practically shouted as his face was turned away from the Numemon, because if one looked he was on the verge of cracking up just from saying that as Pyrrha stepped out and looked as important as she could, with Gabumon following behind her stiffly, trying to get into a role, which one though, even he couldn't tell.

"Eh? We were getting someone THAT important?!" The Numemon gasped, and suddenly they were scrambling to try and get together a proper welcome, somehow tripping over themselves despite not actually having legs.

What followed was a fight greater than fighting Etemon. Namely a fight to NOT laugh at how the Numemon had fallen for this hook, line, and sinker. Eventually, the Numemon were now escorting Pyrrha (and Gabumon, who she said was her loyal butler) to what was apparently the 'royal suite'. "Oh, and do attend to the rest of my entourage. I will have need for them later," Pyrrha added before leaving the room.

It wasn't long before the others were being escorted out by the Numemon, leaving the area all clear for Ren and Nora, along with Wormmon and Salamon to get out unnoticed. "Wow...Numemon are DUMB," was the only thing Salamon could say to what they'd just seen...and nobody could deny what she said.

* * *

Slowly, everyone reached their destinations as they made sure that some of the Numemon were kept occupied with them, with Weiss and Blake finding a small library, and Tentomon and Patamon were 'accidentally' making books up high fall down by acting absent-minded.

"Huh, that's interesting," Blake mused as she read some supposed history books. Seemed the Digital World had quite a bit of lore and symbolism, as well as borderline legends, including the legend regarding them.

"Glad you found something useful," Weiss grumbled in distaste.

"Why?" Blake blinked.

"Let's just say Etemon has an ego bigger than Beacon Castle if this 'autobiography' is anything to go by," Weiss said, tossing the offending book aside.

* * *

"Well...this place is...lavish…" Gyro mused, while Agumon and Palmon were salivating at the spread of food before them, he and Ruby having found the dining room.

"Well...this is a fancy cruise ship so...I guess it makes sense," Ruby blinked. "So...should we?"

"Let me check," Gyro said, before turning to the Numemon. "Hey, mind if we help ourselves?"

"Go right ahead!" one of the Numemon quickly said, though the frantic tone implied it was more not wanting to incure the 'Queen's' wrath.

"...well, that's good enough for us," Agumon shrugged before he and Palmon started digging in, much to Gyro and Ruby's amusement.

* * *

The biggest distraction on the ship though would have to be attributed to Pierce and Yang.

The two of them were in swimming outfits, the ship has clothes in all sizes honestly, with Yang wearing a simple yellow string bikini with a thicker strap and Pierce wearing a pair of red swimming trunks, while both had their Digivices (Pierce had his attached to the waist of his trunks, and Yang had hers attached to the front right strap of her bikini) and Tags (and Crest in Pierce's case) with them, just in case, as they relaxed on top of a floating seat in the pool.

"I know we're just being a distraction, but this is actually pretty nice." Yang muttered as she rested her head on Pierce's chest.

"Yeah, and at least we found some sunscreen." Pierce said as he had an arm around her waist.

Not far away, Veemon and Biyomon were floating with a pair of swim rings, the two mon clearly having more fun playing in the water, though they did glance at their partners. "Yang and Pierce have gotten a lot closer since the cave, huh?" Biyomon commented.

"Yeah, though I wonder what the humans mean by they're a 'couple' now," Veemon mused.

"I dunno, but for some reason they kept getting embarrassed whenever I asked," Biyomon shrugged as the watched the two humans cuddle up a bit, before resuming their fun in the water.

"Cannonball!" Gomamon suddenly shouted as he jumped into the water, splashing his fellow mon.

Veemon sputtered a bit as water got in his mouth while Gomamon resurfaced "The heck was that for?"

"I'm being the biggest distraction possible for the Numemon while Jaune is making sure Pyrrha is fine… plus they said it's more believable if she has one of her entourage with her." Gomamon explained, grinning a bit.

At that, Veemon and Biyomon looked to the side, seeing a group of tired Numemon covered in paint for some reason, joining the ones who were quite obviously staring at Yang.

"What did you do?" Biyomon asked slowly.

Gomamon's grin was one of pure mischief "A lot of stuff."

* * *

"Okay...seems we're getting closer," Ren mused as they walked through the ship as quietly as possible, careful to avoid any crew members they happened to see.

"Where are we anyway?" Nora wondered as she looked around.

"Near the engine room." Wormmon answered idly.

"How can you tell?" Salamon asked with a raised eyebrow, in response, Wormmon pointed with one of his claws… and they saw sign with an arrow pointing ahead that read 'Engine Room'. "Oh…"

"Seems my Crest is in the engine room then…" Ren said as true enough, the Tag was glowing brighter the closer they got to the Engine Room.

"Betcha it's powering the whole boat somehow." Nora said with a grin.

"Honestly? I wouldn't be surprised if they managed that." Ren said, shaking his head with a sigh as they continued on, eventually entering the engine room, his tag glowing brighter by the second as they stepped past many moving parts.

"This place is pretty big." Salamon said in awe.

"Looks like we're going to be at it for a while." Wormmon said with a sigh.

* * *

Meanwhile, up on the deck, a pair of eyes watched various security feeds...as well as the couple and Digimon playing around in the pool. "Hm...so the Chosen Children have boarded my ship," the one watching mused. "But then….how is it they've made all the Numemon think they're VIPs?!" he crowed to himself, before groaning. "I guess this is what I get for hiring Numemon for part time help…"

"Still though, I should probably contact Lord Etemon first just to make sure I know what he wants me to do," the figure said, before moving to another room with a monitor, and trying to patch through to Etemon. However… "Strange...I'm not getting any reception," he frowned.

* * *

"Come on you idiots! Work faster! My Dark Network isn't going to fix itself if you all work at a snail's pace!" Etemon shouted at a trio of Gazimon who were working at his console.

"We're trying sir but we can't figure out what's going on." one of the Gazimon said, before receiving a fist to the head.

"I don't care for any excuses, just get it fixed!" Etemon practically roared at them.

"Yes sir!" the trio said together before starting to work faster.

* * *

"There, that should put the Network out of commission in this area for a while," the white robed figure said as she finished bombarding one of the Dark Network terminals with light from her Digivice.

"It is a shame that the network is more resilient than the gears," Renamon frowned. "However, it DOES have its uses…"

"Yes, it does," the figure nodded. "We must hurry, Renamon. The Chosen Children may be in danger, especially if they're on HIS ship."

"Understood," Renamon nodded, before grabbing hold of her and they both vanished.

* * *

"Hmm… oh well, I suppose it doesn't matter, after all, if I at least capture them, he's sure to reward me." the figure cackled… before suddenly squawking like a bird when his attention shifted to another screen "That… that little… he dares make a mess of MY room?!" finally having enough, the figure jumped off his lookout, aiming straight for the pool area.

Down below… "Hey...did anyone hear something sound like a big chicken?" Pierce couldn't help but ask as he and Yang sat up.

"Huh...I thought it was just my imagination," Veemon frowned.

"I think I see where that came from though," Gomamon said, pointing upward.

The figure landed at the edge of the pool, revealing a large white bird that looked a bit like a chicken, with a row of black feathers like a mohawk on the back of his head… though the fact his already sharp looking beak had razor sharp teeth in it was somewhat concerning, even if the large peacock spread of feathers behind him made him look somewhat silly.

"Oookay...who's the big chicken?" Yang blinked.

"Chicken? Chicken?!" the Digimon roared. "I am NOT a chicken!"

In response, the 3 mon in the pool jumped out. "Careful! That's Kokatorimon!" Biyomon warned.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Kokatorimon_

 _Kokatorimon. Data Type. An Adult Level Giant Bird Digimon. An oddity among bird Digimon, Kokatorimon evolved in a way that made him lose the ability to fly, his legs being the most developed part of his body. He prefers to end his battles quickly rather than waste his energy. His special attack is Petrifier, turning Digimon to stone with a laser like gaze._

"Glad someone knows who I am, and as a reward...Petrifier!" Kokatorimon shouted, firing a beam from his eyes, which hit the three mon dead on, and when it was over, the three had been turned into stone statues, frozen in time.

"Ah, now I get what his name is." Pierce said a bit nervously as he and Yang quickly got out of the water.

"And what would it be?" Yang asked him, regretting that they'd left their weapons with Gyro, along with Pierce's pouch.

"A Cockatrice, it's a type of bird that can turn people to stone, usually you need a golden needle or something to change them back." He explained.

Kokatorimon blinked "Wait, how do you know about the golden needle thing?"

Pierce looked at him for a moment "Huh, didn't think that was the same thing here."

"Well, it's ONE way of changing them back." Kokatorimon explained with a shrug, his eyes closed, and when he opened them, Pierce and Yang were gone "... I hate these kids."

* * *

"I hate that we had to leave them behind." Yang said with a grit teeth as she and Pierce ran through the ship.

"We didn't have much of a choice, we didn't have enough time to grab all three of them and run, besides, I hate to say it, but they would have slowed us down." Pierce said with a frown "At least, Kokatorimon won't hurt them, he'll probably hold them as hostages until he's caught all of us."

"Yeah, hate to say it, but you're right. We need to find the others and warn them before-" Yang started, but never got to finish, as the walls in the hallway they were in suddenly came to life, and before the two surprised hunters could do anything, they'd grabbed hold of them and pulled them towards the walls, both of them slamming against the walls, before their limbs were absorbed into the walls, embedding them and leaving them helpless, as both of them were trapped in an X-like spread position, both struggling to escape, but all that did was tire them out more as they strained against the solid metal.

"Oh, good, you didn't get too far." Kokatorimon said with a sigh as he found them a minute later as they still tried to struggle free.

"What the hell is wrong with your ship?" Pierce couldn't help but ask because this was anything but natural.

Kokatorimon chuckled "Let's just say I have a really good right hand mon."

The two continued to struggle, to which Kokatorimon just laughed. "You two can stop trying. This ship may not be Chrome Digizoid, but its still strong enough to hold a pair of humans. All you're doing is tiring yourself out...and giving a show for one of you," he laughed, before grabbing Pierce's crest with a smirk and walking off as the two started being moved away by the wall.

* * *

Meanwhile, Pyrrha sighed as the Numemon had FINALLY left her alone. "Glad they're gone. I was afraid I'd have to keep up the act for longer," she sighed as Gabumon and Jaune sat on nearby chairs.

"Well, they're gone now," Gabumon said, also glad she could drop the act.

"Well, gotta admit, you were really good at acting," Jaune complimented...before he noticed something strange from his Digivice that was on the table.

"Something wrong?" Pyrrha asked.

"Yeah...two of us aren't where they're supposed to be," Jaune said with a frown. "If I'm reading this right, its Yang and Pierce."

"Think something might have happened to them?" Pyrrha asked in worry.

"Almost definitely, but the signal is still here, so I think they should be okay," Jaune frowned, before taking out his Scroll and texting everyone else. 'Something happened to Yang and Pierce. Be on guard.'

At that same time, Gyro received the text, making him frown as he hoped his brother and Yang would be ok "Let's be careful, we don't know what this ship has in store."

"Right, we should probably start by regrouping." Ruby suggested, having seen the text as well.

However, they soon got a reply text from Ren. 'Still searching for Crest'

"Well...that complicates things a little…" Gyro frowned. 'Alright, we'll be careful while maintaining distractions. You two keep searching for the Crest.'

"So, what do we do?" Agumon asked, curious.

Gyro hummed in thought as he started pacing around the room, trying to come up with a decent plan… but sighed as he couldn't think of anything "I guess let's just look around for now."

"We'll probably figure something out along the way." Palmon said.

Gyro sighed again, nodding a bit "Yeah, I guess so."

Using the Digivice as a guide, they made their way through the ship, trying to locate Yang and Pierce...starting from the pool. However, when they got there…

"Oh my god…!" Gyro gasped, while Ruby had to bite back a scream, and Agumon and Palmon were shaking in fear at the sight of the petrified Digimon. "Guys...we got a BIG problem…" Gyro said through his scroll, before taking a photo of the sight.

To say everyone else was horrified would be an understatement. Ren and Nora quickly redoubled their efforts to find the Crest, while the others were all but ready to regroup and prepare for a counter attack...especially Jaune who...well...Gyro was pretty sure he looked the way he did in canon when he was yelling at Cinder in Volume 5...and he couldn't blame him at all.

However, before they could agree on a plan…

"Well well well, looks like you saw something you weren't supposed to," came a new voice, as they all turned to see Kokatorimon...and he had Pierce's Crest in his wing.

"I'm guessing you're the one in charge of this ship," Gyro started cautiously, body tense, same with Ruby, Agumon, and Palmon. The Digimon before them may have looked silly, but they already saw what he might be able to do.

"That'd be me, yeah," Kokatorimon smirked. "I'm feeling in a good mood today, so how about this. Hand over the Crests, and I won't send you to the stone age. Literally," he squawked.

"That's...very generous of you," Ruby said slowly, though her tone made it clear she wasn't buying it anymore than Gyro was.

"Careful, that's Kokatorimon," Palmon said slowly.

"Kokatori? Shit, he's a cockatrice. Careful for the eyes. That's how he petrifies," Gyro said, just low enough for the others to hear.

"Right," everyone nodded, looking ready to bolt.

"So...will it be the easy way? Or the har-" Kokatorimon didn't get to finish, as he was suddenly tackled from the side by a figure letting out an angry war cry...and he was soon squawking in pain as the figure started stabbing him.

"Holy shit…" Gyro breathed in awe as he looked at Jaune going ballistic on Kokatorimon, having the mind to cover Ruby's ears when he started spouting some REALLY hateful things.

"You killed them...you killed them!" Jaune roared. "I'm gonna turn you into a fillet you bastard!" he roared as he started swinging at Kokatorimon like a madman using Crocea Mors's new mode.

"I ain't going down...THAT easily!" Kokatorimon growled despite the pain, and looked straight at Jaune. "Petrifier!"

"Jaune!" the others shouted in alarm...before a blur shot through the deck, and snatched Jaune out of the way, the Petrifier hitting a random pool umbrella, turning it to stone.

"You got guts, kid, but that wasn't a very smart move," came a familiar voice, as Jaune was in Renamon's grasp.

"Let me go! I'm gonna kill him!" Jaune was still on a rage high that he barely registered his near petrification.

"Stop! Your anger, while understandable is misplaced. We need only defeat him to restore those petrified," she said firmly, causing Jaune to stop short.

"T-they're...Gomamon is alive?" Jaune asked, hope returning to his voice.

"Not if I have something to say about it!" Kokatorimon crowed angrily. "Get them!"

At his words, the ship started to shift, and suddenly the metal walls seemed to stretch and grow arms, grasping for them. "Okay...this is pushing it…" Gyro gulped at the sight of the metalic arms growing out of the seemingly suddenly alive ship...though he also noticed only metal was doing this. The wooden boards around the pool were unaffected.

"Should we run?" Agumon gulped.

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea," Gyro nodded. "Ruby, please."

Ruby immediately grabbed the two Digimon, before running away with her Semblance, while Renamon vanished in a blur with Jaune, leaving him to escape via use of his semblance as well.

"Tch! They got away…" Kokatorimon growled, pulling himself to his feet. The injuries hurt, but nothing he wouldn't recover from eventually. "No matter, they've got nowhere to run, not as long as I have these five," he laughed, looking at the three petrified mon and the tag in his wing.

* * *

"Okay...seems like we got away...for now…" Ruby sighed, before looking at Gyro and Jaune. "But what about Yang and Pierce? They must still be somewhere on this ship," she said, while the boys were busy warning everyone else not just about Kokatorimon, but about how the ship was apparently alive. Despite the dangers they'd agreed to regroup, though Ren and Nora were now being a lot more...rushed...in their search, knowing that they couldn't leave the ship without the Crest.

"You won't have to worry about them, my partner is taking care of freeing them as we speak." Renamon said, easing their worries somewhat.

"Ok, that's good, I'm guessing your partner is the one who shot at Etemon the other day?" Jaune said with a relieved sigh.

"That is correct. However, she won't be able to do it unless we keep Kokatorimon busy. While Kokatorimon IS the captain of this ship, he's not the one who really controls things. That would be the REAL owner of this ship," Renamon said. "Where he is though, I do not know. He could be controlling the ship from anywhere…"

"Right, so we gotta fight him...AND keep the owner's attention…" Gyro frowned...before brightening up when he heard some footsteps. "And it looks like we'll be having help," he said, as he turned to see that everyone else had found them...and he also noticed a few knocked out Numemon.

"Sorry about the wait. We tried to hurry, but...there were some distractions…" Blake said.

"Hey, no problem. We'll get you all up to speed first," Ruby said, before recounting what happened so far.

* * *

"Where is it? Where is it?" Nora frowned as she started pulling off some parts of the ship. For some reason, they STILL hadn't found the Crest, even with Ren's Tag which should have pointed them in the right direction.

"I just don't get it," Wormmon frowned.

"I know what you mean, we should have found it by now," Salamon agreed.

Ren didn't say anything as once again the Tag that had been glowing brightly...dimmed. "But we're in here, the Crest is definitely in this room, but…" he frowned...before a thought crossed his mind. "Maybe...maybe someone already has it."

"Huh?" Nora blinked.

"Maybe the reason why we can't find my Crest is because someone already did and is actively moving it around," Ren suggested.

"But if that's the case...what do we do?" Salamon asked.

Ren thought about it...he SERIOUSLY thought about it, but looking at the situation...he had only one option. "Nora...break everything."

The two Digimon paled at the words, especially when Nora grinned.

"Got it!"

* * *

Back with the main group, they were looking for a good place to prepare for a fight...when Pyrrha (now having removed her disguise) opened her scroll...and the ship shook. "Oh dear…" she blinked. "Guys...I think stealth is out of the question now."

"I'm afraid to ask, but why?" Tentomon sighed, to which Pyrrha showed them her scroll.

"...well...look at it this way," Gyro said lamely. "If Kokatorimon wasn't going to be distracted before, he sure will be now…" Right as he said that ANOTHER explosion shook the ship.

"...so...wanna just go 'screw it' and make as much noise as possible?" Ruby suggested.

"...yeah, I think that might be just what we need right now," Patamon nodded.

"Are you going to be okay, though?" Gabumon asked Renamon.

"Oh don't worry, I'll be able to keep up when the time comes," she smirked.

"Okay then, let's bring this ship down," Gyro said, as their Digivices glowed.

* * *

Kokatorimon was NOT having a good day...okay, it STARTED as a good day, but it was now going to hell. "Tch, I knew I should have killed all of you when I had the chance," he growled down at his two hostages, currently tied to what appeared to be a steel drying net.

"Yeah? Well...your mistake…" Pierce managed to say, albeit rather tiredly. The two of them had been stuck like this for a while now, and the heat beating down on them was sapping their strength. If they were stuck here for too long, they'd be in trouble.

Kokatorimon growled...but soon stopped when he heard something explode on the upper deck. "I'll deal with you two later," he growled, before turning around and going to the source of the explosion.

"Well...at least we know the others are giving him hell...too bad they don't know where we are," Pierce sighed.

Yang grit her teeth as she tried to struggle free again, but nothing. "You know, when I said I wanted to work on my tan...this isn't what I had in mind," she laughed weakly, though she was starting to lose focus. She'd been stubbornly trying to break free, but as things were, all she did was tire herself out even more.

"Yang, stay with me! We'll get out of this, okay?" Pierce said in alarm. If she passed out now...

"That, I will make certain of," came a new voice, or rather one they HAD heard once. Looking up, they saw a figure wearing a white robe looking down at them, a sword in hand, though they recognized the designs of a mechashift weapon when they saw one.

"You...you're the one who was helping Renamon the other day…" Pierce managed to say.

"That would be me yes, glad you figured that out quickly." the woman said, a smile barely visible in the shadows of her hood.

"Who… are you though?" Yang said, shaking her head as she tried to stay conscious.

"Can't say, not yet at least." she answered, before starting to use her sword to cut the ropes.

"Any special reason?" Pierce asked as one of his arms was freed, rotating it slowly to limber it up.

"Too many questions would be asked, and you kids are on a tight schedule at the moment. One day you won't be so hard pressed for time though." she said, finishing up on him and moving to free Yang.

It wasn't long before both were freed, and were soon back on deck, though Pierce was supporting Yang as she was still a little out of it. "Here," the robed figure said as she gave them a pair of canteens, to which they drunk greedily. They'd gotten quite parched thanks to their little 'tanning session'. "Now then, your friends are no doubt keeping Kokatorimon busy, but as long as HE is in control of the ship, they'll find the fight to be a little harder than expected. Don't worry though, Renamon should be able to help them, though…" she pulled out her Digivice and a holographic screen appeared, revealing a bunch of metal limbs, as well as Kokatorimon firing his Petrifier almost wildly...though it seemed everyone was doing a good job of evading it, so that was encouraging. But as they watched, the ship shook.

"What was that?" Pierce asked.

"If you mean the screen, that's just a special feature of my Digivice Ark, or D-Ark as we like to call it for short. It lets me see and hear what Renamon sees and hears," the figure said. "If you mean the ship shaking, that would be your hammer happy friend destroying the Engine Room to help your quiet friend search for his Crest," she said as if talking about the weather.

"Digivice Ark? So, is that like an evolution of the ones we have?" Yang asked, looking at her own which was still on her bikini strap.

"It's one of the possible evolutions for it at least, yours is called a Digivice Core, or D-Core for short. They're the most basic form of Digivices one can possess. Mine started out as one too," the figure explained. "But enough about that, I think now is the time to stop playing around, Renamon." At her words, the D-Ark began to glow.

* * *

At the fight, Renamon smirked as she evaded another attack. "Understood."

 **(Play song EVO)**

"Evolution," the voice of the D-Ark declared, before the wireframe egg was formed and out came silver waves of energy. Renamon had a confident smirk as she was cocooned in the energy.

"Renamon, Evolution!" she called out as her skin and fur peeled off, revealing a wireframe of her body, before her form began to shift, going from bipedal to quadrupedal, her tail splitting into multiples, and overall her form became more beastial. Eventually the cocoon couldn't take it anymore, and burst apart, revealing her evolved form. It was clear she had evolved from Renamon, as her fur remained the same color, gaining a yin-yang symbol on her forehead and on each of her shoulders and thighs, a large white and red rope around her neck with what looked like bells at each tip, sporting nine tails behind her, the tip of each lit aflame with a blue spectral fire that covered each of her paws "Kyubimon!"

The battle field was suddenly swathed in spectral flames, the various limbs trying to grab and/or hold them down destroyed in an instant, while Kokatorimon was left frantically backing away when the flames tried to reach at him. All combatants stopped in a mix of surprise and awe as the new Digimon landed in their midst.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Kyubimon_

 _Kyubimon. Data Type. An Adult Level Bewitching Beast Digimon. A powerful Digimon, on par with some more weaker Perfect Levels, Kyubimon is a graceful fighter, never wasting her movements in battle. Her spectral flames feel cold, yet burn far more intensely than anything a Dramon-Family Digimon could ever send out. Her special attack is Koenryu, spinning into a flaming wheel, and creating a dragon of fire to burn her enemies to ashes._

"This farce has gone on quite long enough," Kyubimon said as she stalked towards Kokatorimon, her flames burning away any metal limbs trying to grasp at her.

"S-stay back! I...I still got hostages!" Kokatorimon said.

"You mean THESE 'hostages'?" came an amused smirk, as the hooded figure suddenly teleported in...with Yang and Pierce, along with the stone statues of Biyomon, Veemon, and Gomamon.

"Yang!" Ruby tackle hugged her sister.

"You alright, Pierce?" Gyro asked in worry.

"Yeah, we're fine," Yang couldn't help but chuckle as her sister hugged her.

"Definitely way better than HE'S gonna be real soon," Pierce added, glaring at Kokatorimon.

"Uh...I still got one card to play!" he started...before the floor exploded under them...and out crawled out Ren, Wormmon, and Salamon, looking a bit...charred...and Nora who was laughing as she got out. Then something came down and hit Kokatorimon on the head (making him lose his grip on Pierce's tag, with Ruby quickly speeding over to catch it and give it back to the goatee sporting blonde), revealing a Hagurumon who looked dazed, dizzy, and a little dented.

"The ship won't be fighting us anymore," Ren coughed, before holding up his Tag which now contained a Crest, lavender in color, looking like a budding flower of some sort.

Kokatorimon swallowed nervously as he recovered from the hit to his head, looking around at the 6 Adult Level Digimon surrounding him "Um… Parlay?"

"You lured us here with one of the Crests, you tried to dry me and Yang like fish, you had this creepy ass ship try to catch us, and most of all, you LITERALLY stoned Veemon, Biyomon, and Gomamon...and guess what, the only way to turn them back is to kick your ass. What do you think?" Pierce said, his grin looking ready to split his face at the imminent payback.

"Eeep…" Kokatorimon gulped, as Kyubimon stepped forward, her tails fanning out and igniting with flames.

"Allow us," she said with a smirk.

"Make it painful," Jaune said dangerously.

"Done," Kyubimon said, before jumping up, and spinning till she looked like a furry ball of fire. "Koenryu!" The flames were shot out and formed a massive dragon head of fire, enveloping Kokatorimon, the bird screaming as he was pulled off the ground while on fire, and soon thrown into one of the smoke stacks where one of the furnaces were. What followed was a huge explosion as the smoke stack exploded with spectral flame and soot, as data flakes were thrown out...though some of them actually flew towards the group, and was seemingly absorbed by Kyubimon. Likewise the figure took out her D-Ark, and the holographic screen appeared once more, the data gathering and forming a card, which solidified and landed right in her hand.

"Huh...that's new," Nora blinked, while nearby, Veemon, Biyomon, and Gomamon soon returned to normal...and were promptly tackle hugged by their respective partners.

 **(Song end)**

* * *

"Well that was a really...stressful day…" Pierce sighed as they were once more in the RV (he and Yang having also stopped to get their clothes back), and were now driving away from the ship.

"I can imagine. Kokatorimon isn't the strongest, but on that ship he has a significant advantage. Still, you all did well," the figure nodded as she and Renamon were sitting on the roof of the RV, the roof window open so the Chosen Children could talk to her still.

"Still though...was that Hagurumon REALLY that strong? I mean, Nora took him out easily enough," Biyomon asked.

"Well...Hagurumon can control machines, so yes, he had a significant advantage there...though to be fair, we never tried blowing everything up before," Renamon admitted, earning a laugh from Nora inside.

"Well...let's just be glad the worst is behind us," Gyro sighed. "Speaking of which, why are we going down this way again?"

"You'll see right about….now," the figure said, as on cue, Ruby's Tag started to glow. "You're not the only ones looking for the Crests. Our group has been looking for them too. We happened to find a Crest here, and due to its hiding spot, we decided to leave it be," she explained.

"Why are YOU looking for them though?" Weiss asked, a bit suspicious despite the earlier help.

"For you kids obviously, these things are useless to us, and they were made specifically for you anyway, so we were looking for them so that we could keep them safe until you all came to claim them." the figure said in amusement.

"That's very kind of you." Tentomon said while Weiss blushed in embarrassment.

"Now then, get ready dear, just a little more and we'll…" the figure started but was stopped short when a loud horn blared.

"Uh….guys? Why is the cruise ship chasing us?" Gomamon gulped.

At the sight, Renamon looked at the ship in surprise...before her eyes widened in realization...and her pupils soon shrinking into pinpricks. "We...never DID deal with Hagurumon, did we?" she gulped.

"...oh dear…" the figure gulped as well, before looking into the RV. "FLOOR IT!"

"Flooring it!" Gyro called back as he pushed the gas pedal down completely, Agumon looking out the window at the ship that was rapidly gaining on them.

"Gyro…" he said worriedly.

"I noticed!" Gyro quickly said, before noticing something in the corner of his eyesight "Let's hope this one's real!" he said, turning the RV so it went in the direction of another giant cactus, the ship slowly turning to stay on their tail.

When the RV got close enough, Gyro cheered when he saw the large shadow being cast by the cactus, before veering tightly around it, stopping just behind it.

What followed as the ship crashed into it was, honestly, rather comical, as the ship flipped onto its back while leaning on the cactus, before the large vegetation righted itself, sending the ship flying into the air, as it then stopped short due to the Dark Network cable attached at the end… which was starting to tear and was sparking rather intensely, before finally, both it and the ship went up in a blaze.

"Ok… this would go really well with some popcorn." Gomamon said as he watched the flaming wreck fall back down into the desert sand, everyone having stepped out while Renamon and the figure stood on top of the RV.

"I can't deny that." Blake agreed with the idea.

"Huh, my tag is glowing even more." Ruby noticed, before it floated out of her hands as, surprisingly, a large flower bloomed at the top of the cactus, and out of it came a stone slab with a marking like a teardrop on it, before glowing green as it floated down towards them and shrunk, until it inserted itself into Ruby's tag.

"Well, guess that's your crest then." Yang said, looking back at the figure on the RV, about to ask her something, before noticing she, along with Renamon, were gone "Ah, darn it."

The others followed where she was looking, noticing the same thing "Well, I'm sure we'll meet them again soon enough, she did tell you that she'd explain things one day." Gyro said with a shrug.

"At least she told us a bit more on the Digivices." Ren said as he looked at his own.

"Anyway, five down, five to go, let's keep it up!" Pierce said with a grin as everyone got back in the RV.

As they drove off, none of them noticed something drifting off from the top of the vehicle.

A single white rose petal.

* * *

 **And done!**

 **Yeah, the episode title was hijacked by Kyubimon making her debut.**

 **And if you remember from Tamers, well, Kyubimon didn't absorb all of Kokatorimon's data here, as it said, SOME of the data went into her, what this means will be explained later on, I promise.**

 **Anyway, Crests of Kindness and Purity, obtained, and yeah, we made the ship more dangerous what with having Hagurumon aboard, which is said to be able of controlling machinery, so the metal of the ship? Literally bends to it's will.**

 **Having Pyrrha act like that by the way? I was laughing my ass off while writing it, but anyway...**

 **The Adventure Evolves.**


	24. 23: Perfect Power! MetalGreymon!

**I've been waiting for this!**

 **The chapter title isn't a typo no, this is actually happening.**

 **It's time for a Super Evolution!**

* * *

 **Perfect Power! MetalGreymon!  
**

* * *

The group was in high spirits as they drove through the sandy desert. So far their journey had been off to a pretty smooth start. Already they'd managed to obtain 5 of the 10 Crests they were searching for, with one already partially awakened. On top of that, they'd recently found out that they had allies who were also searching for the Crests in order to keep them safe from evil hands. All in all, things were going well for them. "Ya know, if it weren't for the killer monkey and his army of evil monsters trying to kill us, this would make a pretty sweet road trip," Pierce commented, now behind the wheel for a change.

"Yeah, it'd be nice if we could just enjoy the day without worrying about anything," Veemon nodded in agreement from his spot on the passenger seat.

"Why do we keep taunting Murphy so much?" Weiss said with a sigh.

"From what I understand so far, it seems to be 'human nature' as you call it." Tentomon said, patting her back.

"And Murphy is pretty active today. Brace yourselves!" Pierce suddenly shouted, before he took a strong turn, narrowly avoiding a sinkhole that suddenly appeared in the ground. And by narrowly, it means had he been just a millisecond late, they'd have fallen in. "That was close…" Pierce breathed as he maneuvered the RV in such a way that they now had some room away from the sink hole, still not noticing the faint glow of his crest before it disappeared.

"Yeah...though...why did that thing suddenly appear?" Jaune sighed.

They got their answer when they heard a faint...buzzing.

"...I'm having bad deja vu. Is anyone else having bad deja vu?" Blake sighed.

"Yes," everyone else deadpanned.

"I swear to Oum… if this is who I think it is…" Gyro trailed off while muttering, already having drawn Ascalon as he opened the RV door, and saw a pair of large red pincers going straight for him.

Gyro didn't even blink as he turned one of his swords into its wing mode and used it to swat the pincers away, enhancing it with his semblance, and thus, launching Kuwagamon a few feet away.

"I guess it's time for some sweet catharsis then." Gyro said with a grin as he stepped out, the others following after him, weapons drawn.

"Think you guys can sit this one out?" Yang asked the Digimon as she cracked her knuckles.

"I think we have a few issues we need to work out with this thing." Jaune said as he turned Crocea Mors into its bastard sword mode.

 **(Play This Will Be The Day)**

Kuwagamon didn't seem particularly impressed at being pushed back, and was soon back for more...only to stop dead when he hit a black glyph head first, and was launched back again. As he flew back, a red blur went past him, before revealing Ruby...with Nora, the carrot top already readying her hammer like a baseball bat...and smashed it into Kuwagamon, sending him flying back, right to the glyph again, only this time Pierce had set Pandora's cable around it, and electrified it. Kuwagamon lit up like a christmas tree when he made contact.

"Ooooh….Aaaahhh…" the Digimon all said from where they were watching in the RV.

Eventually Kuwagamon found himself flung away again, landing on the ground in a roll. Groaning, he tried to get up, angrily looking at the hunters, before charging again, intending on cutting someone in half….or he would have if Gyro hadn't suddenly hit him with a massive gust of wind from up top, causing him to dig his pincers into the ground, stopping just shy of Jaune and Yang, who both grinned, before bringing their weapons down on the pincers. Kuwagamon screeched as his pincers were cut/broken off by the bastard sword and the bullet enhanced punch.

"Ouch…THAT's gotta hurt," Gomamon winced slightly, not that they really cared after what that thing tried to do to them last time.

"Okay, I think that's enough playing around," Pyrrha chided.

"Right, let's just finish him off and be on our way," Blake nodded as all the hunters with long range weapons aimed them at Kuwagamon's head.

"Say 'aaaah', dirtbag," Pierce said, before they all opened fire. Kuwagamon was met with a hail of bullets and bombs, and when it was done, his head looked quite blackened, as he fell over.

"And that's that," Yang said, dusting her hands off as they turned back to the RV.

 **(End song)**

As they were about to step back into it, Kuwagamon got back up, roaring in rage… before his body started to glow and change.

"Oh you have GOT to be kidding me." Ren said incredulously.

It quickly stopped changing, as everyone saw that the body structure wasn't all that different, though it now sported a silver carapace with red markings and a tuft of brown hair coming out the back of its head, it's uppermost arms having changed into a pair of pincers each, while the middle arms became an added pair of legs.

"Um… this is probably bad." Nora said a bit nervously.

"Guys? What's this thing called?" Ruby asked the digimon, sweating a bit at the sight of the even more deadly bug.

"It's Okuwamon, he's really dangerous!" Palmon said in warning.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Okuwamon_

 _Okuwamon. Virus Type. A Perfect Level Insectoid Digimon. A deadly evolution of Kuwagamon, it reached this form to be able to combat the Kabuterimon species more efficiently. It's poor defensive abilities have been augmented, while his offensive powers shot up greatly. Its special attacks are Scissor Arms Omega, which uses both of the pincers on its arms to cut the enemy to shreds, and Stabbing Horn, which speaks for itself._

"I don't know how much help it'll be, but, we have to evolve!" Agumon said as he stepped up next to Gyro.

Before they could do that however...

"Bit Bomb!"

And suddenly a small bomb rammed into Okuwamon, blowing him up and sending a shower of sand flying.

When it cleared, the hunters were left staring. "...that just happened, right?" Jaune blinked.

"A tiny bomb hit Okuwamon and destroyed him in one hit? Yes, yes it did," Ren nodded almost dumbly.

"...pray whoever did that is friendly?" Ruby suggested.

"Yeah," the others all nodded.

"Oh, don't worry, I'm plenty friendly." a voice said, making everyone look up to see a VERY small Digimon, that looked like a small pink furry ball with arms and legs, long wings on it's back and a spear in hand.

"Well aren't you the poster boy for 'Don't judge a book by it's cover'?" Gyro couldn't help but say, easily believing the Digimon that was implying it did Okuwamon in.

The Digimon couldn't help but laugh "That's a new one, I have to admit, never been told that before! Anyway, allow me to introduce myself, I am Piximon."

 _Digimon Analyzer: Piximon_

 _Piximon. Data Type. A Perfect Level Fairy Digimon. Fluent in magic, Piximon has abilities that are rare, even among Digimon, able to create miracles according to old tales. This powerful Digimon is said to always be in the right place at just the right time. His special attacks are Bit Bomb, conjuring a small bomb in the shape of a bat that deals a surprising amount of damage, and Fairy Tail, using it's spear to attack the enemy._

"I think I've heard about you before, you apparently train any Digimon you think has potential, whether they want to or not." Gabumon said as he remembered something from back on File.

"That would be me yes. And I have to say, I didn't think you humans would be so interesting, taking on an Adult Level Digimon like that. You Digimon too. Even when he evolved you didn't show any fear or hesitation," Piximon said. "That's why I've decided, I'll be taking you all in as my newest students!"

"I'm guessing we can't refuse?" Gomamon asked dryly.

"Nope!" Piximon said with a wide grin, making them sigh.

"Well… I guess it won't so bad, it'll be nice to get some training in with someone who's had lots of apprentices before." Gyro said, looking for the positive in the situation.

"That's a good way of thinking, but, you two won't be doing the same training as everyone else." Piximon said as he pointed at Gyro and Agumon.

"We won't?" Agumon asked in confusion.

Piximon nodded "I know about the crests, and I also know about what happened at the colosseum, so my special training course will help you truly activate your crest."

"Wait...you know about the Crest virtues?" Patamon asked in surprise.

"Are you part of Renamon's group then?" Biyomon asked as well.

"Close, I'm not fully part of their group, but we help each other out from time to time." Piximon corrected.

"Are you going to make us drag the RV along?" Wormmon asked suddenly, hoping the training wasn't starting already.

Piximon hummed in thought, looking at the vehicle "I would have… but that looks a lot more heavy up close, so no, just get in it and follow me to my home instead, training will begin once we're there."

"Phew," they all breathed a sigh of relief. As such it wasn't long before they were in the RV, and were now following Piximon. Eventually they stopped at...seemingly nowhere.

"Here we are," Piximon said, to which they looked around.

"Uh...I'm assuming there's some secret passage, right?" Agumon blinked.

Instead of answering, Piximon chanted some kind of incantation, and suddenly a part of the scenery peeled away to reveal a lush jungle. "This way."

"Huh, that's pretty cool." Salamon said as the RV rolled into the jungle, the path thankfully being just wide enough for them to pass.

However, they stopped when they heard what sounded like a truck's horn being blared out behind them, making them lean out the windows to look back and see… "Wait, that's Etemon's trailer!" Ruby said in worry.

"Don't worry, he can't see past the barrier, and I made sure none of his cables got in here." Piximon said, drawing a few sighs of relief from them.

"Glad we finally found a place that's safe," Weiss sighed.

"It would be nice to be able to sleep without having to keep an eye out all the time," Gabumon nodded in agreement.

"Well don't relax yet, my home is just a little further ahead," Piximon said as the RV drove further, the windows all lowered so everyone could look around. Eventually they came to a stop near a flight of stairs. A VERY big flight of stairs. "Your training begins now. Your first task is to reach the top of the stairs," Piximon explained.

"Somehow I'm not surprised." Gyro said as everyone got out of the RV and started stretching their legs for the long walk.

"No flying Tentomon." Weiss said suddenly, knowing what her partner was planning and making him slump down at being caught before even trying.

"Are you all ready?" Piximon asked, receiving several nods and sounds of confirmation "Alright then, go!"

Going up the stairs SOUNDED easy, but as many of them soon realized, it was anything but.

"These stairs are starting to feel like they go on forever…" Jaune sighed, once again glad for the extra training he'd gotten since meeting the twins. The old him would have been exhausted by now.

"Please don't say that," Gomamon and Palmon sighed.

"Come on guys, don't give up yet! Its gonna help us become even MORE awesome!" Nora encouraged, while Salamon chuckled as she maintained pace behind her.

"It's not so bad when you take it a step at a time," Wormmon added helpfully as he crawled up the stairs at his own pace.

"I wasn't made for running though." Tentomon groaned out as he tried to keep pace with Weiss.

"Well, you know what they say, 'No pain, no gain', so push through the pain!" Gyro said as he was jogging a bit up ahead with the others of the group who were in better shape (this meant Pierce, Ruby, Pyrrha, Yang, and Ren) with their Digimon not all that far behind them.

"That's a good way of thinking about it." Piximon said with a nod of approval as he was also running up the stairs ahead of them… while going backwards.

"How have you not fallen yet?" Pierce couldn't help but ask.

"Lots of practice." Piximon said with a grin.

"Ok, that actually sounds tempting." Veemon muttered.

"You'll get it eventually if you keep practicing," Piximon chuckled. "Now keep up, its only a bit more further."

"Right!" they all said together as they kept on going up the stairs.

Eventually, as the sun was slowly heading into the horizon, but before the actual sunset, they finally reached the top of the stairs, some of them winded, and others falling to the ground as they panted.

"Not bad. I expected you all to take longer than that, but it seems I was wrong." Piximon said with an approving nod "Just for that, you all get to eat before we move onto the next step of training, come along now." he said as he flew towards his home, the others following him slowly as they recovered. "Oh, and watch your step. The floors are being cleaned, right now," Piximon added, and when they entered…

"Uooooh!" came three war cries as three figures darted across the floor, pushing a cleaning cloth in front of them.

"...did you all just see that?" Agumon deadpanned.

"Yep…"

"Screw you, Murphy…" Pierce groaned as they realized the three that had just gone by were the trouble makers of File City: Dorumon, Ryudamon, and Zubamon.

"Ok… just, how?" Gyro said, turning to Piximon.

"I found them washed up on the shore a few days ago, they said something about escaping from Whamon before passing out, so I took them here and put them to work." Piximon explained with a shrug. "Despite appearances, they actually DO have potential, so I decided to train them."

"Right...how's that working for you?" Veemon asked dryly.

"...it's a work in progress…" Piximon admitted.

"I can see why you wanted us to come here if you're dealing with them." Biyomon said dryly.

"Well, it's not so bad, there are other people here after all." Piximon said with a shrug.

They were immediately drawn to the sound of someone hitting something, and peering into one of the rooms, they found another pair of familiar faces currently practicing on training dummies.

"So you have reached this place as well," Keenan said, pausing from his training, his cape/cloak hanging on a nearby chair, his D-Ark with it as well...and what appeared to be a card holder now that they looked closely too.

"How did YOU get here? Last time we saw you was on File, and that's a week away, so I doubt whatever evolution Falcomon has could fly for that long." Pierce asked incredulously.

"We stowed away on your ship, and flew the rest of the way the night before you all landed ashore," Falcomon said simply.

"That can't be right," Ren frowned. "We checked the entire ship from top to bottom after we found those three. We didn't find anyone."

Instead of answering, Keenan simply placed a hand on Falcomon's shoulder, and right before everyone's eyes, they literally sank into the shadows, before rising up on another side of the room. "My Semblance," Keenan said simply.

"Oh great, another ninja." Gyro said with a groan "At least you're on our side."

"My teacher said the same thing when I figured out my semblance." Keenan said in a bit of amusement.

"Is your teacher by any chance Renamon's partner?" Blake asked with a raised eyebrow.

"She is, she took the two of us under her metaphorical wing after meeting with our mother." Falcomon answered.

"So, the two of you are basically brothers then?" Yang asked.

Keenan was about to answer...but the moment he saw Yang's face, he suddenly stiffened, and they could all swear for a moment a flash of rage crossed the young boy's eyes...before he suddenly relaxed...or at least calmed down.

"...was it something I said?" Yang blinked, more than a little apprehensive at the reaction.

"N-no," Keenan said quickly. "My apologies, and yes, Falcomon and I are basically brothers, as we were both raised by Frigimon," he nodded.

Gyro and Pierce glanced at each other after witnessing Keenan's reaction, having a decent idea of WHY he reacted that way at seeing Yang. At least he stopped himself and noticed she only looked like the person he mistook her for.

"Oh, also, it is actually rather convenient you all found your way here," Falcomon suddenly said. "Truth be told, aside from training, we were meeting one of our members here. It would be in your benefit to talk to him too."

"Provided he isn't buried in his books again...literally sometimes," Keenan sighed.

"Yes, but before that, I think it's time for dinner." Piximon said, and was met with a chorus of growling stomachs, making him chuckle "Come along now everyone."

* * *

"Please enjoy!" a trio of voices said as everyone by now as seated at a dinner table, a spread of food already prepared. The ones who had set the table were what appeared to be a trio of nuns.

The first, and tallest of the nuns, wore a short white dress that reached her knees, with socks going up to the same point, her short blue hair peeking out from under a sky blue hood that had a mouse motif, her blue eyes having cross shaped pupils.

The second nun wore a black outfit, her skirt being just a bit shorter as her socks stopped before the knees, exposing some of her legs, with black hair poking out from her black hood that had a cat motif, with her gray eyes having the same pupils as the first.

And finally, the third nun, and shortest of the trio, wore a white outfit like the tallest, but the dress was a bit more poofy and went past her knees, silver hair falling down from underneath her pink, rabbit themed hood, her pink eyes bearing cross shaped pupils like the others.

"Thank you, you three. This looks delicious as always," Piximon said, before looking at the Chosen Children. "Ah yes, allow me to introduce you. These are the Sistermon sisters. From oldest to youngest: Ciel, Noir, and Blanc," he introduced, the three Sistermon curtseying slightly.

"Pleased to meet you," the three said cheerfully.

 _Digimon Analyzer: The Sistermon Trio_

 _Sistermon Ciel, Noir and Blanc. Data, Virus and Vaccine respectively. The first two are Adult Level while Blanc is Child Level, and all three are Puppet Digimon. The three were born from leftover holy data of a deleted angel Digimon, and are said to be able to call on its power in times of great need. Ciel is the one who always keeps a cool head, Noir is more mischievous, while Blanc has the innocence of a child. Their special attacks are, respectively, Silent Bullet, shooting a completely silenced shot from a cross shaped gun, Bless Fire, rapid firing of a pair of holy guns, and Divine Pierce, stabbing the opponent with a holy trident._

"Wow, this looks great!" the three trouble makers started and looked ready to just dig in without a care...only to stop when Piximon suddenly whacked them on the head.

"Fools! I've told you many times, a warrior must maintain control in and out of battle! You won't get stronger by acting like a bunch of Hogmons!" Piximon scolded.

"S-sorry!" the three said.

"No, you said you were sorry last time, and the time before that. You leave me no choice!" Piximon said, and suddenly they were cowering.

"My special training technique! Strike of Tough Love!" Piximon called out, breathing on his staff, before delivering a strong whack on their heads, causing them to faceplant into the ground.

Everyone stared at the sight for several moments, with Pierce and Gyro breaking out into a cold sweat as Piximon's words reminded them of a certain show they liked back on Earth.

"Holy shit… we're being trained by a tiny Garp." Pierce whispered nervously.

"Well… as long as we listen to him we won't get that kind of hit, and besides, the training will definitely be worth it in the end." Gyro tried to reason, but even he sounded a bit nervous.

At the same time though, Keenan was looking around, before he sighed.

"Something wrong?" Salamon asked.

"Wizardmon isn't here again. He must still be in the library," Falcomon explained dryly. "This happens very often…"

"...should we go get him?" Nora blinked.

"You all stay. WE will go get him," Keenan sighed, before sinking into the shadows with Falcomon. A few minutes later, and suddenly they emerged again, this time with what was OBVIOUSLY Wizardmon.

If the obvious outfit wasn't enough,which consisted of a cloak over a beige outfit and a red short jacket, the pointy hat on his head and the staff with a sun at the tip definitely hammered it home.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Wizardmon_

 _Wizardmon. Data Type. An Adult Level Demon Man Digimon. He apparently hails from another Digital World known as Witchelny, where magic users are common, and somehow ended up in the current Digital World. A master magic user, Wizardmon is always interested in the history of the world. His special attack is Thunder Cloud, summoning forth a small storm cloud to shock his opponents with._

"Sorry about this again," Wizardmon said rather bashfully as he scratched the back of his head.

"You'd thank us better by taking better care of yourself," the two deadpanned.

Wizardmon just chuckled awkwardly at that.

"Wait, I thought it was a joke at first, he was actually buried in books?" Patamon asked incredulously.

"He was, we had to drag him out." Falcomon said dryly.

"Please stop pointing it out." Wizardmon requested as he covered his face in embarrassment.

"You sound like the kind of mon who gets in a lot of troublesome situations." Salamon pointed out.

"Yes, well, considering Keenan and the others found me passed out in the desert, I suppose that would be accurate." Wizardmon admitted.

"You know what would do you some good? Eating, before I repeat what I did to those troublemakers again." Piximon said dryly at everyone who was still talking, making them quickly start to eat the food spread out before them.

Though the hunters did pause when Wizardmon pulled down his collar and they saw his mouth was stitched up, yet he could still open it enough to eat small bites.

Besides that though, and Piximon having to clobber the troublemakers a few more times, dinner went by rather calmly.

Once it was over…

"Come along now you two, it's time for your special training session." Piximon said as he guided Gyro and Agumon outside of his home.

"Right, so what do you need us to do?" Gyro asked as they followed.

"You'll know when you get there," Piximon said, leading them to a cave. "Find your way out of here, and you'll find what you need."

"So, what, do we need to come out the other side or some…thing... " Gyro trailed off when his foot sank into the ground in the cavern, he and Agumon falling through the floor as it rippled like water.

Piximon nodded to himself after watching them fall "Let's hope the illusions work, kid seems decently smart after all so there's the chance he might not buy it."

* * *

Back at Piximon's home, the group had been led into a room by Keenan where they could do some actual training, since Piximon felt the floor polishing was better left to those with less discipline.

"This place is pretty good," Jaune mused as he looked at the training area. It had just about everything they needed. Punching bags, training dummies, treadmills, a ring for sparring, the works. There were even a few books and scrolls regarding a number of martial arts, exercises, and various other things to support training. Not to mention there were multiple rooms, so they didn't all have to share the same room either.

"Ah, I'm glad I caught you all before you started." Wizardmon said as he entered the room "I wanted to talk to you all about some information I gathered."

"What's it about?" Jaune asked.

"Your crests." Wizardmon answered, and he gained their undivided attention.

"You know something about them?" Ruby asked eagerly.

Wizardmon nodded as he sat down on the floor, the others mimicking him "I've been able to figure out what each crest represents, and can extrapolate which crests you all have, as their were mentions of what kind of Digimon would be partnered to each crest bearer."

"That's definitely the biggest information possible." Pierce said with a grin.

"Lay it on us." Veemon added with his own grin.

Wizardmon laughed at their eagerness "Alright, I'll start with your friend Gyro I suppose, it helps I was able to get a look at his crest, as he bears the Crest of Courage. Legends stated that from the flames of courage, a slayer clad in gleaming armor would arise, with power to defeat even the greatest of dragons."

"That… that honestly sounds rather amazing." Weiss admitted as she blinked, before trying to picture it, thinking it would probably have some features from Greymon.

"Oooh! Oooh! Do Ren's next!" Nora said, pulling Ren over.

"Nora…" Ren sighed, but turned to Wizardmon all the same. "Though I am curious as well…"

Wizardmon chuckled, and nodded all the same. "Let's see here…" he said, examining Ren's Crest. "Ah yes...this one was a little more obscure than the others, but I found legends on it as well. Your Crest is the Crest of Kindness. According to the legends, the warmth of Kindness would call forth the warrior with blades that could penetrate any defense, hidden in the shadows of the deep forest."

"Kindness…" Ren mused as he looked at his crest, nodding in acceptance after a few moments.

"Penetrating any defense huh? I wonder what I'm gonna look like then?" Wormmon wondered.

"The legends did not name them, sorry," Wizardmon said. "Now then…" he looked at Jaune's Crest. "Ah yes, the Crest of Reliability. Through a heart that remains faithful and dependable to those around them, the warrior of the frozen sea will surface, mighty enough to shatter even dimensions, or so the legends say."

"Reliable huh?" Jaune said nervously, before Pyrrha put a hand on his shoulder.

"I think you're starting to become a very reliable person Jaune." she said with her usual kind smile.

"Pyrrha's right, you've done a lot already, so don't ever think the opposite." Pierce added with a grin.

"And I know I can count on you to help me turn into that super strong sounding warrior." Gomamon added as he patted Jaune on the back, the blonde managing a smile at the encouragement.

"So...uh...what does mine mean?" Ruby asked after a few moments, as her curiosity was getting the better of her.

"Hm...my, its the Crest of Purity. According to the legends, through the light of a pure heart, the eternal queen of flowers will awaken from her slumber, blooming flowers of hope for her allies, and thorns of despair for her enemies," Wizardmon recited.

"Somehow, the crest doesn't surprise me." Blake couldn't help but say in amusement.

"What does Purity mean though exactly? Like, how do I show that?" Ruby wondered.

"Just keep being you Ruby." Yang said simply as she patted her little sister's head.

"So I'm gonna turn into a flower then? I can't wait!" Palmon cheered as she did a small spin.

"So I guess mine is last then?" Pierce said, stepping forward and showing his crest.

"Hm...oh my…" Wizardmon's eyes widened.

"Something wrong?" Veemon blinked.

"Oh...nothing. It's just, I didn't expect to see this one so soon. This is the Crest of Miracles, and I will say that of the 10 Crests, this is the one I know the least of, sadly. However, it is said that when the light of miracles shines, the dragon knight who flies faster than the wind will come, striking down evil with his blades of light," Wizardmon explained.

"Miracles, huh? That sounds pretty vague." Pierce said as he tried to think how exactly he was supposed to show that.

"A super fast dragon knight sounds really awesome though." Veemon said in excitement.

"And that's all the Crests we have so far...what are the other five?" Salamon asked.

"Hm...the remaining Crests are...Friendship, Knowledge, Hope, Light, and Love," Wizardmon listed off, before showing cards depicting the symbols of each crest. "As for the legends...I'll start with Friendship," he said, clearing his throat. "Through the unbreakable bonds of Friendship, the metal beast will bare his fangs, to freeze his enemies in ice as eternal and unbreakable."

As one, the Digimon in the group all turned to Gabumon, making him blink at the 8 pair of eyes on him "What?"

"That's totally a Garurumon evolution he just talked about." Biyomon said with a firm nod.

"No doubt about it." Patamon agreed.

"I… I guess that makes sense." Gabumon said after a moment.

"So, my crest would be Friendship then." Pyrrha mused, deep in thought.

"Next is the Crest of Knowledge. When the answer sought is found, the great beetle will take flight. The storm itself bend to his will as all who threaten what he holds dear will fall before the might of the lightning," Wizardmon recited.

"I'm literally the only beetle in this room." Tentomon didn't need to look to see the others were all staring at him "Still though, storms bending to my will? Sounds interesting."

"Weiss having the Crest of Knowledge… you know what? It does fit her the best." Pierce said with a nod after thinking about it.

"And by that you mean…?" Weiss asked with a raised eyebrow.

"You're the most curious out of all of us here." Blake answered, and Weiss conceded the point after a moment.

Wizardmon chuckled at how...easily it seemed they were finding the correct matches. "The Crest of Hope is next. Heeding the call of undying Hope, the great celestial being will descend, to cut through the darkness and silence despair."

"Somehow, I think that's Patamon." Yang said with a laugh.

"The little guy can turn into an angel, it's definitely him." Pierce agreed.

"I bet I'm gonna have a ton of wings!" Patamon said to himself with a laugh.

"Hope…" Blake muttered, wondering on her crest "I suppose that's certainly mine." she said quietly, and unless one looked closely, she had the smallest of smiles on her face.

"Now then...the next one is a little...odd," Wizardmon sighed. "Its the Crest of Light."

"Aside from how Light isn't really a virtue...how is it odd?" Ren blinked.

"Well...the legends were...very obscure. They could never quite agree WHO was the Digimon that the light would herald. Some legends call it a great holy dragon, others say a radiant celestial being, and there are some more obscure legends that I just can't seem to decipher properly, implying a third candidate," Wizardmon sighed.

"That's… not as obvious as the others, could be either of us honestly." Biyomon said as she turned to Salamon.

"Yeah, I mean, sure, either of us turning into a dragon or a celestial being sounds a bit farfetched, but maybe we're gonna become this mystery third candidate." Salamon reasoned with a shrug.

"So, the last one then I guess, maybe we'll figure it out after hearing it." Yang said with a shrug as she turned back to Wizardmon.

"Right. The Crest of Love. From the deep flames of love, the great firebird will take flight, wings of gold bringing forth an eternal flame upon the wicked souls," Wizardmon finished.

"Ok, yeah, process of elimination worked, that's totally me." Biyomon said with a firm nod.

"Huh, so guess we're the Crest of Light then, let's try and figure it out." Salamon said as she got in Nora's lap.

"Gonna be tough, but we'll manage." Nora said with a cheery smile.

Meanwhile, Yang was having an internal dilemma as she processed what her own crest was.

'Am I really the right person? Maybe it's a fluke?' she couldn't help but wonder, before she felt Pierce put his arm around her, managing a weak smile as she turned to him, even though she didn't feel all that confident right now.

After a few more questions for Wizardmon, the group ultimately decided to do some training before bed time.

* * *

Meanwhile, back in the cave…

"Agumon… how long have we been walking through this place?" Gyro asked as he looked through the dark and very huge forest surrounding them.

"A few hours I think." Agumon answered easily.

"Right… what the hell is our special training supposed to be?" Gyro wondered, with Agumon shrugging in response.

Just then, both of them stilled as they heard a faint buzzing noise coming from deeper in the forest, and Gyro instinctively knew this wasn't a beetle, it was a buzzing he easily recognised, and one he never wanted to hear.

Slowly, the two turned in the direction of the buzzing, and Gyro's face paled as he managed to mutter weakly "Oh find me in the alps."

* * *

"So...we've been here all night...and my brother isn't back yet," Pierce said, looking at Piximon rather crossly. "Care to explain?"

"That just means they haven't completed their training. The spell would have brought them back when they completed their training," Piximon explained, not the least bit phased by the glare. "His Crest while simple, is hard to show. After all, Courage is about facing one's fears."

It took Pierce a moment, before his glare actually doubled "I don't like that cave… and Gyro is going to want to kill you very badly." he said, before walking away from the fairy.

"Yes, I was well aware that might happen when I picked this one for him, but it was the best I could think of. Better now in an ultimately controlled environment than right when it's needed the most," Piximon pointed out.

Pierce stopped, looking over his shoulder with a glare, before stomping away, angry that he couldn't refute the logic. He didn't have long to stew in his ire, as he noticed something else. "Huh? You four are up early," he blinked when he saw Pyrrha, Weiss, Gabumon, and Tentomon creeping out of their rooms.

"Look who's talking," Weiss yawned a bit. "But we're up for a very good reason." When she said that, the two of them reached into their clothes and pulled out their Tags. Both were glowing.

"If you're looking for the Crests of Friendship and Knowledge, they're in a well just outside my territory," Piximon said suddenly, floating down. "I picked this location not just due to its convenience, but also to keep an eye on those two Crests."

"Right, that means we're stepping back out into the sand again." Pyrrha said, covering her mouth as she yawned.

"Be careful of Etemon's Dark Network, I've seen plenty of cables in the area outside the barrier." Piximon told them, before floating off somewhere else in his home.

"You guys gonna be okay?" Pierce asked.

"We'll be alright," Tentomon said.

"Should I go wake the others?" he asked again.

"No, let them sleep," Gabumon said.

"Though...if we're not back before the others wake up, please let them all know where we are," Pyrrha requested.

"Got it," Pierce nodded.

With that settled, the four of them set out. Using their Tags as a guide, they soon found their way to one of the edges of Piximon's barrier...and true enough, they could see a well just outside, the sun just starting to rise.

"Well, looks like this is it," Weiss gulped. Even if they knew they'd have to venture out eventually, it still wasn't a comforting thought that they'd be out of this safe haven and back where Etemon could...and probably would...find them again.

"Doesn't look like anyone is around...so we might be able to get in and get out quickly," Gabumon said.

"Right. Now or never," Pyrrha nodded, before the four of them took a deep breath, and ran out of the barrier. Getting to the well, they immediately grabbed rope, finding it to be a strong rope, and started using it to get down, with Tentomon following them, and Gabumon acting as a lookout in case any uninvited guests showed up.

"Well, this place feels pretty damp." Tentomon noted as he flew down slowly.

"Well, it IS a well, even though it seems dried up." Weiss said.

"Considering how small the bricks are, the crests are going to be hard to spot." Pyrrha said… before the whole inside of the well started to glow in blue and purple "Nevermind."

Covering the walls of the well, the Crests of Friendship and Knowledge appeared, the first being shaped like a blue wheel with fangs on its side, and the second being shaped somewhat like purple pair of round glasses.

The two Crests spun as they removed themselves from the walls, before they each went into the tag of their respective owner.

At the same time, they started to hear Gabumon launching his attack, quickly climbing back up and seeing that he was shooting at some of the Dark Network cables that came into view.

"We got them!" Pyrrha said quickly, catching his attention.

"Great, now we should go before-!" Gabumon never got to finish, as the ground started to shake with the sound of HEAVY footsteps. The group turned, and saw a large red dinosaur with green spikes going down its spine, making its way towards him, and attached to its body were more of the Dark Network cables. "...that happens…" Gabumon finished lamely.

"Ack! Its Tyrannomon!" Tentomon gasped in alarm.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Tyrannomon_

 _Tyrannomon. Data Type. An Adult Level Dinosaur Digimon. The most basic of Dinosaur Digimon, it has a good set of battle skills. It can be found in many places in the Digital World, and has a few varying evolutions. Its special attack is Fire Breath, shooting out a stream of flames from its mouth… it really doesn't have anything special going for it._

"Well...I guess we should be used to this by now," Weiss sighed, holding her head in her hands. "It's not like we don't already spend every other day fighting for our lives. Why not START the day with one while we're at it."

"So...we evolve?" Tentomon asked rhetorically.

"Yep," Gabumon and Pyrrha nodded, before the two girls moved to grab their Digivices, their partners ready to evolve, but…

"Dynamic Entry!" came a trio of voices, as three figures jumped out of the trees, and landed kicks on Tyrannomon's snout. The scene WOULD have been awesome...if it weren't for the fact they did absolutely nothing, Tyrannomon blinking almost comically at the three child level Digimon that had just kicked him in the nose...or tried to anyway.

There was a small staring contest for a moment, before Tyrannomon flicked them away, making the trio land near the others.

"Did you honestly think that would work?" Weiss couldn't help but ask the troublemakers dryly.

"We were just gauging his strength!" Dorumon quickly said as he got up.

"And he's strong!" Ryudamon added.

"So we'll have to get stronger!" Zubamon finished.

"How can you get stronger fast enough to beat him?" Pyrrha couldn't help but ask.

In response, the trio grinned… and then started to glow.

 **(Play Brave Heart)**

"Dorumon, Evolution!" Dorumon called out as he felt his energy peak, and he soon transformed. "Dorugamon!" his body had grown, his fur becoming a darker shade of purple with lighter purple stripes, his tiny wings turning into actual working wings covered in fur.

"Ryudamon, Evolution!" Ryudamon said as well, following his friend's lead and soon transformed. "Ginryumon!" his body took on a more salamander styled structure, his fur being replaced with actual scales while his body was covered in even more samurai armor than before.

"Zubamon, Evolution!" Zubamon called out, topping off the trio, and like his friends, he soon transformed. "ZubaEagermon!" his body went from bipedal to a quadruped, and looked even more dangerous then before, his sword shaped horn growing longer while his tail became a large blade, as what looked like a sword handle came out of his back.

"Okay...guess the training wasn't wasted on them after all…" Gabumon blinked.

"They actually learned how to evolve?" Tentomon said in surprise.

"Believe it!" Dorugamon grinned.

"We said we'd get stronger, and we trained our butts off to do it," Ginryumon nodded.

"So let's beat the crap out of this guy!" ZubaEagermon grinned.

"Right!" the other two nodded, before they charged forward, ramming into Tyrannomon, and this time they actually started to push him back.

"Say 'ah', dirtbag!" Dorugamon growled, before opening his mouth. "Power Metal!" he called out, firing a cannon ball from his mouth, which hit Tyrannomon dead on, pushing him off his feet.

"Don't let him get up! Tekkoujin!" Ginryumon called out, shooting a spear from his mouth, hitting Tyrannomon in the shoulder, causing him to roar out in pain.

"And the finisher! Vantheon!" ZubaEagermon called out, spinning in the air like a super sharp wheel of blades, before descending on Tyrannomon, earning more painful roars from the dinosaur before he ultimately collapsed, seemingly out cold.

 **(Song end)**

"Woah." Gabumon muttered, honestly impressed.

"They did pretty good." Tentomon said with a nod.

"I must admit, I didn't think they could handle it at first, but I'm glad I was wrong." Weiss said.

"They've certainly grown a bit since the last time we saw them." Pyrrha said, before gaining a look of deadpan when the three adult levels started dancing in celebration "Although they could still use some work."

And suddenly, the celebrating was cut short, as Tyrannomon got back up, roaring in challenge while the cables started feeding energy into him.

"Oh no." Weiss groaned as she saw the cables.

"Uh… that doesn't look good." Dorugamon said, before he, Ginryumon and ZubaEagermon were sent flying by the now glowing Tyrannomon's tail, crashing through the barrier and breaking it as they quickly reverted back to Child Level, knocked unconscious.

What stood in Tyrannomon's place appeared to be something that would be more at place in a junkyard, it's body now white while it's green spikes were now black and heavily damaged. Its body was covered in cables and wires, while its lower jaw was made of metal, same for its snout which now sported a small horn. Both hands also appeared more mechanic, while its feet gained iron claws.

"Oh that's just great! Now he's MetalTyrannomon!" Gabumon said in panic as they ran back into Piximon's territory, picking up the unconscious trio and running off as fast as they could.

 _Digimon Analyzer: MetalTyrannomon_

 _MetalTyrannomon. Virus Type. A Perfect Level Cyborg Digimon. Its body being remodeled as an anti-ground interceptor Digimon, MetalTyrannomon is a force to be reckoned with. Its chin can break through even the toughest of metals, with the exception of Chrome Digizoid. Its special attack is Nuclear Laser, firing an energy shell from its left arm._

"Suddenly I now know how our enemies must feel whenever we pull the evolution trick on them…"Pyrrha sighed as MetalTyrannomon started stomping towards them. However…

"Bit Bomb!" came Piximon's voice as MetalTyrannomon was hit in the head with the move. Unfortunately he seemed to be MUCH stronger than Okuwamon as he withstood the attack.

"Hey, are you all alright?!" came Jaune's voice as all their friends (save Gyro and Agumon who weren't back yet) arrived at the scene.

"Could be better." Gabumon said, panting a bit.

"So, Etemon sent a Perfect after us?" Yang easily figured that the Digimon had to be that strong if they had run instead of fighting it.

"It started as an Adult, but it evolved after these three managed to beat it." Weiss said, motioning to Dorumon, who she was carrying under her arm.

"Wait… these three beat him?" Gomamon asked incredulously.

"They evolved." Tentomon said simply.

"Oh, that makes sense then." Gomamon said with a nod.

"Dammit!" Pierce growled, before looking in the direction of the cave "I hope you hurry it up Gyro!"

* * *

Speaking of Gyro…

"KILL IT! KILL IT WITH FIRE!"

He was absolutely losing his shit.

Sitting on Greymon's head and just barely being able to focus enough to use the wind to enhance his Mega Flame as they were being attacked by a colony of wasps… Rapier Wasps… HUGE Rapier Wasps, the same size as Waspmon, and with their stingers longer than his own body.

"I don't think they're backing off!" Greymon said in alarm, as more kept coming.

"In that case only one thing to do! Retreat!" Gyro shouted...only to find that they were surrounded. "...mommy…" he all but squeaked. However, just as they were about to attack...everything froze. "...huh?" he blinked.

"Uh… the world doesn't normally just stop moving, right?" Greymon couldn't help but ask.

"No… no it does not." Gyro answered, looking around in confusion, before a light started shining in front of them, and they could see… something inside of it, the image slowly coming more and more into focus, until…

"Crap!" Gyro shouted in worry as he saw MetalTyrannomon stomping around in Piximon's territory, Kabuterimon, Birdramon and Angemon flying around it's head and pelting it with their attacks, while catching glimpse of the other Adult Levels in the jungle below launching their own attacks, which weren't even fazing the Perfect Level. Not even Angemon's Heaven's Knuckle was doing more than annoy the Digimon, to which he retaliated. Suddenly the image started to 'fast forward', and when it was over, all that was left was a burning forest and all his friends on the ground.

Gyro's fists tightened at the scene before him "No… We won't let it happen!"

"They need us right now, so we won't let them down!" Greymon said in agreement, before letting out a roar as he charged the strongest Mega Flame he could.

"Let's cut a path through! These bugs can just burn in hell!" Gyro shouted as the wind started to kick up around them. At the same time, time seemed to resume, the swarm now ready to attack again, but they also seemed to be getting between them and the image.

"Mega Flame!" Greymon let loose the attack, which got swept up into the wind, creating a vortex of fire around them that burned all the swarm to ashes.

"Let's go!" the two shouted together as they ran on ahead, Gyro's Crest shining brighter and brighter all the while, until…

 **(Play Brave Heart)**

Gyro's Digivice began to vibrate, before it changed, turning from its standard color into a deep orange, the same color as the Crest, while the buttons became blue, before a beam of light shot out of the screen and into the back of the Tag, going right through and carrying with it a projection of the Crest of Courage, the beam going up till it penetrated a thick layer of clouds above, dispersing them as the Crest seemed to fly into the heavens. As it rose up, energy gathered into the Crest as it stabilized and began to spin, releasing a radiant burst of energy, which shot down a beam of light that soon took on a form akin to DNA into Greymon down below. "Greymon, Super Evolution!" he called out as he took in all the energy. His left arm was encased in metal, forming a larger, sturdier, claw, while his helmet was replaced with a metal version of it, from which red 'hair' grew from the base, while on his back, a pair of strange wings sprouted, looking more like strips of leather with holes in them, yet still strong, a patch of metal appearing on the back of his tail. Finishing off, his chest was covered in a metallic armor of sorts. "MetalGreymon!"

Back at the forest, MetalTyrannomon was advancing forward, steadily pushing them all back, before he was suddenly stopped as something extended out of the ground, and nailed him in the head, pushing him aside, before the ground exploded.

"What now?!" Yang groaned in worry. However, their worry turned into awe when they saw what emerged.

"Is that Greymon?" Jaune asked in awe.

"He's so big! And all robotic and stuff!" Nora shouted with a grin, because the new form looked very impressive.

 _Digimon Analyzer: MetalGreymon_

 _MetalGreymon. Vaccine Type. A Perfect Level Cyborg Digimon. With a brand new mechanized body, this evolution of Greymon is a powerful Digimon, with strength equal to that of a nuclear warhead. His body has been covered in Chrome Digizoid armor, the strongest metal in the Digital World. His special attacks are Trident Arm, launching the mechanized left claw on a cable at the enemy, and Giga Destroyer, firing a pair of missiles from his chest._

"He's also ready to kick that thing's ass." they all turned as Gyro walked up to them, bags clearly visible under his eyes, but a grin on his face.

"Glad you made it, Gyro," Pierce grinned...until he noticed the state Gyro was in. "You...look like you've been up all night.."

"I think anyone would stay awake after what I saw," Gyro deadpanned, before turning to Piximon with a glare. "As for you, pull something like that again, and I'm gonna stuff you in a bottle and leave you to collect dust in an attic," he growled.

Piximon sighed, but nodded all the same.

Back in the fight, MetalTyrannomon tried to ram into MetalGreymon, but he stood his ground, lifting up MetalTyrannomon, before throwing him out of Piximon's territory. MetalTyrannomon growled in anger, before he tried to attack again. However… "Trident Arm!" MetalGreymon called out, before launching his left arm, striking MetalTyrannomon again, pushing it back before it landed in a heap.

Roaring in anger, MetalTyrannomon aimed and fired at MetalGreymon with his Nuclear Laser, but MetalGreymon blocked it with his left arm, then dispelling it by knocking it aside. NOW MetalTyrannomon was starting to realize he may have made a bad choice, but it was far too late. In retaliation, MetalGreymon's chest opened, revealing a pair of missiles in his chest which were a simple black and had grinning mouths full of fangs. "Giga Destroyer!" he called as the missiles fired, catching MetalTyrannomon in the chest and carrying it skywards, straining the Dark Network Cables, before blowing up in a bright explosion, taking out both MetalTyrannomon and a large portion of the cables.

 **(Song end)**

With the danger gone, MetalGreymon's body glowed, before shrinking down, leaving a tired looking Koromon in his place.

Some small time later, the group started getting in the RV, Piximon watching them as they readied to leave.

"Your methods leave a lot to be desired honestly… but thanks anyway, the results were good." Gyro said, yawning as he held the equally tired Koromon in his arms.

"Well, I'm just glad you were able to awaken your Crest when you did. Good luck on your journey now everyone." Piximon said with a nod, as Gyro was about to get inside and close the door.

"Wait!" Wizardmon shouted as he ran up to them, panting as he caughts his breath.

"Something up?" Gyro asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I'd like… to come with you. I know where to find the Crests of Hope and Light. It's the least I can do for you." Wizardmon said, pausing at the start to finish catching his breath.

Gyro blinked at the request, before smiling as he stepped aside "We'd love to have you aboard then." he said, Wizardmon nodding thankfully as he stepped inside the RV, earning a few looks of surprise as he sat down in a chair.

With that, Gyro cast a last glance at Piximon, nodding before getting in the RV and closing the door.

As soon as he stepped in however, he was sat down on a sofa by Pierce and forcefully layed down on it as a blanket was thrown onto him by Ruby.

"Sleep." was all Pierce said, and Gyro didn't complain as he closed his eyes and was soon heard snoring softly, Koromon doing the same as he slept on his partner's stomach while the RV drove off, heading for their next destination.

* * *

 **And there we go!**

 **That's right, MetalGreymon already, before they even finished getting their crests.**

 **And the Analyzer got one hell of a workout this chapter.**

 **Now, some of you may have noticed I brought a few design changes to the Sistermon trio, that's because I wanted to make them feel a bit more unique.**

 **Also, yeah, Ciel was turned from a Virus to a Data, just so they could form a trinity of the three types.**

 **And yeah, the troublemaker trio showed up again, and have learned how to evolve into the Adult Level.**

 **So, anybody who expected them to become the partners to someone, sorry to disappoint.**

 **And yes, Wizardmon, he was saved by Renamon's faction this time, for those who were wondering what having Nyaromon on File meant for him, there's your answer. And he's very knowledgable about the crests as well, meaning everyone now knows what their crests represent.**

 **A bit of an advantage yes, but you'll understand why in the long run, for now...**

 **The Adventure Evolves.**


	25. 24: Miraculous Wings! AeroVeedramon!

**Dear lord this chapter is huge!**

 **And that's not even the full reason as to why it took so long to get out.**

 **Timeless had to leave again for a few days starting on wednesday, and he came back on saturday.**

 **From what I know, we should be good for now though.**

 **Hope you enjoy the climax of the Etemon arc!**

* * *

 **Miraculous Wings! AeroVeedramon!  
**

* * *

"Just a bit more and...done," Gyro nodded. "Took us a while, but looks like we finally managed to finish these."

"Finished what?" Jaune asked, looking up from where he was sharpening Crocea Mors's blade.

"I was curious about the tech that went behind Gyro and Pierce's pouches, and with a lot of work and analyzing, I was able to replicate it." Weiss said as she held up a small pouch.

"And we made some for everyone!" Ruby said as she started passing them around.

"It's a little project we started working on after we reached Server, just so Pierce and I aren't the ones carrying everything." Gyro explained.

"Well, that will certainly be convenient in case any of you ever end up seperated." Wizardmon said as he looked at the pouches.

"After our last incident, yeah. It'll definitely pay for all of us to have these," Yang nodded while Gyro and Pierce started dividing their supplies between everyone.

Once the task was done, everyone had a brand new pouch at their hip, full of supplies, including some of the things the twins had in their pouches when entering the Digital World. "So how far are we from the Crests of Hope and Light again?" Blake asked.

"We shouldn't be too far. In fact, the first landmark should be coming up. Its one of Etemon's Network Terminals," Wizardmon said.

"One of his terminals, huh?" Weiss mused.

"Do you have something in mind?" Pyrrha asked.

"I just might. Think we could do a quick stop?" Weiss asked.

"No problem," Pierce said, flashing a thumbs up.

* * *

Minutes later found the group crowding around one of the large boxes that served as the terminals for the Dark Network, Weiss tapping away on her scroll, before pulling out a cable from the terminal and plugging it in "Let's see what kind of information we can get out of him." she mused as she downloaded information she knew would be the least guarded. After a few moments… "Wow...his security is almost non-existent," Weiss blinked at how easily she was downloading information. However, as she did, she noticed a mail icon appear on her Scroll. "Hm?" she blinked, and out of curiosity, pressed it. What she got… "Everyone, you all may want to see this."

"What is it?" Tentomon asked as he buzzed up and looked over her shoulder "Help me?"

"Someone needs help?" Agumon asked as he hoisted himself up a bit and looked over from the edge of the network box.

"Come and save me, I am a prisoner of Etemon, I will help you find the Crests in exchange." Pierce read aloud, raising his eyebrow "Well that sounds suspicious."

"They have coordinates in the message as well." Blake pointed out to a lower line in the mail.

Wizardmon looked at them closely "That… matches with the location of the Crest of Light." he said, blinking in surprise. "...okay scratch that. Its CLOSE to where the Crest is, but not quite there," he amended after looking closer. "However, that's well into Etemon's territory. I believe that's where the core of his Dark Network is located."

"Well, I suppose it was bound to happen eventually. Though I was hoping we would have ALL of the crests before challenging him." Pyrrha said with a frown.

"I'm sure we'll be fine Pyrrha." Gabumon said, trying to reassure her.

"Does the message have anything else?" Jaune asked as he tried to look as well.

"There's a program as well, but besides that, nothing else." Weiss said, looking over everything.

"This thing reeks of a trap honestly." Gyro said with a frown.

"Tell me about it, it's almost like it's got a big neon sign that says 'Come over here so I can kill you!'" Nora added.

"For once, the analogy makes sense." Salamon agreed with a nod.

"But considering the information they sent us is correct, they could be helpful." Ren mused.

"And we would have them outnumbered if things go south." Wormmon added.

"So...do we go for it? Or do we ignore them?" Patamon asked.

That is a good question," Agumon frowned, folding his arms.

"Maybe...we should go for it," Yang suggested. "I mean, we've gotten this far, and we ARE going that way so we might as well. Besides, we can take them. We DO have an active crest now."

"Yeah! We can kick their butts!" Biyomon agreed.

"Well...alright," Gyro nodded slowly. "Since we ARE going that way, we might as well see what this is about I suppose. Any objections?"

Nobody had any real reason to refuse.

"Right then, we'll check on this as soon as we retrieve the Crests of Hope and Light," Wizardmon nodded.

With that said everyone got back in the RV and started heading in the direction of the Crests, eventually entering a canyon area with the RV having some slight trouble in maneuvering through, but they managed to reach their destination nonetheless, getting out of the RV to continue on foot.

As they walked, they were mostly confined to a straight path, until Blake's Tag started glowing "Well, I guess this confirms it's going to be my Crest." she said, before they followed the glow of her tag.

"Blake, over here!" Patamon said as he suddenly turned a corner. Following him, they saw a large slab with a symbol on it, one that seemed like a ray of light coming down from the heavens.

The slab started to glow a yellow color before shrinking down, and floating over to set itself into her Tag.

"8 down, only 2 to go." Gyro said, before everyone looked on in surprise as Nora's Tag started to glow, but there didn't seem to be anything obvious around.

"That's strange." Wizardmon said "The Crest of Light is supposed to be hidden deep in Etemon's territory, yet we are still a few hours away from that."

"Strange, perhaps this is some sort of shortcut?" Weiss wondered as they stepped into the tunnel, the only light being the one coming in from outside.

"Hey, are these the same symbols from Centarumon's ruins?" Palmon noticed as she looked at the walls.

"Huh, so this is the stuff you're always analysing?" Gomamon asked as he looked at some of the coding on the wall.

"Yes, I'm positive that with these we can learn far more about this world, how it came to be, and possibly even how its connected to our world," Weiss nodded as she began deciphering. However, as she worked, her eyes widened. "This is…!"

"Something wrong?" Tentomon asked.

She shook her head "No… just, watch." she said, touching a few keys while also rubbing off one of the symbols, causing them to blink when lights came on in the tunnel, and then a holographic map appeared.

"Woah… what is that?" Ruby asked in awe.

"A map of the Digital World, it's gigantic from what I can see, but, if I do this…" she said, hitting another key, causing the map to wrap around itself a bit until it was a globe "We can get a better scale of things."

"Wow, it looks as big as Earth, and as Remnant as well." Pierce noticed.

"And that brings me to my next point." Weiss said, hitting a few more keys, making several lines appear on the globe of the Digital World, "This is the Digital World's network, and this…" she trailed off, making another globe appear, this one having fewer continents "Is Remnant, as well as it's network." she said, the lines appearing a second later.

"Ok… where is this going?" Yang asked with a raised eyebrow, knowing there was a point to this, but she didn't know what that was.

In response, Weiss hit a key, and the two maps overlaid one over the other, and at least half of the lines of the Digital World matched with all the ones from Remnant as they became highlighted in red "Remnant's network makes up half of the Digital World's own."

"Then… where's the other half?" Jaune asked, already feeling like this was a big revelation, even though he didn't fully understand it.

Gyro looked at the map closely "I… may have an idea." he said, before looking to Weiss and holding out his hand "May I?" he asked, and she passed him her scroll, looking it over a little before starting to tap away, though he was going more slowly than she did.

Eventually, another map appeared next to the two overlaid ones, this one familiar only to the twins "This is Earth." he explained to the questioning looks, before tapping away a little more as the network lines appeared on it "And I think it's the answer we're looking for." he finished, before the map of Earth was added… and all the network lines matched up now, the ones from Earth highlighted in blue.

"Wait… so, the networks of both our worlds make up the one in the Digital World?" Pierce said in confusion as he looked at the sight.

"What does that mean then?" Veemon asked.

"It means the Digital World exists between Earth and Remnant, created from their overlapping shadows in a sense." Weiss answered simply.

Her response from the others was a stunned silence for a good while, all of them trying to wrap their heads around the information, until finally, Pierce broke the silence.

"...do you think that's why?" Pierce blinked.

"Why what?" Jaune asked.

"Why Remnant saw the battle between Greymon and that other Digimon 11 years ago," Pierce clarified.

"That...makes a lot of sense actually," Pyrrha mused. "If the worlds really ARE connected in some way, maybe that's how it was possible."

"Maybe that's why we were able to get to Remnant without too much hassle then." Gyro realised.

"Yeah, thinking about it, it sounds like you guys got to our world pretty easy, even though travelling between worlds should probably be harder than that." Ruby said with a nod.

"Still...at least now we know for sure that there's a connection. Where there's a connection, there should be a way to get from one to the other," Weiss nodded.

"Then let's keep on hoping we manage to find that way back." Yang said, crossing her arms as she sighed a bit.

"I'm sure we'll manage." Biyomon reassured with a smile, earning a grateful nod from her partner.

"And not just that," Nora added, holding up her Tag. It was glowing brighter. "We're getting closer to my Crest!"

"Looks like its at the end of this tunnel," Salamon noted.

"All that's there is a wall though." Gabumon noticed.

"And it isn't one that has an obvious Crest on it." Gomamon added.

"Only one way to find out I guess," Ren mused. "Nora, try holding your Tag up to the wall."

"Got it," Nora nodded, moving up to the wall, and holding her Tag in front of it. She stayed like that for a few minutes, before moving away from it and pouting "Stupid wall."

"Maybe this is what the program this mysterious person sent is for?" Tentomon said, looking up at Weiss.

"I think it just may be yes." she said with a nod, before running said program, and a moment later, the wall at the end of the tunnel faded away… revealing another wall, this one with an image that looked like a flower shaped crystal. Reacting to the Tag, it glowed pink, and soon shrunk down and inserted itself into Nora's Tag.

"That's 9 down, only 1 more to go," Ruby grinned.

"Yes, only the Crest of Love remains," Wizardmon nodded, looking at Yang.

"R-right, guess mine's the only one left," Yang said, though if one looked closely she wasn't meeting his gaze.

"Looks like the path is opened now as well." Gyro said as they went up to the newly opened exit, peering out of it… and gaping at the sight off to the left.

"Ok… who mentioned an upside down pyramid again?" Blake muttered incredulously.

"Yang did." Patamon answered as they all looked at the huge, and very much upside down pyramid.

"Dear Oum, I was freaking joking." Yang said in a bit of annoyance.

"Well...look at it this way. At least we didn't tempt the universe with something worse…" Agumon said. Right as he said that, they heard a familiar horn, and there was Etemon's trailer. "...shutting up now…" he said, while Gyro pat his back.

"Hm...this is interesting…" Wizardmon mused.

"Why is that?" Ren asked.

"Etemon doesn't usually come around here. Perhaps something is wrong with the Dark Network. This IS where the core is. Hm...maybe that's why we haven't heard from him for a while. If his network is having a glitch, he wouldn't be able to find us," Wizardmon said...then started to ramble.

"So...is that a good thing or a bad thing?" Wormmon asked.

"Considering whoever sent us the message is in that Pyramid...I think its bad," Weiss sighed...until she noticed something else. "Hm?"

"What is it?" Palmon asked.

"Our mysterious prisoner of Etemon's just sent me the coordinates for a secret passage into the pyramid." Weiss answered as she looked at the new information.

"This looks more and more like a trap honestly." Gyro said with a frown.

"Maybe they're just using us to get free." Jaune said, trying to think of any good reasons for this mystery being to be so helpful.

"That's...a very good point," Pyrrha nodded.

"So should we help them or just ignore them then?" Gabumon asked.

"Normally, I'd consider ignoring them, but we can't forget one VERY important detail," Blake pointed out. "They claim to have information on the Crest of Love. We can't exactly ignore that on the hope that it's a bluff."

"I think it may be worse than that actually." Wizardmon said, looking at the pyramid with narrowed eyes "From what we've been able to figure out, the Crest would be somewhere in that pyramid, so it's possible that when they say information, they outright have the Crest itself."

"Damn...guess we don't have a choice then…" Veemon groaned.

"Looks like it," Pierce sighed. "Okay, so how do we do this then? Frontal assault or scouting?"

"Scouting," Gyro said. "Assuming whoever this guy is is just aiming to use us, it'd be bad if we all went in. We should split up into two teams. One team scouts the Pyramid, while the other team hangs back, and if things get hairy, they come to rescue them. How's that sound?"

"Pretty good plan if you ask me." Ruby agreed with a nod.

"Whoever is on rescue duty better be fast at least." Nora pointed out.

"Right, that's why I was thinking that at least you Ren and Pyrrha should be on that duty, Salamon, Wormmon and Gabumon have the fastest Adult forms after all." Gyro said, earning nods all around.

"We'll stay out as well, Angemon would be good for a distraction." Blake suggested.

"Right, in case Etemon needs to be drawn out. That's why I was going to propose that I hang back for this one, what with Agumon having hit the Perfect Level, we'd be able to hold him off more easily." Gyro reasoned.

"It's a sound idea, so, I guess the rest of us are going in?" Jaune asked.

"Yeah, Weiss is a given considering you'll need tech support, Yang because this is her Crest we're getting, Pierce on the hopes his semblance helps you out, Ruby for her speed, and you for any tactics they may need." Gyro explained himself, and the others couldn't argue the logic.

"Right, so do we do this now, or…?" Jaune trailed off.

"No, we'll do this tomorrow morning, not only does this let us be rested enough for it, but it also gives us a chance to catch them off guard as some of them are bound to be just waking up." Gyro said as he shook his head.

"Right," everyone nodded.

"Speaking of which, I'd like to volunteer to join the scouting group," Wizardmon said. "I may not be the strongest, but my magic should be able to either buy us some time if not help us escape."

"Right, that sounds like it'd be a big help," Ruby nodded.

"Alright then. Get some rest everyone. We've got a long day ahead of us," Gyro said as they retreated back to the other side of the tunnel, back to the RV, with a campfire between the RV and the tunnel entrance.

* * *

Pierce yawned a little as he and Veemon kept watch. Big day or not, they needed to maintain night watches, lest the possibility of some evil Digimon catching them off guard. "Looks like our shift will be over soon," he mused...and idly noticed Veemon had fallen asleep in front of the fire, if the way his head was slumped was any indication. Despite himself he chuckled a little. "Guess you were more tired than I thought."

Just as he finished that statement, he noticed the RV door opening, and out came Yang and Biyomon. "It's our turn to keep watch," Yang said, though he also noticed that it lacked her usual energy. Heck, she'd been a bit out of it all day really, especially after they figured out the final Crest was hers.

"Right. Thanks," Pierce nodded, getting down, while Biyomon went over to the fire. However, as Yang was about to walk past him, he placed a hand on her shoulder. "You know you can talk to me, right?" he said, giving her an encouraging smile.

"Huh?" Yang blinked. "I...I don't know what you're talking about," she said quickly.

"I'm not stupid Yang." he said with a sigh "I'd be a pretty crappy boyfriend if I didn't notice how you react whenever we talk about your Crest."

She looked away at his words, staying silent.

"Yang… just because your mom did what she did, doesn't mean YOU should feel bad." he said, having an idea what the source of her problem was.

"How can I not though? She didn't want me… she didn't love me." Yang said, getting more glum by the second.

"Then she sucks as a mom," Pierce said suddenly. "I may not remember my mom, but even when the doctors said I was gonna die, she never gave up on me. That's what mothers are supposed to do. Your mom didn't even try, so as far as I can tell, it's all on her," he said, before placing a finger on the side of her face. "And honestly, that's her loss."

She looked at him for a good long moment, a bit at a loss for words, before eventually managing to smile, leaning into him as she rested her head on his shoulder "Thanks… that… that does help a bit."

Pierce hugged her. "Just remember, even if things are hard, no matter what, you're not alone. You don't have to take it all by yourself. I'm here. So is Ruby, Biyomon, and everyone else."

She nodded slowly in the embrace, and after a few minutes, they separated...and Pierce let out a small yawn. "Sorry, I think I need to catch some shut eye too," he chuckled awkwardly.

She laughed a bit at the honesty "Right, go get some sleep then. I'll see you in the morning."

He nodded, before picking up Veemon and walking into the RV to get to sleep.

* * *

The next morning saw everyone is position. Once everything was set, the scouting group made their way across the sand, using the dunes to stay out of sight, while Wizardmon used some of his magic to give them some extra cover. "Okay, ready guys?" Jaune whispered.

"Ready as we'll ever be," Biyomon said.

"Okay. On three. One...two...three," Pierce said, before they dashed across the sand and were soon pressed up against the Pyramid side.

"Alright, according to the data, the secret passage should be around...here," Weiss said as she examined the side of the pyramid.

"I think you might wanna hurry in finding it," Yang said a little urgently, before gesturing at the side, the group peeking out a little to see Etemon coming out of the Pyramid's main entrance, looking like he'd been up all night if the yawn was any indication. "The monkey's here."

"Right," Weiss nodded. Unfortunately…

"Hm? Is someone there?" Etemon suddenly said, and they didn't need to peek to know that he was coming their way.

"Hurry," they all whispered urgently, trying as best as they could to NOT give Etemon a reason to come faster.

Eventually Etemon rounded the corner and found...nothing. "Hm...was I hearing things?" he blinked, scratching the back of his head, turning around a little. Though when his back was turned, a hand came out of the wall, and promptly flipped him the bird, before pulling back in, right as he turned around. "I don't know why, but I feel like someone just insulted me," he frowned. "Ah whatever! I'm in a bad mood now, so I'll go sing a song or something to make myself feel better!" he growled, doing a few punches before walking back to his trailer.

"That...was a little too close for comfort…" Tentomon sighed as they sagged against the walls of the hidden passage.

"Though...was that last bit REALLY necessary?" Weiss asked, unimpressed at Pierce who was snickering slightly.

"Come on guys, TELL me that didn't feel good," he chuckled. Nobody could refute that that was pretty funny.

"I certainly can't deny that it's nice to poke fun at him." Wizardmon said, laughter evident in his voice.

"That's true," Gomamon chuckled. "Still, we should probably keep moving. Don't want him to come back and maybe find this way."

"Good point. We'd better get going then," Biyomon said. With that, the group continued down the passage, Weiss consulting the data regularly to make sure they were on the right track. Along the way though, they found another translucent wall...and noticed a pair of Gazimon walking down the other side.

"Oh this is gonna be good." Veemon muttered so low no one heard him as he rubbed his hands with a grin, before waiting for the Gazimon to be pass the wall, as he ran out, quickly kicked one in the butt, and then ran back into the wall just as quickly. Unsurprisingly, the Gazimon started arguing...not that Veemon had long to enjoy his little prank, as Pierce pulled him into a noogie.

"And what in Oum's name did you think you were doing?" he frowned as he continued to lightly grind his fist on his partner's head.

"They freaking deserved it for being jerks to the Koromon!" Veemon whisper shouted.

"That may be, but that was incredibly reckless." Tentomon said, and if he could show expressions on his face, he would likely have narrowed eyes and a frown. "What if they'd seen you?!"

"Well they didn't, right?" Veemon defended.

"Well they could have," Jaune sighed, before finally Pierce let him go.

"Just don't do that again. We don't want to attract unnecessary attention to ourselves," Pierce said.

"Right right," Veemon shrugged.

The group continued on their way, eventually reaching a mildly intimidating sight.

"Maybe we should have brought Nora. She would have been better suited for this in the end." Ruby said nervously as they looked up at the large electrified grid in front of them.

"Why would she be good for this?" Wizardmon asked, despite still looking at the grid, which for some reason completely obscured whatever was behind it.

"Well, you weren't there for this, but we each explained what our semblances do to each other. Nora can absorb electricity to power herself up." Weiss answered, looking back at her scroll and tapping away.

"So… what do we do now?" Pierce wondered.

"I guess the first thing to do would be see if there's a way around this thing." Jaune said with a frown as he looked at the grid.

"That won't be necessary." Weiss said "There's a part of the wall which is fake, just an illusion… right… here." she said, suddenly sticking her hand onto, and through the wall.

"Well, you don't see that everyday." Palmon said, blinking in surprise.

"This is starting to get weird, even by our standards." Gomamon added.

"Yeah well, I'll take it over shock therapy," Jaune shrugged helplessly as Pierce walked past him and right into the illusion. When they got through, they were met with a large metal and spacious room, with the most notable feature being the glass pyramid in the center of the room. It appeared to be replica of the larger pyramid, with a smaller one that was right side up inside. Inside that smaller pyramid was a platform/pedestal and standing on it was what appeared to be a miniature robot with a glass dome covering the the circuits on top of his head, an organic left eye, and a mechanical right eye that was yellow in color.

"Ok… who's this?" Yang asked, finding the obvious Digimon had a somewhat odd shape.

"That's Datamon. The only thing we know is that he's apparently a really smart Digimon." Biyomon answered.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Datamon_

 _Datamon. Virus Type. A Perfect Level Machine Digimon. Rumored to have once been a Vaccine Type, Datamon became a Virus through unknown means. Not much information is known about him, other than the fact he has all the skills of a great hacker. His special attacks are Plug Bomb, firing several small missiles from his fingers, and Nano Crush, unleashing several small viruses to corrode away at his foes._

"Do you think he's the one who sent us the message?" Palmon asked.

"Correct!" came a new voice...coming from Weiss's scroll.

"What the…?!" Weiss gasped in alarm, before the group looked at Datamon.

"Are you doing that?" Palmon asked.

"That is correct. I am speaking with all of you through this device. Welcome, Chosen Children!" Datamon said jovially...or as jovial as the mechanical sounding voice could be.

"Okay...why did you call us here? Aside from you being Etemon's prisoner and all that," Pierce asked.

"I once fought Etemon a long time ago," Datamon said. "But unfortunately I lost and my body was heavily damaged. Etemon left my broken body sealed here, and on top of having my ability to formulate stolen, I was made into the supervisor of his Dark Network against my will," Datamon explained, by now they could hear the sheer anger and hate creeping into his voice. "However, one day I finally regained my memories, and from there I began repairing my body in ways that Etemon wouldn't notice. Once my repairs were complete, I began tapping into the Network to learn everything that was happening outside. Eventually I was even able to meddle with the information processed through the network, including information regarding all of you."

"Wait, what?" Yang blinked in surprise.

"Etemon's network is extensive. Had it not been for MY intervention, he would have sent his followers after you every day and night," Datamon said.

"Uh...thanks?" Pierce blinked.

"Now then, I won't beat around the bush. Despite what I'm capable of doing in here, I still require outside assistance to escape this prison," Datamon said.

"And you want us to do it, right?" Veemon frowned.

"Of course. I believe it is only fair. And as promised, I will be sure to help you find the Crests," Datamon 'nodded'. "More importantly, you and I share a common enemy in Etemon. It would be only logical that we aim to defeat him."

The group looked at him skeptically for a few moments, before they all turned to each other and huddled up, speaking in hushed whispers, Datamon somehow managing to sweatdrop despite being a machine.

After a few moments they broke the huddle. "Okay...so we were discussing and well...no nice way to say this. What guarantee do we have you won't turn on us once we let you go?"

Datamon's lone organic eye blinked at them "Well… that's very cautious of you. I suppose I can commend that, only a fool would trust a stranger so easily."

"Yeah well, where we come from, doing that tends to end with people dead, so the question still stands," Jaune said flatly.

However, before Datamon could say anything, a familiar and VERY unwelcomed voice cut in. "Well well, so this is where you brats have been snooping around. Shoulda known that you had a hand in this, Datamon," Etemon growled as he came in.

"What the?! How'd he find us?!" Gomamon gasped.

"We have security cameras you jackass!" came the two Gazimon...the same ones Veemon had kicked. "You got some nerve doing that to us!"

Everyone, even Datamon, looked at Veemon with dry stares. "You just HAD to kick them, didn't you?"

Veemon had the decency to look apologetic as he laughed sheepishly "Sorry about that."

"I had wondered why my Network was acting strangely since you all landed here. I knew it wasn't like the usual sabotage your group kept doing, so I was getting more and more suspicious," Etemon said. "I guess it makes sense now. So you've finally regained your memories, Datamon."

"I had completed my maintenance shortly before they arrived. It was your own fault for not noticing. Now I intend to have my revenge," Datamon glared.

"That so? Fine then, once I've dealt with these brats, I'll be sure to smash you so badly you won't be able to fix yourself again," Etemon said, before turning to the hunters, the Digimon all getting in front of them.

"We don't have a choice it seems. Datamon, how do we free you?" Wizardmon said, before adding. "You all get him out. We'll distract Etemon."

"No way, we're not sitting this one out," Yang said, as she, Pierce, and Ruby all stood alongside the digimon.

"You guys follow whatever Datamon asks," Ruby said as the Digimon all evolved into Adult form, ready to fight.

"Right, hopefully it's nothing complicated." Jaune said, as Datamon, glaring for a moment longer at Etemon, turned to the important matter and transmitted instructions to Weiss's scroll.

Weiss gave it a quick read "It's simple thankfully, go flip that lever over there." she instructed him as she went in front of a panel, Jaune going up to the lever and quickly pulling it down, having to duck under a stray missile from Ikkakumon who uttered a quick "Sorry!"

When the panel slid down, Weiss started turning the small wheel that would be more at home on a safe "Right-5… Left-8…" she started, before looking up as Birdramon and Kabuterimon slammed into the wall above her, the two of them looking down and giving her a certain look "Hurrying up now!" she said as she entered the rest of the combination quickly and pushed the button before giving the OK sign to Jaune who flipped the lever back up. When he did so, the mechanisms began to work. Good thing too, as Etemon had just blasted everyone into walls, Ruby narrowly managing to avoid being crushed by Togemon, while Pierce and Veedramon hit the wall hard, Pierce's aura breaking in the process. Seeing what happened, Yang's eyes bled red as her hair seemed to ignite, before she punched Etemon on the face. Hard. Etemon stumbled back, but soon punched her back, knocking the wind out of her.

"Ya know what, I think I'll start with you! Dark Spirits!" he growled, throwing the attack at Yang, but before it hit, a fiery red form got in the way, Birdramon taking the brunt of the attack, causing her to hit the ground in pain.

"Birdramon!" Yang shouted in worry. At that moment though…

"Take this! Taste the prison you put me in!" Datamon roared, as the parts of his prison went flying towards Etemon, smashing into the two Gazimon, while the large piece aiming for Etemon was destroyed by his punch. Too bad that also meant Yang and Birdramon were in the way, and acting quickly, Birdramon pushed her out of the way...leaving her to be slammed by the glass panel, flattening her against the wall before she reverted into Biyomon who fell to the ground, completely unmoving.

"What gives?!" Jaune shouted, honestly angry at the double crossing.

"You were quite right to show caution around me. Now that I'm free, I don't need you children anymore. I'll just handle this myself now." Datamon said coldly.

"Heh," Etemon chuckled, not at all surprised. "Boy does this bring me back. That's just the kind of mon Datamon is," he grinned, enjoying the looks of the Chosen at the machine's betrayal.

"Blabber all you want, I'll destroy you this time!" Datamon snarled. "Plug Bomb!" he called out, his fingers opening and he fired what appeared to imp-like viruses from his fingers like missiles.

Etemon grit his teeth before countering. "Dark Spirits!"

The two attacks met, and exploded, a force strong enough to dig a hole right to the surface, which released a pillar of fire from the explosion...and alerting the others.

"Okay, if that's not a sign the others probably need our help, I dunno what is!" Nora blinked in alarm.

"We'd better hurry!" Pyrrha nodded in agreement, before the rescue team sprang into action.

Back underground, Yang had, despite her broken aura, ran to her partner's side, frantically shaking her to try and rouse her, but Biyomon was completely unconscious, and she prayed to whatever god there was out there she was just seeing things when it seemed as if Biyomon's form was flickering every now and then. "Biyomon! Biyomon! No, please! Please wake up!" she said frantically, tears in her eyes as in her mind she was replaying the sight of her partner taking not one, but two major hits for her...because she'd been stupid and thought her semblance would be her secret weapon, as she'd thought so many times before coming to this world.

Before she could think on it further though, she felt a shocking pain travel through her, eliciting a scream from her lips, before she fell unconscious.

Datamon smirked as he retracted a taser into one of his fingers. It seemed fighting Etemon directly was pointless as he was still more powerful than him. With that in mind, he went for an alternative plan. "These two will come in handy for my revenge." he said, before grabbing Yang and Biyomon and flying (somehow) away.

"Get back here with my girlfriend!/sister!" Pierce and Ruby shouted respectively as they ran after him, Weiss and Jaune quickly following while the remaining Digimon did their best to hold back Etemon.

The sight there were met with was a rather annoying one "Great, another one of these. Weiss! Where's the entrance?" Pierce asked, some anger creeping into his tone.

Weiss ignored it though, understanding why he was asking so rudely, and she couldn't blame him as she started tapping away, before her face turned into a frown, then a scowl, and then a nervous look. "I can't find it! It's like it has layers upon layers of coding over it to keep it hidden!"

"So… nothing but luck to rely on, huh?" Pierce muttered, looking nervous as he gazed upon the grid, and knowing someone important to him was behind it.

Hoping for the best, he was about to step towards it, before the wall behind them exploded, the Digimon all getting thrown into the room and reverting to their Child forms (save for Wizardmon of course), with Etemon stepping in, dusting off the small debris that fell on him "Now then, I think I'll start with you lot since Datamon got away." he said, forming a Dark Spirits in his hand, before the pyramid shook, and this time, the ceiling burst open, and several rocks fell on Etemon.

"The cavalry is here!" Nora cheered as she lifted Magnhild in the air.

"We have to be quick. There's no telling how many of his forces are heading our way." Gatomon said.

"Where's Yang?" Ren asked as Stingmon and Angemon were bringing everyone to the current floor.

"Kidnapped." Jaune managed to say, everyone noticing how angry Pierce and Ruby looked.

Blake cursed at how badly the mission went "There's no time to save her right now, we have to retreat and think up a plan as a group. Gyro, Pyrrha, Greymon and Garurumon are outside right now and keeping the bulk of Etemon's forces distracted."

"Dammit!" Ruby shouted, tears in her eyes as they started running, carrying their partners in their arms, while Ren carried Wizardmon on his back.

"We'll get her back. We won't stop until we do!" Pierce said, knowing that while it was a failure for the moment, they'd come out on top later.

* * *

"So...how best should we get into the Pyramid, find Datamon, then ram Pandora so far up his metal ass that it'll make whatever Etemon did to him look like a NICE memory?!" Pierce was basically seething as they were now back near the RV, trying to formulate a plan.

"I want second dibs!" Ruby added as well, the normally nice girl was already entertaining all manner of ways to make the robot pay for kidnapping her older sister. Funny thing about knowing a lot about how to build machines, she knew how to take them apart too.

"Don't worry you two, you'll get your revenge, but only if you keep a cool head." Gyro said as he sat cross legged on a table.

"We know…" Ruby sighed sadly.

"But every time we remember what that double crossing little spark plug did, I just want to take him apart with my bare hands," Pierce grumbled.

"You'll get your chance soon enough," Weiss said as she continued to work on her Scroll. "Thanks to the data we already got from Datamon, it's only a matter of time before I decode it, and we should be able to find him. So far I'm pretty sure he's still somewhere in the pyramid at least."

"At least he didn't get far." Jaune sighed in relief.

"Who knows what he's doing though? Whatever it is, it can't be anything humane." Ren said with a frown.

"I swear to god if he tries to dissect her, I will tear off his limbs and shove them up his nonexistant-!" Pierce started, before Blake put her hand over his mouth.

"We get the picture." she said dryly.

"That aside...we have another bigger problem," Pyrrha said, having come back from the Sphinx mouth. "Etemon's forces have completely surrounded the Pyramid, so before we can even start to get back into it, we're going to have to deal with them first."

"Our top priority is saving Yang and Biyomon, so it'd be pointless to try and beat all of them," Wormmon said.

"Think we could try a diversion tactic?" Salamon suggested.

"That could work. Some of us could make a LOT of noise, while everyone else gets in while everyone is focused on the distraction," Nora nodded in agreement, fully serious right now.

"That means a majority of us this time are going to get his attention, right?" Agumon asked, looking to his partner.

"Right, and I think I've figured out the mentality I was in when I first activated my Crest, no promise on starting the day off in Perfect though." Gyro said with a nod.

"If it helps, I have learned illusion magic, so I should be able to hide us from Etemon to make him even more annoyed." Wizardmon supplied helpfully.

"That'd help," Gomamon nodded.

"Okay, so needless to say, Pierce and Ruby are definitely on the infiltration team...seeing as I doubt they'd take no for an answer…" Jaune said, earning sounds of approval from the two.

"I'll make up for my blunder today, it was my fault we were caught, so this time, extra careful, and I only kick ass when told to." Veemon said, clenching his fists, a bit angry with himself.

"Yeah, you probably should, cause I think we can all agree Weiss is gonna be leading the rescue, seeing as she's the only one with a means of navigating the Pyramid," Gyro nodded.

"And the rest of us will make sure to keep all of Etemon's attention," Blake nodded.

"So, evolving from the start?" Patamon asked.

"It's definitely our best bet." Gabumon answered with a nod.

"And I've got better news. I just cracked part of the code," Weiss added, before creating a visual of the Pyramid, and revealing a new section underground. "I'm positive he is hiding in this additional section, hidden from even Etemon's database," she explained.

"Clever," Pyrrha frowned. "He's hiding right under Etemon's nose, and using him as a shield without him even knowing it."

"So he's in the safest place from us, and in the perfect place to start an attack on Etemon too," Blake mused.

"Well, he gave it a good try. Too bad for him, its not good enough," Ruby said with determination.

"Hold it, the biggest problem is the area is surrounded by electrified walls. Getting in is one thing. Locating the way into the sanctum is another issue. I can't tell where the opening is, only that one exists," Weiss frowned.

"I'll handle that part." Pierce said "If there's ever a time for my stupid semblance to turn on, it would be now."

"Can't say I like having to bet it all on your semblance even though it always does come through when it counts...but doesn't look like we'll have a better plan than this," Gyro sighed. "Alright then, get ready everyone, we'll begin this plan at dawn."

"Right!" Everyone nodded.

* * *

The next morning saw Etemon's forces dealing with a night without sleep, as even some of the Gazimon who were manning the control room seemed to be half asleep. However, they were soon wide awake when one looked at a monitor...just in time to see a missile flying right at them, before it hit the Pyramid with a loud 'boom'.

"What the heck is going on here?!" came Etemon's angry voice as he stepped into the room...for some reason wearing a bathrobe which he threw off just like that.

"Hang on sir, getting a visual…" the Gazimon started before more attacks impacted the Pyramid, causing it to shake more before they finally could see what was happening. "It's the Chosen Children! They're attacking!" one of the Gazimon reported.

Etemon growled as he looked at the screen, seeing missiles, fireballs, spikes and more being launched at the Pyramid "So, round 2 is it? Alright then, I'll go handle it myself!" he said, stomping back out and heading for the exit.

Meanwhile, outside it was complete chaos as the group had attacked when the guards were at their weakest. After a long sleepless night, and thus they were easy pickings for the well rested group. "Okay, so far so good," Jaune mused as he and Ikkakumon were in the middle of a tactical retreat to lure some of the guards away and into a trap.

"Yeah, now the only question is, how long before…" Ikkakumon started, but didn't get to finish as…

"Dark Spirits!" came Etemon's voice followed by a large explosion.

"That happens…" Jaune and Ikkakumon finished together lamely. "Guys, the monkey's in the house!" he warned through his scroll.

"Right, we need to keep his attention divided as much as we can. Weiss's group still needs time," Ren responded, as Stingmon fired a barrage of spikes, further peppering the battlefield.

* * *

Meanwhile, deep inside the pyramid, Yang stirred...and woke up to a less than enjoyable situation, seeing as she was restrained on what looked like a metal operating table, with what appeared to be a scanner over her waist. "What the?!" she blinked...before she noticed Datamon working on a nearby console...and remembered what happened. "You motherfucker!"

"I don't know what that is, but it sounds like an insult." Datamon stated as he turned around to her.

"What was your first clue you double crossing tin can!" she growled, trying to get free.

"You can forget about trying to escape. I made sure those restraints would be able to hold any of you," Datamon said.

Yang continued to struggle, but it was no good. It was also at that moment that she saw Biyomon restrained against the wall, still unconscious. "Biyomon!" she called out in alarm, but her partner didn't respond.

"She won't be waking up just yet. It was fortunate I managed to put her in a stabilizer in time, or she may have become useless to my plan," Datamon said, before working on the console again. "After all, I need her to defeat Etemon for me."

Yang stopped at his words "Stabilizer?" she repeated in confusion.

"Yes, her data was unstable after taking so much damage yesterday, but I managed to fix that issue quickly." Datamon answered as if talking about the weather.

Yang however had stopped short, her anger dying a cold death when she heard that. She knew Digimon were made out of data, and if Biyomon had been unstable that meant she'd...she'd…

Datamon didn't seem to notice or care about her distress as he continued working on the console. "Honestly," he started. "It's pathetic. Out of 10 of you only one has actually drawn out the powers of the Crests, and of all the ones who could have entered the Pyramid, he wasn't one of them," he said in annoyance. "No matter, I will simply need to draw out the powers of this Crest to defeat Etemon," he said as an arm emerged from the machine, revealing in its grasp a red Crest depicting a stylised heart, followed by another arm emerging, holding her Tag, as the Crest was inserted into it.

Yang didn't even notice as the scanner moved, too lost in her own mind about what her recklessness had nearly caused to see that as the scanner slowly moved up her body, a replica of it was being formed on a table opposite of her. "Once the replica is complete, I will make use of it to draw out the powers of this crest so that this Digimon may defeat Etemon in my stead," Datamon said. "For the memories I lost and can never regain, I will make sure Etemon suffers an utter defeat," he said, his voice lowering into a growl as he continued to work, the girl strapped on the table unable to do anything but look at her still unconscious partner, guilt weighing too heavily on her heart, robbing her of her usual defiance.

* * *

"Well… this is just about how I pictured it honestly." Pyrrha said as she fired at Etemon, the monkey bending out of the way of her shots while still fighting off the Adults.

"He's kicking our butts to the curb." Nora added as Etemon kicked one of her grenades into the sky where it exploded right in Stingmon's face.

"Honestly, did you kids really think you could fight me with just a few Adult Level Digimon?" Etemon asked, laughing at what he assumed was stupidity.

"Honestly? No, just needed enough space for our secret weapon." Gyro said as Greymon shook his head after being thrown, getting back up as his partner's crest started to glow.

 **(Play Brave Heart)**

Gyro's D-Core shot the beam of light through the Crest, releasing the projection which soon sent down a blast of energy right into Greymon, triggering his next stage of evolution. "Greymon, Super Evolution! MetalGreymon!"

Etemon looked up and up, before sweat dropping as he saw the new Perfect level Digimon that now towered over him. "Okay...that's new…" he admitted.

"What? Did you really think we were gonna stick to being your punching bags forever?" Gyro smirked.

"Hope you're ready monkey man, cause this is sweet sweet payback," MetalGreymon growled, before launching his Trident Arm right at Etemon, who managed to jump out of the way at the last second.

"Oh yeah? Well didn't anyone tell you bigger isn't always better?" he growled. "Dark Spirits!" he threw his attack, the ball of destruction sailing right towards MetalGreymon...who promptly slapped it away, causing it to explode harmlessly in the sky.

"Oh boy…" Etemon gulped as the large Perfect and the Adult level mon who still had some fight in them were now stalking towards him, all of them having eyes that promised him a LOT of pain. This...could be a problem…

 **(Song end)**

* * *

"Here we are," Weiss said as they once more stood before a mass of electrified walls. "The chamber Datamon is in, and hopefully so are Yang and Biyomon, should be right past these walls."

"So, the entrance is right in here then." Pierce said, looking up at the wall that had blocked their entry last time.

"At the very least, let me see if I can't TRY to remove all the coding and make the entrance obvious." Weiss said, starting to tap away at her scroll.

"This is probably going to take a bit." Ruby said, glaring at the wall.

"I know you're both worried, but we're not going to be able to help Yang and Biyomon if either of you end up roasted...actually I think that'll only make things worse for her…" Palmon said.

"...fine…" Ruby and Pierce sighed, admitting the logic to the statement.

Too bad for them, they didn't notice the security camera that was hanging near the ceiling.

* * *

"H-had enough?" Etemon panted as he'd narrowly dodged a Giga Destroyer...which had just dug a good trench in the sand from the sheer force of the explosion.

"Not even close," MetalGreymon growled.

"Okay...this isn't working out as well as I'd hoped…" Gyro frowned. So far they'd ended up in a stalemate, as while MetalGreymon was stronger than Etemon for sure...the monkey was faster than MetalGreymon, meaning while Etemon couldn't actually hurt him...he couldn't hurt Etemon either. Nearby, the others were slumped on the ground, as Etemon had had a chance to use his Love Serenade...and quickly found that while it worked on the Adult level Digimon, it didn't work on anything Perfect and above.

Etemon growled, wracking his brain as he kept avoiding the cyborg dragon's attacks, before blinking as the VERY loud PA system of the Pyramid came on "Lord Etemon! Some of the children snuck into the Pyramid again!"

"What?!" Etemon roared as he turned towards the Pyramid, before it clicked in his brain "So you were-!" he started, whirling back to the others, only to stop short as he saw they were gone somehow "Well… they don't matter right now! I'll show these kids to stop messing with me!" he growled, as he started to run back towards the Pyramid as fast as he could.

Once he was out of sight, the area where the fight was taking place seemed to shimmer, before every appeared again, Wizardmon sighing as he rested his staff on his shoulder.

"Hate to admit it, but that was really lucky…" Blake said.

"Why do you say that?" Nora asked. Blake shot her a dry look before looking at the tired Koromon in Gyro's arms. Had they been fighting for any longer...they'd probably have been in trouble.

"Hopefully we learn how to master the Perfect forms before we have to do any long drawn out fights…" Jaune sighed. As it was, the Perfect level really was their Ace in the holes...in a way that made them need to use them carefully, especially since they only had one right now.

* * *

"Hm...no, that's not it...maybe...no…" Weiss frowned as she worked on her scroll, TRYING to crack the code.

"Any luck?" Pierce asked dryly.

"Not yet," Weiss sighed.

"...I vote we use Pierce's semblance…" Ruby deadpanned.

"Seconded," Palmon sighed, utterly bored.

"Thirded," Veemon agreed.

"Now hold on," Tentomon started. "Come on guys, let's not-" he tried to talk but…

"Heeere's Etemon!" Etemon grinned as he literally smashed through the wall….face first, flashing the closest thing to a slasher smile his goofy face could manage.

"Nevermind, go go go!" Weiss and Tentomon said frantically.

"I'm going! I'm going!" Pierce nodded, before they ran to the wall.

"Let's go!" Veemon shouted as he ran behind Pierce.

"We'll try to hold him off, get Yang out of there, and kick Datamon's butt hard for me would ya?!" Ruby said as Palmon and Tentomon both evolved and started doing their best to stop Etemon's advance.

Pierce nodded, staring at the wall as he kept running, getting closer and closer, and just as he was about to run headfirst into the wall, his crest started glowing softly, and he ran right through it, Veemon hot on his trail.

What he saw when he got pass the wall was… confusing.

Yang stood there, with a lifeless look in her eyes, still as a statue.

And Datamon was right behind her, tapping away at a computer, seemingly not noticing him entering as he spoke to himself "Now that the copy is finished, the original is worthless to me, I suppose it's about time I dispose of her."

Veemon nudged Pierce's leg, making him look down, before following his finger as he pointed at Biyomon stuck on the wall, who was nodding frantically and silently at the real Yang who was still stuck on the table. Nodding, he slowly crept to the table. Getting Datamon could wait.

When Yang saw him, she smiled, but looked like she'd been through mental hell, making him smile back at her as he discreetly shifted a piece of Pandora open… and a lockpick came out.

He worked on it for a few moments, but just as he was about to get her out, Yang's eyes widened. "Look out!" she shouted, right before Pierce turned around...just in time to get a haymaker to the cheek.

"Hmph, so you managed to reach this room," Datamon said with a frown. "Unfortunately I have no intention of letting you escape with her. As long as she exists, the ownership of these will be contested," Datamon said, looking at Yang's Digivice and Crest.

Pierce rubbed his cheek with a wince after getting that punch, looking at the Yang Copy that was standing in a rather sloppy boxer's stance. Obviously Datamon didn't have the power to copy the skills of the original, so when it tried to punch him again, he grabbed it by the wrists, where Ember Celica had been placed, and swung it around, slipping the weapons off as it got flung into the wall, putting them in Yang's hands while dropping Pandora into Veemon's and running up to Datamon, picking him up before he could hit any keys on the computer, and throwing him at the wall, his glass dome cracking at the action.

"Trust me, there's a lot more where that came from." Pierce said with a small growl as he grabbed the D-Core and Crest from the hands that were coming out of the computer as he walked back to the table, seeing Veemon fiddling around on the first lock, and managing to open it after a few moments, moving over to the other hand and freeing it as Yang rubbed her wrists and slipped Ember Celica back on and accepted her D-Core and Crest from Pierce while Veemon freed her legs.

"Did he hurt you?" Pierce asked her as he hugged her, relieved to have her in his arms again.

"I'm fine… just… I realised something I guess." she said with a sigh, returning his hug.

"Normally I'd ask what it is, but I think we should save it for when we're NOT with a killer robot...and your new evil twin sister," Pierce half joked.

"You miserable brats, I won't allow you to get away so-" Datamon didn't get to finish as Veemon had evolved, with Veedramon slapping him aside with his tail.

"Nope, we're taking our friends and getting out of here," Veedramon said as he freed Biyomon who jumped into Yang's arms and hugged the girl tightly...though Pierce noticed she wasn't returning it quite as strongly as she normally would…

However, any musing was cut off when the door suddenly exploded, with Kabuterimon and Togemon flying in having been thrown, but fortunately reverted to their Child forms before they hit anyone, Ruby and Weiss running in after them before Etemon soon entered the room. "Found you all," he smirked.

"Not for long," Pierce grinned. "Veedramon, bring the house down!"

"V Breath Arrow!" Veedramon aimed upward, and fired a blast right through the roof, creating a big hole, big enough for something to fly through.

"Yang!" Pierce said, earning a nod from his fellow blonde, as despite her doubts, she quickly grabbed her D-Core, allowing Biyomon to evolve into Birdramon, and wasting no time, they made their escape through the hole, Veedramon hanging onto Birdramon's legs while everyone else was on her back..

"Oh no!" Datamon gasped, a look that only grew more profound when Copy Yang was crushed by more falling rubble.

"Well well well, looks like its just you and me," Etemon smirked. "As much as I'd like to deal with those brats, you just hit the top of my shit list for today."

"Fine, I don't need them! This room is fully under my control!" Datamon said, before a hole opened where Etemon was standing, but the monkey was faster and jumped forward, managing to land a strong blow on Datamon, causing parts of him to break off as he landed a bit further away with a clatter.

"Nice try, using my own Network against me, but unfortunately for you, I win again," Etemon smirked.

"Damn monkey! I swear I will defeat you, even if it KILLS ME!" Datamon roared, before the hole grew bigger, Etemon gasping in surprise before jumping for the console, but right as he was about to grab hold of it, Datamon grabbed his leg and tried to pull them both down.

"What are you doing?! Let me go!" Etemon growled as he was being pulled down.

"I told you fool, if I'm going to die, I'm dragging you with me! Plug Bomb!" Datamon said as he fired his attack...into the mass of cables in the pit. "This virus will amass the evil powers and cause it to go out of control, sucking in everything nearby as its amassed into a massive ball!" Datamon laughed.

"What did you say?!" Etemon gasped, realizing what this meant.

Outside, the Chosen had by now managed to get away from the Pyramid, Ruby all but clinging onto her sister, who smiled weakly as she returned the hug. However, any mood for celebration was dampened when they noticed how all the nearby Digimon were being pulled into the Pyramid, as if something was sucking them in. "I don't like the looks of this…" Pyrrha frowned when they saw that.

"I think we all share the sentiment," Gyro nodded.

Back inside the pyramid, the mon being sucked in flew into the pit, vanishing into the darkness as they were absorbed instantly.

"THIS IS THE END FOR YOU, ETEMON!" Datamon laughed maniacally as the monkey was losing his grip little by little.

"Damn, damn, damn...DAMMIT!" Etemon cursed as he finally lost his grip, the two falling into the mass of twisted cables, yet when he made contact, he was only half submerged, cables starting to attach to his body. "Not...like...this!" he growled as he continued to struggle.

Outside…

"Look! They Pyramid!" Nora said, as they noticed what appeared to be dark energy being released...before the Pyramid exploded.

"That's never a good sign." Koromon said nervously.

"Betcha Etemon is still kicking." Veedramon said dryly, before they all heard a very familiar laugh "Called it."

When Etemon appeared from where the Pyramid once stood, they all noticed how he looked… buffed up, the cables of the huge ball of Dark Network connected into him and seemingly being the reason for his larger muscles.

The monkey laughed, juggling a Dark Spirits like a basketball "Let me tell you, I was honestly worried at first, but now? Now this is a whole other ball game!" he said, throwing the ball at the sphinx, and to everyone's shock, it was like the sphinx started to warp in on itself.

"Great, that was our way out." Jaune said nervously.

"And the RV was still back there." Weiss added with some slight annoyance.

"We can find the RV again later. For now we gotta deal with the monkey on steroids over there," Pierce said.

"Are you STILL planning on fighting?" Etemon laughed. "I'll tell ya this much, with this power you guys are 100% guaranteed...to DIE!" he roared before throwing more Dark Spirits, warping more and more of the landscape.

"Ok… this is getting worrisome right now." Tentomon said, leaning on Weiss's leg as he was still a bit sore from the trashing Etemon gave him and Palmon earlier.

"It doesn't help that Koromon just reverted back from MetalGreymon a few minutes ago." Gyro added with a frown.

"Now would be a good time for one of our Crests to activate," Pyrrha said, sounding a little nervous.

"Only one question. How?" Gabumon said as they were running to avoid the attacks.

"This...is really bad…" Ren frowned. "Most of our Digimon are tired, and Etemon's stronger than ever. Even if we do awaken a Crest, do they have the energy to keep fighting?"

Pierce looked at all of them, before looking towards Veedramon, who met his gaze, the two nodding after a few moments "It doesn't matter that it's impossible, we'll just MAKE it possible. If Etemon is so strong, then we'll become stronger!" he said, the glow of his Crest slowly growing.

"Taking this lying down isn't in our style." Veedramon added.

"So no matter what sort of fate we get told we have, we'll just kick it to the curb!" Pierce finished, as the glow of the Crest reached its peak. "Let's go, Veedramon!"

"I'm with you all the way, Pierce!" Veedramon nodded as the two charged forward.

 **(Play Brave Heart)**

Pierce's D-Core vibrated as it changed color, becoming a bright gold color with light blue buttons, before a beam of light shot out of the screen, going through the back of his Tag, releasing the projection of the Crest of Miracles. The Crest flew through the clouds, gathering energy as it ascended, and at its peak, it spun and glowed brightly, releasing a burst of energy that produced a powerful beam of light with what appeared to be a DNA helix in it, flowing into Veedramon. "Veedramon, Super Evolution!" Veedramon called out as he began to change. His limbs became more robust, with a pair of blades growing out of his elbows, and shoulder armor appearing on his arms. His horns grew longer and gained a more metallic sheen to them, armor covering the top of his snout as the horn at the tip turned as sharp as a sword, and his body seemed to become more aerodynamic in overall build. Topping it off, a pair of wings grew out of his back, and despite their tattered appearance, they still exhumed a sense of strength that promised the power of an apex flyer. "AeroVeedramon!"

Etemon was more than a little drunk on power, but his moment was cut short as a blur suddenly rammed into him, knocking him back a little, before following up with a strong kick...to his back. "W-what the?!" he gasped, looking around till he finally spotted the cause.

"This ends here monkey boy!" Pierce and AeroVeedramon growled.

 _Digimon Analyzer: AeroVeedramon_

 _AeroVeedramon. Vaccine Type. A Perfect Level Holy Dragon Digimon. Gaining wings upon evolution, AeroVeedramon is one of the fasted Digimon in the Digital World, appearing as a blur shooting across the sky. His body has not only become more aerodynamic, but also more robust and flexible, making him into a far better fighter than before. His special attacks are V-Wing Blade, an attack that can only be used when in flight, ramming through his enemies while energy is generated from the tip of his front horn to the end of his wings in a large V shape, and Dragon Impulse, becoming coated in a shroud of energy shaped like a dragon and firing it at the enemy._

"Looks like Pierce really got through for us," Ruby grinned at the sight of the new Perfect level.

"But do you think they can win?" Blake frowned.

"They can win," Gyro said with absolute confidence.

Back in the fight, Etemon growled. "Just cause you've evolved, don't think this means you have a chance," he said before throwing another Dark Spirit, but AeroVeedramon evaded without issue. "Okay...how about THIS?!" he said throwing a volley of Dark Spirits, but not one hit.

"Heh, you may have gotten power, but you lost in a ton of speed," Pierce chuckled.

"And that means you won't be able to stop us from doing THIS! V-Wing Blade!" AeroVeedramon called out, before Etemon was soon assaulted by a number of cuts from the Digimon that was darting all over him with his wings and horn generating energy.

"Why you…!" Etemon growled and tried to fight back. However…

"Missed me! Nope! Ooooh, so close! Nothing but air! No cigar for you! Whohohohoho!" AeroVeedramon evaded every last attack, all the while clearly toying with the monkey.

"Okay, I think that's enough messing with him. Time for the Coupe de Grace!" Pierce ordered.

"You got it!" AeroVeedramon grinned, before his body ignited with energy, which soon formed the image of a dragon. "Dragon...Impulse!" AeroVeedramon called out as the image was launched at Etemon, slamming into the mass of wires from the bottom and started drilling its way through, much to Etemon's horror, and before long, the image emerged from the wires, plowing into his chest, and blowing a hole right through it.

"N...no way...I...lost?! Etemon choked and gasped, grasping his head, before his body started to fold on itself, his form imploding. "Damn you...DAMN YOU!" he roared before he was swallowed by the mass of evil energy, which soon turned into what looked like some kind of black hole...and then it started to suck everything in…

 **(End Song)**

"Not good! Not good! Not good!" Pierce and AeroVeedramon said together as the winged dragon flew away from the hole, still being pulled back a bit at first before reaching his top speed, slowly gaining distance from it.

"I think this is what dust feels like under a vacuum." Gyro said as he got low to the ground and held onto Koromon tightly while trying to dig himself into it, the others copying his actions, yet they were still slowly being pulled towards the hole.

"Hang on! There can only be so much power behind this vortex! As long as we outlast it, we should be fine!" Wizardmon said...before he noticed something emerging from the shadows, a figure in what appeared to be a cloak/cape.

"Y-you?!" Wizardmon gasped, eyes wide, as the figure seemed to spread their cape, and a black mass flew into the portal, and had the winds not been rushing, one would have heard the chitter of bats. The attack entered the vortex and suddenly it became utterly unstable, and in a flash of white, exploded, the sudden force blowing everyone back, and scattering them to the winds.

All that remained was the figure, who smirked to themselves triumphantly.

* * *

 **Ok... a LOT just happened here.**

 **But we can all agree one of the biggest is about the Digital World being linked to both Earth AND Remnant.**

 **Then we gained the remaining crests, and our second Perfect Level was obtained, AeroVeedramon.**

 **And for all the Digimon fans who read this, you all know who the figure at the end is.**

 **And now, with the Etemon arc over, it's to move on, because...**

 **The Adventure Evolves.**


	26. 25: Battle on the Lost Island!

**Woo! New chapter!  
**

 **And this one is important, not only because it's the start of a new arc (and one of the most important from the original series) but also because of what the action is going to be, and...**

 **We're debuing a new intro!**

 **This time the song is NEVER GIVE UP, the first Xros Wars intro.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 _*Music*_

 **Narration: The Digital World, a strange and wonderful world populated by the mysterious life forms known as Digimon. Though they are beings made of data, they are no different than any other living being, desiring only to live their lives peacefully. However, a great evil threatens the world, and in its hour of need, 10 heroes have been called to protect it. Standing hand in hand with their Digimon partners, their Digimon Adventure continues!**

The scene opens up to show various locations in the Digital World, followed by shots of various Digimon living together in peace and harmony, until a series of shadowed figures appear, seemingly causing darkness to fall over the land. The scene changes to show the 10 Chosen Children with their Digimon standing at a cliffside with their Digivices in hand, before they raise them up, the Digivices igniting with a bright light.

The title screen then forms. "THOR Alter: Digital Story - Myotismon Saga"

 _Tafu no haato nandodemon tatakau to kimeta toki kara tomaranai my roodo_

The scene changes to show a grassy path as a number of footsteps run through it, as the scene shifts to show a group of humans and Digimon running across the field.

 _Chiisana puraido seotte kobushi wo nigitte mata ippo ippo gooru wo mezashi zenryoku shissou!_

The scene shifts to show the group clearly, as they run across the field, happy/determined expressions on their faces, some of the Digimon even jumping a little in joy, the group in high spirits, while around the hunters' necks their Crests began to shine brightly.

 _Tamani tsurai hi datte atte omodori ni ikanakute sora ga namida de nijinde meitemo_

The scene changes to show rain falling as the group take shelter under a thick group of trees. Gyro and Agumon as well as Ruby and Palmon are looking out at the rain, while not far behind them Yang and Pierce are sitting against one of the trees with Veemon and Biyomon. To the side, Weiss and Blake were looking over a scroll, double checking the area they were in, with Tentomon and Patamon looking over their shoulders, while in the middle Nora was seemingly telling some kind of big story, while Ren, Jaune, Pyrrha, Salamon, Wormmon, Gomamon, and Gabumon were all listening...with varying reactions from wry amusement (Salamon and Ren), confusion (Wormmon and Jaune), to honest amusement (Pyrrha, Gabumon, and Gomamon), before they are all interrupted when they noticed light start to shine in as the rain begins to stop.

 _Ashita wa kiito egao ni naru kara...daijoubu!_

The group look out to see Gyro, Pierce, Agumon, and Veemon standing out of the shade, and looking at the rays of the sun that cut through the clouds, before they turned to look at all their friends and with big grins, flashed thumbs ups.

 _Osoreru koto wa nani mo nai yo_

The scene changes to show the 10 Digivices shooting beams of light into the Tags, releasing the 10 Crests that fly into the sky, before shining brightly as they release their energy, covering the screen in light.

 _"Ore wa tsuyoi" to shinjite...iza ikou ze!_

The light reveals the 10 Adult Digimon glowing brightly, before they all begin to transform as they are bathed in the light, revealing a quick shot of all 10 Perfect level Digimon.

 _"Mou shinpai nai yo omae nara" sou sora ga waratteru ki ga shita!_

The scene focuses on each of them in quick succession, starting with MetalGreymon who has his Trident Arm at the ready, followed by AeroVeedramon glowing with energy, to WereGarurumon in a ready stance and Zudomon ready to strike with his hammer, followed by JewelBeemon with his spear at the ready and Angewomon ready to shoot a Holy Arrow, then Lilymon with her Flower Cannon ready, and Garudamon ablaze with fire, ending with AtlurKabuterimon charging forward and HolyAngemon with Excalibur drawn.

 _Ase to namida no kazu kitto kagayakeru_

The scene changes to show the Hunters with their weapons drawn and opening fire, as behind them their partners did the same, hitting an army of Digimon, lead by DemiDevimon, causing them all to explode as the group landed before the blaze.

 _Moshi fuan ni natta toki datte_

The scene changes to show a cheshire grin as the scene shifts out to reveal Witchmon on her broom as Myotismon's rises out from the shadows, his army behind him in the background.

 _Yareba dekiru to jibun shinjite_

The scene changes to the hooded figure holding her D-Ark before she pulls down her hood, revealing her identity as a woman who looks like an older Ruby albeit with longer hair, Renamon by her side as behind them Gennai, Keenan, Falcomon, and Wizardmon stand with small smiles on their faces.

 _Ashiato ga oshiete kuretta zutto...NEVER GIVE UP!_

The final scene shows the Chosen Children falling through the sky with their Digimon, all of them grasping each others hands/limbs, before their Digivices shine brightly, and the scene changes one last time, revealing them all standing together, their hands joined in an oath, determined looks on their faces.

* * *

 **Battle on the Lost Island!  
**

* * *

The blistering desert sun bearing down… a vast expanse of sand… the monotony broken by the sound of an engine.

"Any changes so far?" Gyro asked, a pair of sunglasses on his face.

"Slow movement, just like every other day we've checked." Pierce answered, looking down at his D-Core, before scrambling for it as they hit a bump in the road.

"Do you think we're gonna see everyone again?" Veemon wondered from his seat.

"It's been three weeks since we all got seperated back in Etemon's territory. I'm sure everyone is at least moving to meet up with the others." Agumon reassured from next to him.

"At least we were lucky enough to find a jeep." Gyro said with a small grin as they blazed through the desert as fast as they could in an open air jeep.

"Yeah… sucks for those Digimon that tried to rob us though." Pierce said with a snicker.

"You would think word had spread about Gyro and all the other humans by now that everyone would NOT mess with them." Agumon muttered as he thought back to the group of Toucanmon they had left tied up and attached to a tree.

"Still...it really makes you realize how...big...this world is, huh?" Gyro sighed...before he shook his head. "Nope, nope, not gonna let myself start to think that way. Come on guys, we gotta keep moving. We'll find something eventually," he said.

"Right," the others nodded. The four of them continued driving down the area, seemingly nothing for miles...until suddenly what seemed to be a fog of some kind settled in.

"Okay...weird weather today…" Pierce mused as they slowed down a little due to the lower visibility.

And then the ground started to shake "Is that an earthquake?!" Veemon asked, gripping the side of the jeep.

"I don't think that's an earthquake." Agumon said slowly as he looked around in the fog, seeing some humanoid, and some beast like shapes.

"Are those Digimon?" Veemon blinked.

"Looks like it...though I don't like the way they're headed right for us…" Pierce gulped slightly.

And then the forms of the various Digimon all became clearly visible, with one group clearly composed of more animalistic Digimon, and another composed of humanoid Digimon.

And they were fighting… no, scratch that, it was more precise to say they acted like they were at war with one another, and the twins and their partners were stuck in the middle of it.

"Hands off the car!" Gyro shouted as one Digimon (which he would later learn to be called Yasyamon) jumped on it to get to the beast Digimon on the other side, before Gyro swerved the car and threw him off, making him roll in the sand as he was left behind in the dust.

"Uh… I think we got BIGGER issues than them trying to get on the jeep." Pierce said, his face pale as he looked ahead, Gyro focusing straight ahead instead of his peripheral vision, and quickly understood what the problem was when he saw the large mass of land gliding along the sand towards them.

"Oh… crapbaskets!" he shouted just as they collided with it and the jeep was lifted into the air, with its passengers being thrown off, the twins managing to grab their partners as the landed in separate areas of the land mass, which soon moved up into the air, and with the fog surrounding it, it was like any other cloud.

* * *

"I think we need to start packing helmets…." Gyro groaned as he and Agumon got up from where they landed.

"What happened back there though?" Agumon blinked.

"We crashed into a floating/flying landmass," Gyro deadpanned.

"...should I be worried that's not weird anymore?" Agumon sighed.

"When you've played as many video games as I have, less and less things faze you… especially JRPGs." Gyro said.

"What's a JRPG?" Agumon asked in confusion.

"Story for another time, because we have guests." Gyro said as he hiked his thumb over his shoulder, and both of them heard sounds of surprise, lots of them at that.

They both turned around, seeing they were in some sort of village that was composed of wooden houses built on top of a lake, or at least the edge of it.

And hiding, rather poorly mind you, behind some rocks, where what Gyro believed to be a kindergarten worth of newborn Digimon and at least one Child Level, judging by the glimpse he could see from peering over the stone.

"Okay...they don't SEEM dangerous," Gyro mused...though he still fingered Ascalon all the same. "Uh...we come in peace?" he tried.

Tentatively, a head poked out from the rocks, belonging to a bear wearing a backwards cap "No joking?"

Gyro laughed a bit "No joking… I don't like waving it around, but I'm one of the Chosen Children."

"Really?" the bear asked, his eyes lighting up at the question.

"Really. I mean, you've probably heard how none of us look like a Digimon at all right?" Gyro pointed out.

"Yeah, well, they said you look roughly like a humanoid Digimon, but nothing beyond that." the bear like Digimon added as he came out "Oh, I forgot to introduce myself, I'm Bearmon."

 _Digimon Analyzer: Bearmon_

 _Bearmon. Vaccine Type. A Child Level Beast Digimon. A shy Digimon at first, Bearmon is quick to open up to others and easy to become friends with. When battles start though, he shows off his surprising physical strength and is a reliable ally to have. His special attack is Bear-cub Punch, driving his fist into his opponent as hard as possible._

"Well, it's nice to meet you Bearmon, I'm Gyro, and this is Agumon." the gogglehead said as he introduced himself and his partner.

"Nice to meet you as well!" Bearmon said with a grin as he bowed at the waist.

"So, where did we land exactly?" Agumon asked.

"The Beast Digimon village. It's one of the villages on the island." Bearmon answered easily.

"...okay," Gyro nodded slowly. "I'm guessing this island must be pretty big then to have more than one village...and its floating in the sky if what I saw before we landed was right…" he mused.

At his words though, Bearmon's expression became glum. "It's not THAT big…" he frowned.

"...okay, I feel like I stepped on a landmine here, but I'm guessing there's a reason I'm not gonna like for why there are more than one village on this island if the space isn't THAT big…" Gyro frowned.

"Well…" Bearmon started...then the explosions happened.

"What the?!" Gyro and Agumon gasped, as a building exploded, and out from the smoke, several Digimon appeared, throwing the village into chaos as several of the residents exited their homes and tried to fight back. While many did manage to fight back, the fact remained the assailants had the element of surprise, and thus several of the residents were deleted before they could put up much of a fight.

Just as they were about to get up, ready to put a stop to this fight which was turning more and more Digimon back into eggs by the second, a canon was fired, and the attackers retreated.

Gyro turned around, knowing the cannon was fired from behind him, and his jaw dropped at the sight of the large tank, and by large, he meant HUGE, bigger than any of the houses in the village.

"Okay...that's something you don't see everyday," Agumon blinked.

"I'm guessing those Digimon attacking has something to do with the problem?" Gyro asked.

Bearmon just nodded sadly, before turning as they all heard footfalls, seeing what looked like a large purple grizzly bear with red armored gloves and shoulder pads. "Bearmon, there you are," he said. "I've been looking all over for you again."

"Big brother…" Bearmon sighed slightly.

"Family resemblance is definitely there." Gyro muttered, with Agumon chuckling a bit in agreement.

The still unnamed Digimon turned to look at them, looking at them curiously, before turning back to his little brother "Who are these two?"

"One of the Chosen Children and his partner." Bearmon answered simply.

"The Chosen Children you say?" a new voice cut in, and Gyro turned to look at… a white hippogriff, with a few blue stripes in its feathers and a strange pendant around its neck, looking like half of a golden egg with a wing coming out of the side.

"Lord Hippogriffomon… what are we going to do about this?" the larger of the two bears present asked, turning to the eggs.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Hippogriffomon_

 _Hippogriffomon. Data Type. A Perfect Level Mythical Animal Digimon. A sort of chimera-esque Digimon, he is the leader of the Beast Digimon village on the floating isle. When in battle, he becomes a truly ferocious beast. His special attacks are Heat Wave, shooting out a incredibly hot wind from his beak that can melt through stone, and Sonic Voice, letting loose an earth shattering screech._

Hippogriffomon looked at the eggs, their fallen comrades, a sad look in his eyes "It pains me to say it… but it seems we have no choice but to resort to full scale war. Go and spread the word Grizzmon."

 _Digimon Analyzer: Grizzmon_

 _Grizzmon. Vaccine Type. An Adult Level Beast Digimon. Although he appears to be just a beast at first glance, he possess the spirit of a trained and honorable martial artist. Surprisingly nimble, he's able to use an enemy's power against them and reverse the tide of battle with ease. His special attack is Bodystrike Reversal, flipping the opponent down as they attack and striking at their vitals at the same time._

"At once sir." Grizzmon said with a nod, before running back into the village to deliver the message.

"Wait what? War?!" Agumon and Gyro said in alarm.

Hippogriffomon nodded sadly. "Yes, you see this island is locked in a terrible conflict," he started sadly. "We, the Beast-type Digimon only wish to live peacefully, but the Human-type Digimon that also live on this island have been attacking us lately. We've tried to settle things peacefully but they just keep coming, and now it seems we have no choice but to fight back…" he said, tears welling up in his eyes that soon fell to the ground, showing how heavy this decision was weighing on him.

"That's…" Gyro started, frowning, not understanding just why this conflict even existed.

"It's horrible." Agumon finished with a frown.

"It would do us good if you joined in this battle young one, morale from one of the Chosen Children aiding us would be great for our warriors." Hyppogriffomon said with a hopeful look.

Gyro had to think about it for a good while "It's… not something I can decide so quickly, and I'd need to speak with my brother as well, he also landed on this island."

Hippogriffomon nodded "Of course, please, take the whole day to think of your answer." he said, before flapping his wings and flying into the village.

Once he was gone, Gyro sighed and looked down at Agumon. "Well buddy, looks like we're really in it now," he sighed tiredly. Of all the things they'd had to get wrapped up in, why did it have to be a war?

* * *

"So...this fighting has been going on for how long?" Pierce asked as he and Veemon were talking to what looked like a child in a kendo uniform that was just a size too big for him and a bamboo sword at his hip, though the fact he had horns coming out from the top of the head, a tail poking out the back, and two glowing yellow eyes behind the mask made it obvious it was a Digimon.

"A really long time…" the Digimon sighed, looking sad.

"But why are the Beast-type Digimon attacking? They can't be attacking for no reason, right Kotemon?" Veemon frowned, referring to the Digimon as 'Kotemon'.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Kotemon_

 _Kotemon. Data Type. A Child Level Reptile Digimon. Day in and day out, Kotemon can be seen training with his bamboo sword, honing his skills to one day evolve into a great swordsman Digimon. Nobody has ever seen what he looks like underneath his mask, always managing to prevent anyone from seeing his face. His special attack is Fire Men, igniting his sword on fire and performing a traditional kendo strike with it._

"I wish I knew…" Kotemon sighed. "But that's how it's been. Now both sides attack each other and at this rate, there's been talks of us possibly going to war…"

"That's...VERY bad…" Pierce gulped.

Before the conversation could continue, they felt the ground shake a bit, as down the steps they were sitting on, a group of Beast Digimon suddenly ran in and started attacking, dead set on doing as much damage as possible, before one of them was smacked away by the flat of a large blade belonging to a green humanoid reptile Digimon that seemed to have a sort of native american vibe to him.

"Brother..." Kotemon said softly, though he didn't seem particularly happy despite what said Digimon was clearly doing to protect the town.

"Kotemon! Get to safety!" the Digimon ordered.

"Dinohyumon, sir! The Beasts are aiming for a pincer maneuver!" another Digimon that looked like it was wearing a mask and wielding a pair of wooden swords (and Pierce recognised it as the same kind that had jumped onto the jeep earlier) said as he deleted another attacking Digimon.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Dinohyumon_

 _Dinohyumon. Data Type. An Adult Level Dragon Man Digimon. A powerful warrior of a Digimon, he wields his huge sword, Akinakes, into battle. He holds his beliefs high, and is willing to put his life on the line for them. His special attack is Lizard Dance, wielding his sword in a dance of death through his enemies._

The fight soon became intense, forcing Pierce and Veemon to grab Kotemon (and any nearby baby Digimon) and get them to safety. Back in the fight, the Digimon of the town had managed to counter attack, boxing the attacking Digimon in...until the Digimon started to glow, and promptly exploded, taking several surrounding Digimon with them.

"Suicide Bombers?! Cowards!" Dinohyumon said in outrage as their attackers were now gone, but in their wake were a number of DigiEggs to show their fallen comrades…Dinohyumon grit his teeth in anger, before he and several others turned to another direction, looking ready to charge forward. However…

"Stop!" came a new voice, this one feminine.

The new Digimon that descended from atop a nearby home looked somewhat tribal, but the wraps around her head looked a bit like a berret, her arms, legs, chest and upper face covered in a gold colored armor, four angelic wings on her back, a pair of swords sheathed on her lower back, while in her hand was a staff that held what looked like half of a golden egg with a small wing attached to it.

"Lady Darcmon, we can't just let this go unchecked anymore!" Dinohyumon said, enraged for his comrades that were defeated and reverted to eggs.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Darcmon_

 _Darcmon. Vaccine Type. An Adult Level Angel Digimon. A low-ranking Angel Digimon, some call her the 'Goddess of the Battlefield'. She swiftly cuts through her foes with her sword, La Pucelle, a weapon apparently forged from the lost data of a holy maiden. Her special attack is Bapteme d'Amour, attacking with a graceful and magnificent technique with her sword._

"Be that as it may, we can't just rise to the bait, it's clear the Beasts want a reaction from us, and charging blindly would only lead to our downfall." Darcmon admonished.

"But…!" Dinohyumon tried to protest, but Darcmon stopped him, holding her weapon to the side.

"We must not let ourselves become like the Beasts. More importantly, we should see to it that the fallen are taken to safety. Their rebirth is far more important than revenge," Darcmon said.

"First time I'm meeting her, but your boss here is making a lot of sense." Pierce said as he walked down the stairs, catching the attention of the Digimon as they turned towards him.

"Yeahp! Before you charge in blindly, figure everything out, and make sure everyone is ok, I learned that the hard way." Veemon said as he had a Chibomon sitting on his head.

Darcmon nodded in agreement to what they said as she turned back to the warriors "They are correct, let us first get our fallen to safety, then asses the situation as best we can, only then will we decide on our next course of action."

Dinohyumon still seemed ready to defy the order, before feeling a tug at his pants, looking down to see Kotemon holding one of the eggs, bringing a sigh from him as he finally relaxed his posture, looking back to Darcmon. "As you say, Lady Darcmon."

As the warriors gathered the fallen, Darcmon turned to Pierce "Thank you for helping in calming them. I do not believe we have met."

"Ah, no problem, I've seen how bad things can go when someone runs in based purely on their emotions." he said, an image in his mind of a slash of red, and an arm going flying. He shook his head clear of that image quickly though "And my name's Pierce, my friend here is Veemon, we kind of got caught up in the middle of a fight earlier and then got swept up onto the island, I got seperated from my brother at the same time though."

"I see," Darcmon nodded kindly. "Well, you are both free to stay here for the time being. If we see your brother, we will be sure to inform you," she said as she turned and walked away with the other warriors.

"...she seems nice," Veemon commented with a nod.

"Yeah, Lady Darcmon is a kind and wise leader," Kotemon nodded in agreement. "She really wants nothing more for this fighting to stop, but…" he sighed as he trailed off.

"Guess someone just needs to talk sense into the Beasts." Pierce said with a sigh.

Kotemon nodded slightly, agreeing mostly with the talking idea, before looking a bit more happy "By the way, if you're looking for your brother, I MAY have an idea of where he could be."

"Eh? You do?" Pierce blinked. "Well...where would that be?"

* * *

"Nice place," Veemon commented as they now found themselves in what appeared to be either a cave or ruins of some kind.

"Yeah, it's kind of become a meeting spot with a friend of mine." Kotemon said, and they could tell he was smiling.

When they properly entered the ruins, they were met with…

"Well… this is quite the welcoming committee." Pierce said, blinking as he saw not only Gyro and Agumon, but also a Beast Digimon (Bearmon, but he didn't know this yet), a gaggle of Fresh Digimon and… the three troublemakers, of all Digimon.

"Honestly, seeing these three was not what I expected when I woke up today." Gyro said dryly as Pierce went up to him and they bumped fists together.

"Well, we weren't going to just stay at Piximon's place forever you know?" Dorumon answered, and Pierce noted him and his friends seemed more relaxed than the last time they'd met.

"Yeah, we won't get stronger if we just stay in one place." Ryudamon said with a sage nod.

"At the very least we know when it's time to run from a fight… boy did Piximon make sure we knew that." Zubamon said, shivering in slight fear as he remembered some of the training they went through.

"I'm guessing you three ended up here by accident too, then?" Agumon asked.

"...pretty much, yeah," Dorumon sighed. "We've been living here so we don't have to deal with the fighting outside. I mean, come on! No offense you guys, but the others must be pretty nutty to be fighting over the fact that half the Digimon here are 'human-types' and the other half are 'beast-types'."

"None taken, its dumb," Kotemon and Bearmon both nodded.

"Speaking of which, looks like we were on opposite sides of the conflict, huh?" Gyro mused.

"Looks like it. So...compare notes?" Pierce checked.

A few minutes later, and the result was…

"One of them is lying." Gyro and Pierce both said together, nodding in agreement.

"What makes you say that?" Bearmon asked.

"Well, from what we can tell, both sides are basically mirror images of each other," Gyro said.

"Both sides think the other is in the wrong and claim the other is attacking for no reason, and both sides have a leader who seems torn between finding a peaceful solution or exacting 'justice' on the opposing side. You can probably see the big problem with this picture," Pierce sighed.

"So the question is...who's the one who's really lying?" Veemon frowned.

"Well...if we look at what little we've seen...I'd say Hippogriffomon seems a bit more suspicious...but that's only cause he seems more willing to go for the war option," Agumon sighed.

"He wasn't always like that," Bearmon pointed out.

"That's what we thought too. Being a leader IS stressful, so this is nowhere near enough proof," Gyro nodded.

"And we didn't exactly see much of Darcmon either, so for all we know, she could be using the old 'benevolent leader' trick," Pierce admitted.

"I don't really wanna think like that, but I guess its possible," Kotemon frowned.

"Now we just need to catch them red handed." Dorumon said in thought.

"Easier said than done." Veemon said with a frown.

"Well… Hippogriffomon mentioned there'd be some kind of war meeting tonight, I can probably manage to get more information out of him by pretending to be going along with this war idea." Gyro said, even though he clearly didn't like the idea.

"I guess that's a start, don't know how I'll manage to get information out of Darcmon, but I'll try to do the same." Pierce said with a nod.

"By the way, I've been curious ever since we got here, but what's with the mural?" Agumon asked, turning to the wall in the back of the room.

"It depicts a battle between Ornismon and the Great Server." Kotemon started, gesturing to the mural that depicted a large bird fighting against some kind of crystal like being "Ornismon was a powerful evil Digimon that destroyed everything in his path, and he was sealed away after being defeated by the Great Server."

"Didn't Weiss say something about a Server that wasn't the continent when she was talking about she and Ruby had learned in Centarumon's ruins?" Gyro wondered in remembrance.

"I think she did." Pierce said with a nod, before turning to them. "Who is this 'Great Server' anyway?"

"Well...we...don't really know," Kotemon admitted.

"The legends say he's some kind of god, though they can't seem to agree if he's just a protector or if he made the Digital World," Bearmon explained. "We don't even know his name actually…"

"Well… at least he protects the Digital World when it needs the help." Veemon said with a shrug.

"A god of the Digital World, huh? Interesting. From the looks of it, he might also be the reason we're here, seeing as Weiss DID say the legend said he gave the Digital World the legend about us," Gyro mused.

"As long as he's not a Jerkass God, it's all good as far as I'm concerned," Pierce sighed.

As Gyro went up to look at the mural more closely, he noticed an indentation in it just below the image, it seemed like an oblong shape of sorts with a wing on each side, making him hum in thought as it looked familiar. Eventually he sighed, shaking his head as the information he wanted escaped him. "At any rate, we should focus on how best to stop the fighting. The way things are going, both sides are just going to suffer more and more."

"Right. First things first though, we should get more information. If we can figure out the root of the problem, maybe we can stop it," Pierce nodded in agreement.

"You'll really help stop the fighting?" Kotemon and Bearmon asked, bright expressions on their faces.

"Of course. Nobody's gonna benefit from all this," the brothers and their partners nodded.

"And you can count on them. I mean, they saved our Island from Devimon, so I'm sure they can stop the war," Ryudamon added helpfully.

"Thank you!" Kotemon, Bearmon, and all the babies smiled happily.

After their little meeting concluded, the group exited the ruins, about to head back to their respective areas to gather information, but they were met with an unexpected, and at the moment, unwelcome sight.

"Kotemon… what are you doing here? Especially with one of them?" Dinohyumon asked sternly, growling as he looked at Bearmon, who hid behind Gyro and Agumon.

"Brother…" Kotemon muttered nervously, a bit afraid.

"Yasyamon." was all Dinohyumon said as he turned to the Digimon with the two wooden swords

Yasyamon nodded, walking towards the group and reached out to grab Bearmon… only to be sent flying back by a strong gust of wind and a punch to the face. "Hands off, or I'll RIP it off," Gyro growled. A fight between the older Digimon was one thing, but he'd be damned before he let them do anything to the kids.

"I'd listen if I were you… who knows how badly my own hands might slip." Pierce said casually as he rested Pandora on his shoulder. "If you guys want to fight, fine. But leave the kids out of it, they clearly want nothing to do with this war."

Dinohyumon looked like he was about to retort, before a war cry was heard, and everyone turned to see Grizzmon and several other Beast Digimon charging towards them, forcing the Human Digimon to dodge, and before long more joined the fray and once again it was an all out battle.

As the battle went on, the newborn Digimon were all crying and the two younger brothers were sobbing, they just wanted all of this to stop.

"Would you morons just stop already?!" Pierce shouted, but the fighting Digimon all ignored him.

Gyro grit his teeth, growing more and more angry and annoyed as they kept on fighting "We said… STOP!" he shouted the last word at the top of his lungs as a hurricane force wind whipped up and slammed most of the fighting Digimon into the walls of the surrounding area.

Dinohyumon and Grizzmon though had managed to hold themselves in place, and seemed to ignore what had happened, rushing at each other, murder in their eyes, before both of them were slammed into the ground by Veedramon and Greymon.

"Either you both stop this right now, or we MAKE you stop," the two adults growled angrily.

After a few moments, it seemed like the two had conceded, so they let them go. Getting up, the two steadied themselves, before calling to their respective siblings. While the fight had been ended, it was clear it had done nothing to help the situation, as the two older siblings told their younger siblings to not play together anymore, before the two factions went their separate ways.

As the brothers saw them leave, a look at each other was all they needed before they nodded in silent agreement. This war had to stop, and it had to stop soon.

* * *

"So first things first, we need to figure out who's really causing the fighting, right?" Agumon double checked, earning a nod from his partner. "But are you sure they'd be willing to let us in after what we did earlier?"

"They may not be happy, but they want to win even more. They saw what my Semblance can do, and that'd likely make me prime soldier material," Gyro said simply as they walked through the town, Gyro tuning out the propaganda speech that Hippogriffomon was giving through a PA system.

Eventually, they reached Bearmon's home, seeing him sitting on a bench in the back of it next to the lake, looking glum as all the Fresh Digimon were crowded with him.

"How you holding up?" Gyro asked as he leaned against the railing, right next to the gap in it that let people get into the water by way of the ladder.

"Could be better." Bearmon said, clearly depressed by the turn of events.

"Don't worry, we're still planning on stopping this, and knowing my brother, he has the same plan I do, and it'll buy us plenty of time so that Dorumon and the others can investigate, it helps they stayed in the ruins when we left." Gyro said, trying to reassure him.

"Well… they WERE in the ruins." Agumon muttered, looking into the water, where Dorumon and Ryudamon where stealthily heading towards them, they were doing good though, he'll give them that.

Gyro looked into the water, smirking a bit, before making a quick cutting motion with one hand to the ones in the water as he heard heavy footsteps make their way towards them, Grizzmon coming into view soon enough.

"Gyro, that power you showed earlier… we could definitely use that in the coming battle." Grizzmon said, appearing at least a little uncertain of asking this.

"Well… I suppose it could certainly help put a stop to all the fighting. And that's what we all want after all, for the fighting to stop, right?" Gyro said, making a grand show of thinking about it.

"R-right, we Beast Digimon just want to live in peace, but the Human Digimon just won't give us that." Grizzmon said, completely falling for it.

"Well then, let's go see Hippogriffomon about this in that case." Gyro said, walking back out of the house with Grizzmon, Agumon following behind.

When they were gone, Dorumon and Ryudamon poked their heads onto the balcony, Bearmon turning to them in surprise as they grinned.

* * *

"Everyone's gearing up for a war right now." Pierce said, as he looked at all the Digimon that were getting ready for combat.

"Probably because of what happened at the ruins earlier." Veemon supplied.

Pierce nodding, finding that made the most sense, before stopping as Dinohyumon stood in front of him, narrowing his eyes slightly at the Digimon "What do you want?"

"Listen, that other boy earlier was one of the Chosen Children, yes? I mean, you two look alike, and you're one of them." Dinohyumon started.

And that rang alarm bells in Pierce's head "How do you know that?"

"Lady Darcmon told us about it." Dinohyumon answered, not realising the issue.

Pierce mentally frowned at that, knowing for a fact he hadn't revealed that to the Angel Digimon "I see… well, you're not wrong, but what does this have to do with what's going on?"

"That power he showed earlier, you must be able to do something similar, right? Some kind of amazing ability like that?" Dinohyumon asked.

Pierce had the feeling he knew where this was going, and was about to brush him off, before he noticed Zubamon walking across a rope in between two houses behind Dinohyumon, with Kotemon and a group of Fresh Digimon following him, so Pierce quickly decided to play along "Yeah, something like that. Let me guess, you wanted me to help with this upcoming fight?"

Dinohyumon nodded, a hopeful look in his eyes "Then, does that mean…?"

"I guess I have no choice. Fine, I'll help." Pierce said with an extravagant sigh, Veemon catching on that he had something in mind, so he stayed quiet and just nodded in agreement.

"That's great!" Dinohyumon exclaimed with a grin "Come! We must speak to Lady Darcmon now! She'll want to hear this."

* * *

"Okay, so we're all here," Dorumon nodded as Kotemon, Bearmon, and many of the Baby and Fresh Digimon were gathered at the ruins. "Now we need to start. Gotta find proof on who's actually causing the war."

"But how do we do that?" one of the Babies asked.

"Easy. We spy on the leaders," Zubamon said as if it was the easiest thing in the world.

All the young Digimon from the island looked at him as if he was crazy, making him blink as he stared back "Was it something I said?" Zubamon asked Dorumon, only to receive a shrug.

"Are you sure you can help…?" Bearmon asked glumly. Suddenly this plan wasn't looking so great…

"Eh don't sweat it! I mean, what could go wrong?" Ryudamon asked brightly.

Meanwhile…

"...why do I feel like someone just tempted the universe?" the brothers asked...suddenly...simultaneously...with deadpan expressions...while they were nowhere near each other.

Back to the ruins…

Ryudamon suddenly sneezed, scratching his nose in confusion. "Huh...that was weird…" he commented, before shrugging. "Anyway, let's do this. First things first, we gotta find both Darcmon and Hippogriffomon and then we can…" he started, but Zubamon suddenly shushed him.

"Do you hear that?" he asked, as he moved to where he thought he heard something, the others following him.

"What is it?" Dorumon whispered as everyone kept low to the ground while following him.

"Talking, two voices, male and female." Zubamon answered, completely serious, the sudden shift making the kids all think that he may just be dependable after all.

"Wonder who it is?" Ryudamon murmured as the trio all crept out slowly, looking in every direction, upwards included, before silently and slowly peering over the edge, finding a shocking sight that the kids, while they didn't see, could hear, and all recognised the voices now.

"It's coming along nicely now." Darcmon said, proud of her work obviously.

"Indeed. Once this battle is over, we'll be able to gather enough data to restore Ornismon. I'm sure our lord will be pleased to have such a powerful tool to aid him in his conquest." Hippogriffomon added, pleased with himself.

"It certainly took a while, but we did well," Darcmon chuckled. "Still though, this war was a brilliant idea."

"Now now, I can't take ALL the credit, your silver tongue was perfect for getting the plan started," Hippogriffomon chuckled.

"Well, at any rate just a little more and we will have enough. Then we can finally leave this island and its stupid inhabitants," Darcmon smirked cruelly.

Dorumon and Ryudamon pulled back from the edge, looking to each other with wide eyes "This is…" Ryudamon started.

"One hell of a scoop. The others will want to hear this." Dorumon finished with a nod, the two of them turning to Zubamon… only to see he had climbed on top of the small wall that stopped people from falling over, the both of them looking on in confusion.

And then he jumped.

They didn't even have time to scream in shock, as Zubamon fell like a rock, latching onto Darcmon's head and started attacking her, blinding her at the same time while she screamed in confusion.

Hippogriffomon was so stunned in shock at the sudden development, he didn't notice as Dorumon and Ryudamon came completely out of cover, looked to each other, and nodded, before leaping down, the both of them falling on his back… and suddenly biting on his wings, making him suddenly squawk at the pain.

Eventually the two evil Digimon grabbed hold of them and threw them off. "You...you heard that, didn't you?" Hippogriffomon growled.

"Yeah we did. What are you gonna do about it chickenhead!?" Dorumon shot back, already charging his energy, knowing his friends were doing the same.

"Chickenhead?!" Hippogriffomon balked at the insult.

"You children don't realise the trouble you're in." Darcmon said, striking her palm with her staff.

"We know plenty enough hag!" Zubamon shot back.

"HAG?!" Darcmon practically screeched.

"Yeah, so try and get us, you old fossils!" Ryudamon taunted.

"YOU BRATS ARE DEAD!"

And with that the trio did an about face, and started running for their lives, the two Digimon after them...leaving Bearmon and Kotemon to having heard the whole thing, now knowing what they have to do.

They nodded to each other, about to leave, before ducking back as they saw what had to be the evolved forms of Dorumon and Ryudamon take off into the skies, Zubamon's evolved form on Dorumon's back, with Darcmon and Hippogriffomon chasing after them.

It was after a minute that they finally left, intent on stopping this battle before it got any worse.

* * *

Meanwhile strangely enough, the fighting had actually stopped. Not because they'd made a truce or anything, but because everymon's attention was focused on one of the islets, specifically one where a fight was happening.

Two large figures suddenly rammed into each other, revealing them to be Greymon and Veedramon who were fighting for dominance, while a pair of figures jumped off their backs, and suddenly clashed in mid-air, revealing to be Gyro and Pierce, their weapons locked in a clash of steel.

As they fought, the various Digimon from both sides were cheering, some even holding up some DigiEggs, no doubt whoever had fallen in the battle.

"So...how long are we keeping this up?" Pierce grit his teeth as he pushed against Gyro's swords, slowly overpowering him as he WAS the one of the two with more muscle and power.

"For as long as possible," Gyro shot back before breaking the lock and kicking his brother in the gut, pushing him back. At the same time Veedramon slapped Greymon with his tail, forcing the orange dinosaur to back off a little.

"I REALLY hope those three pull through," Greymon grunted, shaking off the blow.

"They have to," Veedramon grumbled before charging forward again.

Back with the Digimon watching, on both sides a few Digimon asked their leaders why they weren't taking advantage of this chance to attack.

"Because we both agreed to this 'proxy battle' as the Chosen Children call it. As much as I'd like nothing more than to make them pay for what they've done, this is a means to end the war that will minimize casualties the most," both Dinohyumon and Grizzmon said, having no idea that they'd basically given the same answer. Of course they also added, "But be ready in the event the Beasts/Humans choose to violate the agreement."

By now the brothers were clashing fiercely again. The one annoying bit of their little plan to stall...they had to fight seriously or else someone might notice the sorta ruse. Fortunately…

"WAIT!" came a group of voices, as everyone turned to see Kotemon, Bearmon, and a number of babies running to the scene, looking like they'd been running full tilt from wherever they had been, evident by how they were out of breath when they arrived.

"Bearmon?" Grizzmon blinked.

"Kotemon?" Dinohyumon said in confusion.

The confusion only doubled when the kids started babbling about something, but the mix of being out of breath and apparently whatever had them so worked up lead to well...it becoming an unintelligible mess.

"Uh, kids? Kids?" Pierce tried to get them to stop, seeing as they were actually giving NORA of all people a run for her money in the babbling department.

"KIDS!" Greymon roared in their faces, causing them to stop...and push back some of their fur/clothes from the wind pressure of the shout.

"Thank you, Greymon," Gyro said a little dryly. Sure that got them to stop, but...well...the kids looked like they'd been through a wind tunnel. "Now, slowly, what's wrong?"

The kids took a DEEP breath, before finally… "THIS WAR WAS ALL STAGED AND DARCMON AND HIPPOGRIFFOMON WERE THE ONES WHO CAUSED IT ALL IN THE FIRST PLACE SO THEY COULD REVIVE ORNISMON!"

If this were an anime/cartoon, this would be the part where all sound died, complete with a record scratch at the bombshell the two kids just dropped.

"Huh… didn't think it was BOTH of them." Veedramon muttered, breaking the silence.

After that, both armies could be heard discussing what they just heard, before one person from each came forward, Dinohyumon and Grizzmon, the two staring at each other for a moment, before turning to their little brothers expectantly.

"What exactly do you kids mean?" Grizzmon asked.

"We overheard Darcmon and Hippogriffomon talking with each other, they said they were planning on reviving Ornismon and giving him as a present to their master." Kotemon explained.

"So, their working together huh?" Gyro hummed in thought at that, before thinking about something "Hey, does Darcmon carry half of a golden egg with a wing on it with her?" he asked, turning to Dinohyumon.

Dinohyumon blinked at the seemingly random question "Yes… she does. Why do you ask?"

"Because Hippogriffomon has one too, right?" Pierce said as he turned to his brother, earning a nod.

"And I saw a shape like that inside the ruins. The one with the mural of Ornismon," Gyro nodded...before a thought crossed his mind. "Where ARE those two anyway?" he blinked, realizing neither had been present on the battlefield.

Just as he said that, a pair of blurs landed on the ground, one large and purple, the other in shades of black and orange, kicking up a small dust cloud before they were revealed to be Dorugamon and Ginryumon, with ZubaEagermon on Dorugamon's back, looking mildly tired, compared to the other two who were completely exhausted.

"What the hell happened to you guys?" Greymon asked in surprise, not expecting them to see them land out of nowhere.

"Been… running… from… Darcmon and… Hippogriffomon… for the last… half hour… we pissed them off." Dorugamon explained while panting heavily for breath.

"And while these two handled running, I was on guard duty, deflecting whatever was thrown at us." ZubaEagermon added as he jumped off his friend's back, panting slightly.

"They should be… right behind us." Ginryumon finished, falling on the ground, Dorugamon doing the same "Give us a minute." he finished as they took a moment to rest.

At that, all the others present looked up into the sky, and were met with the sight of the irate and exhausted pair of Darcmon and Hippogriffomon.

"We're not even going to pretend we don't realize you already know," Hippogriffomon glared.

"Unfortunately for you...you're already too late!" Darcmon added. "Enough data of the fallen is already present!"

"And how exactly are you going to gather this data in the first place?" Gyro asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Knowing won't help you stop it, but it's thanks to this." Darcmon said, presenting her half of the golden egg "As soon as the two halves are reunited, all the fallen data will be absorbed into it."

"Neat… too bad you're going to lose it." Gyro said dryly.

"What the hell are you on abo-" she didn't get to finish as a shot rang out, and the golden egg half on her staff shattered into a million tiny pieces, both her and Hippogriffomon staring at it in horror.

"Nobody ever expects me to have a gun." Pierce said with a grin as he shouldered the rifle mode of Pandora.

"Give it up you two," Veedramon growled.

"Its over!" Greymon growled in agreement.

"No…" Darcmon grit her teeth. "It's not over yet! We can still revive Ornismon...we'll just need to release so much data he'll HAVE to absorb his fill!"

"And guess what, you're all the new sacrifices!" Hippogriffomon screeched in agreement.

"Wow… now that's what I call broken." Dorugamon said as he got back to his feet, having used the small conversation to rest.

"And I thought WE pissed them off, you just took the cake." Ginryumon added as he looked at Pierce.

"But in all seriousness, HOW do you two plan to win? There's only two of you and WAY more of us," ZubaEagermon laughed.

"...please tell me you did NOT just say that…" Pierce groaned.

"Uh...why?" the golden mon asked. On cue, the sound of something HEAVY was heard, as 8 golden rings had appeared on Darcmon's and Hippogriffomon's limbs, before releasing and falling to the ground with a MASSIVE thud.

"...hey, aren't those limiters? I didn't know some mon still use those," came a random voice in the crowd. Everyone on the immediate battlefield glared at ZubaEagermon who let out a weak chuckle.

And then to add injury to insult, a spinning weapon of some sorts hit him in the back of head, before it returned into Gyro's hand, revealing that it was the two blades of Ascalon, attached together at the hilt, and with the blades pulled backwards, making it look like a discus type of weapon. "Next time you feel like taunting the universe, I'll hit harder," Gyro deadpanned.

"Enough talk! Now you all die!" Darcmon roared as the two of them dive bombed for the two Chosen Children. However, before they reached them, they were forced to block as Dinohyumon and Grizzmon had jumped into the fray.

"All this time… you used us." Dinohyumon growled as he blocked Darcmon.

"We're going to pay you back tenfold for all the suffering you caused us!" Grizzmon added as he grappled with Hippogriffomon.

"And for all your help, we're forever grateful," Darcmon sneered. "You two were just TOO easy to manipulate!"

"So now be good servants, and be deleted!" Hippogriffomon laughed, before they knocked the two away, their powers now on the higher scale of their respective levels.

"Okay...this looks bad," Gyro frowned.

"Go all out?" Pierce asked.

"You know it," Gyro grinned.

"Time to go Perfect then," Greymon and Veedramon agreed.

 **(Play Brave Heart)**

The two D-Cores changed color before firing their beams into the respective Tags and releasing the Crests which soon released their energy upon the respective Digimon.

"Greymon, Super Evolution! MetalGreymon!"

"Veedramon, Super Evolution! AeroVeedramon!"

The two Perfect Digimon rammed against the attacking Digimon, and with a bit of effort, managed to push them away.

"Tch! To think both of the children who ended up here would have reached Perfect!" Darcmon growled.

"Nothing we can't handle!" Hippogriffomon smirked. "Sonic Voice!" he called out, releasing a screech of sonic energy, causing all combatants on the field to cry out in pain from the loud noise.

"Baptesme d'Amour!" Darcmon called out, before slashing at both Perfects, knocking them back due to their guard being down.

"Okay...these guys might be a bit harder than expected…" AeroVeedramon growled. "But we can still take them! Dragon Impulse!" he called out, firing his attack, but the two Digimon flew out of the way, evading the attack that tried to follow them.

"Giga Destroyer!" MetalGreymon added before firing his attack, the two missiles adding to the chase...only for the faster Digimon to trick the attacks into colliding with each other. "...okay, that didn't work so well…" he sweatdropped.

"Ok… this isn't going so well." Gyro said nervously.

"We need to deal some serious damage to them." Pierce added, trying to think of an idea.

As they were thinking, Ginryumon looked around, before spotting something "What about the tanks?"

The twins looked at him, before they looked to each side of the battlefield, seeing a few tanks scattered here and there, before turning back to each other, and grinning.

Back at the fight, several Digimon had joined in as well...but it wasn't going so well. It seemed the two had powered up quite a bit, seeing as they were knocking them all away, and even MetalGreymon and AeroVeedramon were starting to have trouble fighting them. "Why don't you fools just give up? It is your fates to be sacrificed to Ornismon," Darcmon laughed.

"Sorry, but we make it a policy to NOT take this kind of thing lying down," AeroVeedramon growled.

"Then you may continue suffering!" Hippogriffomon laughed...before they were both impacted by something, which exploded, sending them flying away.

"What the?!" Darcmon said in alarm...before they were pelted with more explosions causing them both to cry out in pain as they were ping ponged through the air.

"I hope that hurt!" Gyro and Pierce laughed from their tanks...while several other tanks came rolling by too, piloted by many of the now VERY angry Digimon. "This is for our comrades!" they all shouted, before a volley of cannon balls were fired, impacting the two flying Digimon.

"Ooooh...aaahhhh…" the Digimon on the ground couldn't help but marvel at the fireworks of pain going on in the sky. By the time it was over, they could see a very charred and VERY tired Darcmon and Hippogriffomon.

"Not...done...yet…" they gasped.

"Actually, I think this is where it ends," MetalGreymon said simply. "Let's finish them off!"

"Right!" all the other combattants nodded.

"Giga Destroyer!"

"Dragon Impulse!"

"Metal Cannon!"

"Tekkoujin!"

"Vantheon!"

The attacks all hit the two, causing them to fall from the sky, landing painfully on the ground...right in front of Dinohyumon and Grizzmon. "This...is for everyone who was deleted thanks you your plot," they glared.

"Lizard Dance!"

"Bodystrike Reversal!"

The two attacked without mercy, and in the last moments, the two treacherous Digimon could only utter a single thing.

"Lord Myotismon!" they shouted, a final cry of loyalty before they were both deleted.

 **(Song end)**

Once the two were deleted, there was deafening silence on the battlefield, before a loud, roaring cheer came over everyone, the realisation finally sinking in that they didn't have to fight anymore.

Hours later, as the sun was rising (no one had slept from all the celebrating) the island had landed down in the desert, the twins and their Digimon in a brand new jeep as thanks for helping put a stop to the war.

"So, you three sure you don't want to come along?" Pierce asked the former troublemakers.

"Naw, we'll stick around here and help them rebuild for now. I'm sure we'll meet again someday though." Dorumon said with a grin.

"I'm sure we will." Gyro shot back, glad to see that the three troublemakers had started to mature greatly. Maybe them stowing away wasn't such a bad thing after all.

"Take care everyone!" Veemon waved with a grin as the jeep started up.

"Make sure to double check new faces from now on!" Agumon added with a laugh as they drove away, getting back on the sand and on the road to finding their friends.

"Well, at least the island was able to make us gain some time, we're a LOT closer to the others now than we were before." Pierce said as he looked at his D-Core.

"Yeah, but…" Gyro frowned.

"Thinking about that name those two shouted?" Agumon asked, earning a nod.

"They were strong. Together they were stronger than Etemon...and they're utterly loyal to this 'Myotismon' guy…" Gyro sighed.

"Right...how strong must this guy be if he's got followers like that…" Pierce nodded, seeing the logic.

"Well...if he's who we're gonna have to fight next, then we'd better find everyone and fast," Veemon said.

"Right, full speed ahead, guys. We got a lot of ground to cover," Gyro said, as they sped down the path.

* * *

 **And there!**

 **Bet no one expected for the Frontier movie to be part of the timeline huh?**

 **Obviously, heavy modifications were brought to it.**

 **No Murmuxmon, no mention of AncientGreymon and AncientGarurumon, Ornismon is identified as a villain from the start, No revival of Ornismon, no island travelling between dimensions, Darcmon and Hippogriffomon are two seperate mon instead of the same one, and they work for Myotismon.**

 **To give you a summary of what they planned to do, sacrifice pretty much the whole island to revive Ornismon, and turn him into Myotismon's own personal attack dog.**

 **Trust me this isn't going to be the only time canon changes extremely, but for now...**

 **The Adventure Evolves.**


	27. 26: Forever Friends! WereGarurumon & Zud

**Next chapter!**

 **This one... I know for a fact all of you saw this one coming later.**

 **But yeah, the order of events is a smidge different from canon.**

* * *

 **Forever Friends! WereGarurumon & Zudomon!  
**

* * *

"It's a nice day today." Gabumon said with a smile as he took a breath of fresh air.

"Indeed. And according to the D-Core, we're close to one of the others." Pyrrha said, walking forward with a smile, glad to finally be meeting up with someone.

"I wonder who it is?" Gabumon said as he put a hand to his chin.

"Who knows? At least we found one of them, and I'm sure we'll find the others." Pyrrha said with a shrug, but looked on the positive side of things.

"Although I'm sure there's one person you'd prefer to find first." Gabumon said with a knowing smile.

Pyrrha looked away, a bit embarrassed "W-what are you talking about?"

"Pyrrha… you say his name in your sleep sometimes." Gabumon said dryly.

She shoved her face into her hands at that, her blush visible even through that.

"I think this is what humans call a crush right?" Gabumon continued, his lips twitching a bit.

She was crouched down now on top of hiding her face.

"Why don't you just tell him?" Gabumon finished, looking away to hide his grin.

"I-I can't do that! I mean, isn't it weird that I l-l-like him just because he t-treats me differently? J-just because he doesn't even know about me being famous, so he treats me like a normal girl. And he's… really sweet… and handsome." Pyrrha said, becoming redder and redder as she went on, her face eventually as crimson as her hair.

Gabumon patted her on the shoulder, though he couldn't stop the chuckle coming out of his mouth.

Eventually, Pyrrha recovered from her mad blushing, and she and Gabumon continued on.

Unnoticed by either of them, a small round figure was perched on a tree branch a few feet above their heads, grinning to itself "This just might turn out to be a fun day."

* * *

The two continued walking down the road, following the signal from the radar which was quickly approaching...yet for some reason the dot they were headed towards really was stationary more or less. "I wonder why whoever we're headed towards isn't going anywhere…" Gabumon mused.

"Well, it must be something important. Otherwise they wouldn't have stayed in one place," Pyrrha said. "Either way, we're about to find out," she said as they came over the hill...and saw what appeared to be a building ahead of them. It wasn't too big, but it was definitely still sizeable...oh and they also noticed the nice smells coming from the building.

"Is that...a restaurant?" Gabumon said.

"Seems like it," Pyrrha nodded. "And from the looks of it, one of our friends is in there. I wonder why though…"

"Maybe they got a job," Gabumon suggested with a chuckle.

Just as he said that however, the front doors were thrown open, as somebody was thrown outside "Go find customers!" a voice said, as whoever was thrown out landed on the ground, dazed a bit.

"Gomamon?" Pyrrha said in surprise to seeing the aquatic Digimon here.

Gomamon shook his head clear, before looking up in surprise "Huh? Gabumon? Pyrrha? You guys are here?"

"If you're here, then, Jaune must be here too, right?" Gabumon asked.

Gomamon nodded "Yeah, I'll show you where." he said, heading to the back of the restaurant as he gestured to them to follow him.

When they got to the back… "Right, that's 2 shaved ice and a custard pudding!" came Jaune's frantic voice as they saw him busy at work in the kitchen. "And an order of stew for the party with reservations!"

"Good good, glad to see you can get quick orders right," The Digimon carrying the orders nodded.

When Pyrrha looked through the open door into the back, seeing the Digimon, the best way to describe him was… a giant weed or some kind of plant of sorts, with two very long vines acting as arms and red and blue leaves on top of his head.

"Thank you Mr. Vegiemon." Jaune said, barely restraining the annoyed sigh.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Vegiemon_

 _Vegiemon. Virus Type. An Adult Level Plant Digimon. A Digimon with plenty of charateristics similar to a carnivorous plant, including being able to emit a scent that can lure in smaller insect Digimon. If faced with a bigger and stronger Digimon, it isn't uncommon for it to flee. Its special move is… oh not ANOTHER poop thrower._

"Now then, keep preparing that stew! The party that ordered it is an important guest for tonight," Vegiemon said before leaving the room.

"Right…" Jaune sighed, before going back to working on the stew that was simmering in a pot.

"Wow, he's cranky today." Gomamon commented as he came in sight.

"Don't I know it." Jaune muttered in annoyance.

"Hey Jaune? You might want to look this way." Gomamon said with a snicker.

Jaune sighed, but did as he asked anyway, about to say something, before he just stared at Pyrrha and Gabumon, the redhead giving him a small wave with an amused smile.

And then she was blushing as Jaune was suddenly hugging her. It took all of 5 seconds for both of them to register what was happening, and he quickly let go, giving some room as both of them were now blushing red as tomatoes.

"S-Sorry!" both of them said at the same time.

"No, I-"Jaune started.

"I-its uh…!" Pyrrha stuttered.

"What the heck is wrong with these two?" Gomamon asked as he turned to Gabumon.

"It's a human thing." Gabumon answered with a shrug.

Eventually the two calmed down, and soon came the next question. "So...what are you doing?" Pyrrha asked. She knew Jaune wouldn't be taking up a job all of a sudden without good reason, especially if it got in the way of the group regrouping.

"Yeaaah...about that…" Jaune sighed, before retelling the story.

"After we got seperated, Gomamon and I were wandering around until we found a lake, and from there, we found this restaurant here. We were both pretty hungry since we were starting to run low on provisions, so we ate here. When it came time to pay though, they wouldn't accept Lien. I tried to argue that the shops on File did, but he wouldn't budge, and that all he was taking was Japanese Yen, which I'm guessing is an Earth currency. So, we ended up having to work here to pay off the food bill, and at first it didn't seem so bad, it would have just totalled up to 3 days of work, but then he kept finding issues and piling up more work. I was pretty suspicious though, especially when he said some of my food was horrible, because I know that I'm a good enough cook to make a decent meal."

"Don't forget those dishes that fell," Gomamon added.

"Yeah. I may be a bit clumsy, but I know I had them stacked carefully," Jaune sighed, scratching the back of his head. "So yeah, now my debts gone up to about a week...maybe a bit more…" he sighed at the end. "So until I get our debt settled, we're not going anywhere…"

Pyrrha frowned at that, until… "Anyway we can help?" she offered.

Jaune smiled at the offer, but shook his head "No, this is my problem. Despite the fact I'm sure we're being sabotaged, Gomamon and I will do this ourselves."

"He does NOT speak for the both of us, please stay and help!" Gomamon begged.

"Guess that settles it then," Gabumon chuckled.

"Hey, what's with all the commotion in here?!" Vegiemon angrily stormed into the room. "And who are these people?!"

"We're their friends," Pyrrha said. "We heard about what happened, and we were wondering if there was a way we could pay it off quickly."

Vegiemon was about to say something, when… "Unless you can pay up in Yen, he's gonna have to keep working till he pays off his debt and our losses," came a new voice from another door, as from it stepped in...okay...there was no way else to say it. It was a giant DigiEgg, with a pair of green dinosaur like legs sticking out of the bottom, and a crack to reveal small yellow eyes where the face should be. "Of course, you COULD help him pay it off by working here too," the new Digimon said.

"Digitamamon, sir?" Vegiemon blinked, not expecting his boss to be coming around so suddenly.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Digitamamon_

 _Digitamamon. Data Type. A Perfect Level… Perfect Digimon? Really? A strange Digimon with a body covered in an egg shell, looking almost like a cartoon representation of a newborn animal that was only able to break its legs out, most don't take it seriously because of that, but it's surprisingly strong. It apparently claims to be at the apex of evolution due to being covered in a Digiegg, how this makes sense, no one understands. Its special attacks are Nightmare Syndrome, which fires a blast of dark energy that traps its opponents and harms them, and Swing Egg, closing up it's shell and throwing itself at the enemy._

"So? What do you say? Lemme guess, can't do it right? Figured as much." Digitamamon said, turning to walk away.

"I'll do it." Pyrrha said, making him pause mid step as he turned back to her.

"Seriously? You're going to help the noodle? Well, I won't complain then, more unpaid workers." Digitamamon said, seemingly shrugging, while Jaune sighed at being called a noodle, apparently, this had become common while working here.

"Well, if the boss says its okay, then fine. Get ready, cause we're about to get a lot of customers real soon," Vegiemon said, before turning and leaving the kitchen again.

"You really didn't have to do that…" Jaune sighed.

"I didn't, but I wanted to." Pyrrha told him with a more natural looking smile than her older ones, and unnoticed by everyone, her Crest gave off a faint glow for a moment.

Despite himself, Jaune smiled. "Thanks...Pyrrha," he said slowly.

"Great, now we finally got some help to finish up this ridiculous workload," Gomamon sighed.

"Okay, so what do you need us to do?" Gabumon asked.

After that, things seemed to be looking brighter for Jaune and Gomamon, as having the two extra pair of hands made working go that much faster.

… Sadly, they would still be plagued by accidents from time to time, the four of them suspicious of whatever was causing this, while the amount of time they worked there kept being extended.

By this point, they firmly believed that something, or someONE, was keeping them here, stalling for something. The only problem was, with the workload they were being given, there really wasn't any chance for them to actually think up a plan to try and find out who the saboteur was. Despite that, they kept their spirits up, looking for a chance, ready to take it when it came.

* * *

Meanwhile…

"Phew, looks like we're finally out of the desert," Veemon sighed as by now the brothers were driving through a cliffside road. It had been a few hours since they'd left the Island, and the change of scenery was very much welcomed.

"It gets better. Two of our friends are nearby...though they're more or less stationary for some reason…" Pierce reported, but frowned at the end.

"Well, we'll just have to find out what's keeping them then," Gyro said.

"Hope it's not something bad…" Agumon frowned.

The jeep kept driving down the road, before…

"Mmm...something smells good…" Veemon and Agumon said, sniffing the air.

"Huh, I smell it too. Something's cooking," Pierce nodded.

"And I think I see where its coming from," Gyro added as a building came into view. Parking not too far away, the group got off the jeep.

"A restaurant?" Agumon said, a bit surprised at seeing one all the way out here.

"Well, this must be a good spot for one." Veemon said with a shrug.

"The two we're looking for seem to be inside… somewhere in the back." Pierce said as he looked down at his D-Core.

"The back of a restaurant usually means a kitchen… wonder what's going on?" Gyro said, holding his chin in thought as the four of them went around the building and to the back door.

"...okay...I feel like there's a long story to this one…" Agumon blinked as they saw Gabumon and Pyrrha busy peeling potatoes...and from the looks of it they'd been at this for a while. And they were sure they heard Jaune sounding frantic inside for some reason, and shortly after, out came Gomamon and Jaune...looking like they'd run 5 laps around Beacon.

"What the heck are you guys doing?" Pierce asked dryly, earning their attention, and it felt nice to be the target of happy looks like that.

"Oh thank Oum you guys are here." Jaune said, relief visible in his whole posture.

"Maybe with 4 more extra hands we can work so fast we overtake the amount of time they keep piling up on us." Gomamon muttered.

"What are you talking about?" Veemon asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Do you guys want the long version or the short version?" Jaune asked tiredly.

"The short version, please," Gyro pinched the bridge of his nose.

"We ate lunch, the diner won't accept Lien, so we had to work to pay off the bill. But someone keeps sabotaging things, so our debt keeps getting bigger, and we don't have the time to find out who's doing this," Gomamon explained.

"We found them and Pyrrha volunteered to help, but even with the four of us, whoever is trying to stall us is still making it hard for us to do anything…" Gabumon added.

"As it is, the debt's been extended to almost a month…" Pyrrha sighed.

"Why not just straight up run away?" Pierce couldn't help but ask.

"Because we didn't want to make it so another person would get tricked or something similar to what happened to us, that, and I WANT to be an honest person and make up for my mistake." Jaune said with a sigh, his crest giving off a faint glow in his hoodie for just a moment.

"Then I guess all that's left is to catch the saboteur," Gyro nodded. "From what you said, as long as whoever is purposely causing problems is around, that debt isn't gonna get worked off."

"Yeah, that's true. The question is...how are we supposed to do that?" Gomamon said with a nod, before tapping his chin in thought.

"You leave that...to us," Pierce grinned. "First things first...let's lay out what's been happening."

"Right…" Jaune sighed. He...wasn't really looking forward to having to retell the last couple of weeks, but knowing it was necessary, he laid it out for them.

"Okay...so from what I can tell, it's safe to say whoever is doing this is targeting Jaune the most," Veemon frowned.

"But why?" Agumon wondered.

"Actually...doesn't it feel like it's gotten more intense since Pyrrha and Gabumon started helping?" Pierce pointed out.

"Now that you mention, it kind of has." Jaune said, thinking back on it.

"Why would they redouble their efforts so much?" Gabumon wondered.

"It's almost like… their trying to make Jaune seem unreliable." Pyrrha said, starting to realise a few things.

At that moment, Gyro's eyes widened "Wait… Jaune, some of those accidents, were they things that Pyrrha made that the person made it seem like you messed up?"

"Can you reword that a bit simpler please?" Gomamon asked, looking at him a little confused.

Gyro sighed "Did the perpetrator make it seem like Jaune is messing up Pyrrha's work specifically?"

"Now that you mention it…" Gabumon muttered, trailing off.

"I… I think so yeah. But, why?" Jaune asked.

"Their trying to drive a wedge between you two… they're not specifically targeting you, but your Crests, Reliability and Friendship. They're trying to stop them from activating." Gyro explained having figured out the motive.

"Okay...so we can agree whoever is doing this, they're probably working for someone who REALLY doesn't want us to reach Perfect…" Gomamon frowned.

"Still...how do we catch them in the act?" Gabumon frowned.

The group thought about it for a while...before Pierce snapped his fingers. "I got it! Why don't...we give them what they want?"

* * *

"You moron! Can't you do ANYTHING right?!" Vegiemon shouted as he slammed the pot of soup Jaune had just cooked aside. "How can we possibly serve this SLOP to our customers?!" he roared.

"But that can't be right. That was a special recipe my grandmother taught me, I even got the ingredients for it so Jaune could make it as close to the real recipe as possible," Pyrrha spoke up 'distress' in her eyes.

"Well then Mr. Screw up here must have messed up the recipe somehow! Start over!" Vegiemon ordered.

The two were silent for a moment, seemingly reeling from what they'd heard...until Pyrrha noticed a small glint in a bush outside the window. "I...I can't take it anymore!" she said.

"P-Pyrrha?" Jaune said in 'surprise'.

"This was supposed to be just for a week! But now look at it! We've been here for a few days and suddenly we're going to be stuck working here for a month!" Pyrrha shouted.

"B-But it wasn't my fault! I followed the recipe to the letter! S-Somebody must have sabotaged me!" Jaune said as he 'tried to explain'.

"Oh, you mean like with the dishes? Or with the potatoes?!" Pyrrha shot back in 'exhasperation'. "Is there really some 'mysterious saboteur', or have you just been making excuses?!" she snapped.

"N-no! I've been trying harder than anyone to pay off the debts! You gotta believe me!" Jaune 'pleaded'.

"I'm done, Jaune," Pyrrha said 'coldly'. "I've wasted enough time here. I'm going to do something actually important and find the others," she said, before putting the appron she had been wearing aside, and walking out the door.

"Pyrrha!" Jaune tried 'desperately' to get her to come back...before sinking on the ground, face in his hands. "Why…? Why can't I ever get it right…?" he 'sobbed', though if one looked closely, he had an eye peeking through his fingers, to see another glint from another bush, and under his hands, his lips quirked into a smirk.

* * *

Pyrrha was 'angrily' walking to the shore, Gabumon by her side. However, before they could get that far, they were stopped by Digitamamon getting in front of them "And where do you think you're going?"

"Away from here, obviously. I can't take it anymore!" Pyrrha said, continuing to play her part.

"Sorry, but no. You're going to keep working here, there's still a debt to pay back." Digitamamon insisted.

"It's not MY debt." Pyrrha pointed out.

Digitamamon grumbled, before she got the impression he was smirking "Fine then, but if you do leave, who knows what'll happen to that noodle?"

Inside, Pyrrha was angry at what he was implying, but outside, she kept her act "I don't care." she said, turning her head away from him.

"Are you sure? At this point I may just work him to the bone. He's been SUCH a decent source of free employment," Digitamamon smirked.

"And I'm supposed to care...why?" Pyrrha said, though inwardly she felt like retching at the words coming out of her mouth.

"Huh, that so? Well then I'm just gonna say it straight, I can't let you leave," Digitamamon growled.

"And why is that? You seem quite keen on keeping us around, and something tells me it's NOT the free work," Pyrrha frowned.

"You'd be right, I'm tired of trying to come up with excuses, so let me put it this way, I'm being paid good money to keep you working in my restaurant." Digitamamon explained, some frustration in his voice. "But then, I got the impression that little imp just wanted you out of the way for some reason. This works JUST fine too," he said, before he seemed to grow larger, his limbs retracting into his shell and the crack for his eyes closing, making him look like one BIG egg.

"Look out!" Jaune shouted, pushing her and Gabumon out of the way, right as Digitamamon tried to ram her. Gomamon coming up not far behind him.

"What the?! You?! I thought she'd abandoned you!" Digitamamon said in surprise.

"Its called 'acting'," Pyrrha smirked back as she and Jaune got up.

"And thanks for admitting to what you were doing. Now I don't feel like I need to own up to anything, seeing as someone clearly paid you way more than I owed you," Jaune glared. Sure he had had an inkling this was likely the case, but he was still MAD at finding out it was actually happening.

"Idiot!" came a new voice, as out of a nearby tree, a small imp-like Digimon, mainly round in shape, with a pair of bat wings and bird-like talons for legs, with a patchwork-like design and color scheme that reminded them of another Digimon.

"DemiDevimon?!" Digitamamon said in surprise

 _Digimon Analyzer: DemiDevimon_

 _DemiDevimon. Virus Type. A Child Level Mini Devil Digimon. A small Digimon who acts as a familiar to far more powerful Digimon, yet also embodies the traits of an evil Digimon, being cunning and cruel. It's rarely seen on its own, as it likes to avoid direct combat. Its special attack is Demi Dart, firing a syringe that turns data to stone, and if it hits a Digimon (or human) will drain their blood._

"I can't believe you gave it away! You can forget about that extra payment!" DemiDevimon said angrily.

"I can't believe the guy responsible for this actually went and confessed it right in front of the guys they were victimizing," came Gyro's amused voice as he, Pierce, Agumon, and Veemon stepped out of the bushes.

"So, now that that's been cleared up, it's time we kick your butts to last week for what you did to our friends," Pierce said, unhooking Pandora, as all the hunters drew their weapons, and DemiDevimon looked nervous.

"So it's come to this…" Digitamamon frowned. "Fine then, this is honestly way easier anyway. I'll just take you all out!"

"You won't find us THAT easy to beat!" Gomamon grinned. "Get ready, cause its payback time!"

"Agumon, Evolution! Greymon!"

"Veemon, Evolution! Veedramon!"

"Gabumon, Evolution! Garurumon!"

"Gomamon Evolution! Ikkakumon!"

"Fine, I'll take you all on!" Digitamamon growled, not the least bit deterred in the face of four Adult Digimon.

"Let's see how hard that shell is!" Veedramon smirked, before firing a V-Breath Arrow at him...only for Digitamamon to retract, the attack doing...absolutely nothing.

"...okay, so its QUITE hard…" Garurumon blinked.

"Then everyone hit it together!" Greymon said, to which they did...no effect.

"...okay, this could be a problem…" Ikkakumon gulped.

Fortunately in the meantime, the hunters weren't having nearly as much trouble.

"COME BACK HERE SO I CAN SKIN YOU ALIVE FOR MAKING ME WORK TO THE BONE THEN SABOTAGING EVERYTHING AND MAKING ME FEEL LIKE AN INCOMPETENT MORON...AGAIN!" Jaune shouted as he was chasing DemiDevimon with his sword drawn and swinging with anger filled wild strikes, the little imp looking scared shitless.

Yep, not nearly as much trouble.

"Well, this is a nice reminder to never piss him off." Gyro said dryly.

"Last time he snapped like this was against Kokatorimon from what everyone else said." Pierce added just as dry.

"Considering what happened both times though...I can't really blame him…" Pyrrha sweat dropped.

"...so...should we help him or let him work off the weeks of anger and frustration?" Gyro asked.

"Give him a few minutes, he really needs them." Pyrrha said with a firm nod, but nonetheless started following Jaune to make sure he didn't fall for any traps.

"Right. Now...another problem...what do we do about shell head over there?" Pierce asked, right as Greymon went slamming into a tree thanks to a tackle from Digitamamon. "He's kinda kicking their butts…"

"Well, the answer is obvious if you ask me." Gyro said as his Crest was starting to shine, but just before it activated…

"Hold it right there!" Vegiemon shouted as he hopped close, a grin on his face, while in his two arms were… Jaune and Pyrrha, the two wrapped up to the point their mouths were covered, both of them struggling to get free.

"Heh, looks like someone else got caught," DemiDevimon smirked, though inwardly he was sighing in relief that Vegiemon showed up when he did. Jaune had been VERY close to catching him, thus he made a mental note to NEVER try this kind of plot again...these kids were DANGEROUS. "So yeah, even try to go Perfect, and these two get it!" DemiDevimon smirked.

"Good work, Vegiemon. Now then...Nightmare Syndrome!" Digitamamon called out, releasing what appeared to be a black creature of some kind from his shell, which hit all four of the Adult Digimon, trapping them in a dark sphere, before breaking up, causing them all to hit the ground painfully.

"Damn, the oldest trick in the coward's book," Gyro growled.

"Still perfectly viable though," Vegiemon said shamelessly.

"...plant monster's got a point…" Pierce sighed begrudgingly.

"Right, so hold still, or these two get-YEOWCH!" Vegiemon was cut short when Jaune had reached out with his mouth...and bit down on his other tentacle, freeing Pyrrha in the process.

"Why you…!" Vegiemon growled as he started to squeeze.

"Jaune!" Pyrrha and Ikkakumon shouted in alarm.

"Don't worry about me!" Jaune shouted, gritting through the pain. "Focus on beating these guys up first! I'll be fine!" he shouted. As he did, his Crest started to glow.

"Shut up!" Vegiemon growled, squeezing harder.

"I won't abandon you!" Pyrrha said, before kicking up dirt into Vegimon's face and attacking him with Milo, making him drop Jaune, all the while, the glow of her Crest was increasing.

"And get out of here!" Gyro shouted as he kicked Vegiemon away while Pyrrha focused on helping Jaune.

"P-Pyrrha?" Jaune gasped, getting the air back into his lungs.

"I'm not about to abandon you like that. I've come to realise recently that you… that all of your are precious friends to me, that I don't want to give up." as she said this, Gyro and Pierce groaned in the background… while their Digimon were still getting their butts kicked. "That's why...I'm going to fight to protect all of you!"

"Not alone you're not," Jaune said with a smile. "I know I'm not the best fighter, I can be a bit clumsy, and well...I've not had the best track record in the past...but I'm not letting any of my friends fight alone, not when I can still do something."

At that moment, both Crests around their necks started to glow brightly, before they reached their peak.

"Oh no!" DemiDevimon gasped, before flying away, realizing he'd failed.

 **(Play Brave Heart)**

Both Pyrrha and Jaune's D-Cores vibrated before changing color, becoming Blue with silver buttons and Grey with indigo buttons respectively, before both shot out beams of light into their respective tags, releasing the Crests which both flew through the clouds, dispersing them as the Crests rose into the sky, gathering energy, before releasing a burst of light, and sending down the beam of concentrated energy to their respective partners.

"Garurumon, Super Evolution!" Garurumon called out as his body changed. He soon got on his hind legs, as his limbs and structure changed. He became smaller, with his body becoming bipedal, his front paws becoming like arms and hands, as a military dog tag appeared around his neck, followed by a pair of somewhat ragged looking pants with skulls on them forming on his lower body, and a sash appearing over his torso, followed by a shoulder guard on his left shoulder as his left arm was encased in a blue fabric like material with a couple of belts around his wrist and palm, and a brass knuckle over his fingers. Following that, a pair of knee guards appeared over his pants (his right knee spiked), followed by more belts and some wrappings on his left arm as he punched forward, followed by a pair of kicks, before he soon was howling at the moon in the background. "WereGarurumon!"

"Ikkakumon, Super Evolution!" Ikkakumon called out, as his body was engulfed in a literal wave as he was submerged, the water becoming a vortex, before from the water his new form emerged. His body looked like a walrus with legs and arms instead of fins, his left arm covered in orange fur and had three large claws while belts were wrapped around his left hand, another belt wrapped around his torso like a sash. His feet were covered in the same fur, while his left shoulder has a metal plate with a dolphin engraving on it. The top of his head was, once more, covered in the orange fur, and had two long tusks coming out from his upper jaw, while a jagged horn was on top of his head, and his right arm was simply gray like the rest of his body with normal fingers that had small claws at their tips. Covering his back was a huge shell with three large spikes on them, and a few pieces of metal bolted into it, a long tail like a horse's coming out from underneath the shell, and overall his new body was simple HUGE. Finally, a bolt of lightning struck down as he reached up and grabbed it, as it took the form of a large hammer, giving it a wide swing as he hefted it for battle. "Zudomon!"

"Heh, you know, I just realized something funny," Gyro said.

"What?" Pierce asked.

"DemiDevimon was trying to prevent their Crests from activating...but all he did was make them activate," Gyro chuckled.

"That IS pretty funny." Greymon chuckled as he shook his head, before looking at his two newly evolved friends "Looking good guys."

"This is going to take some getting used to." WereGarurumon said as he looked at his hands before looking himself over a bit more.

 _Digimon Analyser: WereGarurumon_

 _WereGarurumon. Data Type. A Perfect Level Beast Man Digimon. He lost some of his speed upon evolution, but makes up for it in terms of raw combat power. He kept his leg strength from his previous form though, giving him powerful kicks, and granting him one of the best jumping skills amongst Digimon. His special attacks are Kaiser Nail, where he attacks with glowing claws that can send out a thin wave of energy, and the Crescent Moon Kick, which sends out a crescent shaped blade of energy from his leg._

"How's the weather up there?" Veedramon asked with a laugh as he looked up at Zudomon.

"Right, not surprised that one came up already." Zudomon said with a roll of his eyes as he rested his hammer on his shoulder.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Zudomon_

 _Zudomon. Vaccine Type. A Perfect Level Sea Beast Digimon. Evolution granted him extreme strength, expressed through his new body and powerful muscles, the fur said to be pelts of various Different Digimon. His horn became one that is impossible to regrow, thus it became a jagged blade to keep up it's role of weapon, and yet, it's outshone by the huge hammer he wields, known as Thor's Hammer. His special attacks are Hammer Spark, striking the ground and the sparks created from the hammer gathering into a bolt of energy to strike at his opponents, and Hammer Boomerang, which is self explanatory._

"Don't think evolving's gonna make you win so easily!" Digitamamon growled, before charging forward...only for Zudomon to almost casually backhand him out of the way, causing him to hit a tree. "Tch...in that case…" he growled, getting up. "Nightmare Syndrome!" he called out, launching the attack at the two...only for WereGarurumon to block it with his hands, and knock it away.

"Well, looks like we win," Pyrrha chuckled at the sight of the attacks not doing anything.

"Normally I don't consider myself one to carry a grudge, but just this once…" Jaune started. "Guys...send him packing."

"With pleasure," the two chuckled.

"Crescent Moon Kick!"

"Hammer Boomerang!"

Digitamamon quickly retracted into his shell, just as the attacks hit, and when they did, the force launched him all the way into the air, before he was soon a twinkle in the sky. When that was over, the group turned to Vegiemon who had finally gotten back to the fight...just in time to get death glare. "Running away now!" he squeaked before running faster than you'd think a guy without legs could do.

 **(Song end)**

As the fight ended, Greymon and Veedramon reverted to their Child forms, while WereGarurumon and Zudomon both reverted to their Baby forms.

"That took a lot more out of me than I thought it would." Tsunomon said with a sigh as Pyrrha picked him.

"Tell me about it, can't wait for when we master that level." Bukamon said as he lazily floated up and rested on top of Jaune's head.

"You two rest up as long as you need. You earned it," Jaune smiled.

"So...what now?" Pyrrha asked.

"Isn't it obvious? We continue looking for the others," Pierce grinned.

"And we got wheels!" Veemon added, as the brothers showed them to the jeep.

"Not quite as good as the RV, but good enough for now," Gyro shrugged, knowing it would get too crowded VERY soon.

"Hey, somethings better than nothing," Tsunomon chuckled, while Bukamon nodded in agreement.

They were all interrupted however by a few growling stomachs, most notably Agumon. "Can we eat first?"

"Sometimes I wonder if your stomach is a black hole." Gyro said with a good natured laugh.

"Well, how about I cook something? With DemiDevimon gone, my food is definitely going to taste good." Jaune suggested with a smile as he hiked a thumb in the direction of the diner.

The others all agreed, and after eating a rather delicious meal instead of something just cooked over an open fire, set off on their way, reaching a fork in the road, and a predicament.

"Looks like some of the others are over in that direction." Gyro said as he looked at the right path.

"And there's more on the other path." Jaune said while looking through the left path.

"Guess we have to split up then if we want to do this in good time." Pierce said with a frown.

"Where should we meet back up once we've found the others?." Pyrrha asked.

"That mountain off in the distance, we'll meet at the foot of it once we've found everyone." Gyro said, before turning to Jaune and Pyrrha "We'll give you guys the jeep, since our path seems to go through the water for a bit, so it would be useless, but yours is pretty much all mountain terrain."

"Right," Jaune nodded. "We'll be sure to meet up as soon as we can."

"Take care you guys, and thanks again for the help," Pyrrha nodded with a smile.

With that, the groups split, the twins and their partners walking down the right path, while Jaune, Pyrrha and their partners went up the left path, with Jaune behind the wheel, though driving slowly after Gyro gave him a bit of a crash course.

As they drove up the path at a decent pace, thankful for the wide road, Jaune couldn't help but wonder something "Hey, Pyrrha? Why exactly did you stick with me for so long? You could have just gone to look for the others and come back for me later after all."

"Well…" Pyrrha started, blushing a bit "There's a good reason for that."

"What is it?" Jaune asked with a raised eyebrow.

Pyrrha blushed more, wondering if she should go through with this, as Tsunomon whisper chanted "Do it~ Do it~" repeatedly.

Eventually she sighed, before gathering up what courage she had "Because I like you." she said with a bright blush.

Jaune hit the breaks at her words, making Bukamon fall flat on his face where he sat in the back, as he turned his head to look at her, bewildered, and with a bit of a blush himself "Wait… what?"

Instead of repeating her words, Pyrrha grabbed his head and pulled him closer, pushing her lips to his. The kiss lasted only a few moments, but in that time, Jaune was glad the jeep had stopped...or he wasn't sure if he could drive straight if at all. When it was over…

"That was…" Jaune started, completely unable to form a sentence. "So you…?"

Pyrrha nodded slowly.

Jaune stared at her for a few moments, before nodding slowly "I… me too." he admitted, blushing a bit.

Pyrrha smiled, and while it wasn't the most eloquent or romantic confession, she'd take it.

* * *

 **Yay Arkos!**

 **But yeah, the WereGarurumon episode came first, and Zudomon himself appeared very early when compared to the original show, like, I think a good 10 episodes early at least?**

 **Anyway, for those wondering, Crescent Moon Kick, it's Engetsugeri, which, yes, I know translates as Circle Moon Kick, but come on, be honest, and tell me which sounds better.**

 **Anyway, next time... who knows what's in store? Because...**

 **The Adventure Evolves.**


	28. 27: Runaway Train! JewelBeemon & Angewom

**Finally time for the next chapter!**

 **Now, this chapter is going to have the first instances of modified Digimon, featuring one with a different level, and one with a different type from how they actually are in official information.**

 **This is mostly for story purposes, so, you know, don't flame me about being wrong or stuff like that.**

 **Anyway, enjoy!**

* * *

 **Runaway Train! JewelBeemon & Angewomon!  
**

* * *

"...it's hot…" Wormmon sighed as he and Ren walked through the desert.

"It can't be helped…" Ren sighed. "Don't worry though, I know I saw a village this way. We'll get to it eventually," he reassured, earning a small nod from Wormmon.

It didn't take too long after that to reach the town he had seen, and it was in the style of a wild west town (not that either of them know what that was), quickly heading into the saloon and both of them just getting water, relieved to have a moment to relax after walking in all that heat.

"One heck of a scorcher today huh?" the saloon owner, a peacock like Digimon with a bush replacing the back feathers and a crown on his head, said conversationally.

Ren nodded "I'm glad we found this town when we did."

"Well, we get passerbyers often enough, so welcome to our humble little town. The name's Deramon, what's yours strangers?" Deramon asked in a friendly tone.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Deramon_

 _Deramon. Data Type. A Perfect Level Bird Digimon. At first glance one could mistake it for a simple bird Digimon, but it's body has incorporated plant data as well. Though it can't fly, it's still a relatively powerful Digimon. Its special attacks are Royal Nuts, shooting off nuts from the bush on it's back, and Gorgeous Beak, pecking at the enemy with it's solid gold beak._

"My name's Wormmon, and this is Ren," Wormmon said, having finished another glass of water. "We're...kinda looking for our friends," he explained.

"That so? Well...what do they look like? I get a lot of customers, but my memory is pretty good as long as its jogged," Deramon said.

"A Salamon and a person like me but with orange hair." Ren answered.

Deramon tapped his chin in thought with one of his feathers, before shaking his head "Nope, haven't seen them."

"Well...it was a long shot, but thanks," Ren said politely.

"No problem. Good luck in finding your friends," Deramon smiled.

It wasn't too long after that they were out of the saloon and walking through the town, hoping to find any clue as to the location of any of the others besides the D-Core pointing them in a general direction.

And then Ren noticed something interesting.

"Strange… one of them seems to be coming this way… very quickly at that." he realised as one of the dots was speeding towards his location.

"It's not Yang or Weiss at least, or they'd be easy to spot in the sky on top of their partners." Wormmon said as he looked into the cloudless sky.

"And Garurumon isn't THAT fast." Ren added, his eyes narrowed as he tried to figure it out. He didn't need long, as the ground started shaking, followed by the sound of an engine of some kind being heard.

"That sounds pretty ominous." Wormmon said, feeling somewhat worried.

"Is that...a train?" Ren frowned when he heard the sound again. "We'd better get to the train tracks!"

Thankfully the station was almost painfully obvious, and reaching it, they could see a form speeding down the tracks towards the town, a cloud of steam rising up from it.

"At the speed he's going, he'll make enough wind pressure to tear the train station apart." Wormmon said seriously.

"Think you can stop him?" Ren asked.

"Maybe not, but I can slow him down." Wormmon said with narrowed eyes as Ren's D-Core started to glow.

"Wormmon, Evolution! Stingmon!"

Quickly running out onto the tracks, Stingmon stepped out into the open and released his wings, flying ahead as fast as possible, reaching his target quickly, still a minute away from town.

"You're… Locomon. But why are you doing this?" Stingmon wondered to himself as he hovered overhead for a moment, before diving down.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Locomon_

 _Locomon. Data Type. A Perfect Level Machine Digimon. A Digimon whose sole purpose is to always move to its destination, never stopping until it reaches the goal. Its movement is confined solely to the tracks, but there are rumors of it being able to cause a distortion by going in a circle fast enough. Its special attacks are Steam Bomb, turning the steam coming out of it's smokestack into an explosive, and Wheel Grinder, using a spike protruding from its wheels to attack anything on its sides._

"Faster...faster! FASTERFASTERFASTERFASTER!" Locomon roared.

Even though it wasn't visible, Stingmon's eyes would have narrowed at the words, having the feeling something was off, but decided to focus on one thing at a time as he placed his hands on Locomon's face and shoved his feet into the ground, pushing back against the locomotive Digimon and trying to slow him down, his wings buzzing behind him to try and make enough wind that would normally push him forward.

At first there wasn't any visible effect...but little by little Locomon was slowing down a bit...not enough to stop, but at least he wouldn't be creating a wave of destruction when he rolled through the town. "Okay...this isn't quite working...but at least its doing something…" Stingmon grunted, but he kept on pushing. He needed to slow down Locomon enough for his partner to get on.

When the train rolled into the station, Ren had to wait for an opening, as the cabooses where each too close to each other for him to jump in between, eventually getting on through the last one, as Stingmon lifted his feet and Locomon started to pick up speed again, thankfully getting out of town before reaching his previous speed.

Once Ren was inside, Stingmon quickly maintained his flight near Locomon, looking for a way to stop the Digimon, while his partner was going to try and do the same from inside. Now the only problem was….how the heck was he supposed to get THIS monster to stop?

Looking around, the last caboose didn't have anything in it, it just seemed to be for storage, though it did have some luggage from the looks of it, meaning there were people on this train.

Considering how the train was sentient, at least he didn't have to worry about causing too much noise, since this wasn't like a typical hostage situation. However, when he got through a door...he was met with a...unsurprising sight.

The Digimon were panicking, each and every one of them, and it was honestly rather loud. In fact, they were so panicked they didn't even notice him.

Sighing lightly, he walked past them, heading into the next train car, which appeared empty at first glance… until you heard the loud snoring in it. Looking at the source, he was hit with a mixture of relief...and bemusement...when he saw none other than Nora, snoring away without a care in the world.

Salamon turned around from where she was trying to wake her partner up by tapping her stomach repeatedly, sighing in relief when she saw Ren "Oh thank everything you actually found us."

"How long has she been asleep?" Ren asked, glad to see the two of them were safe at least.

"5 hours… we've been on the train for a while, before it even went crazy." Salamon explained.

"I see...I'm guessing you don't know why the train's gone crazy? Stingmon is trying to stop it, or at least slow it down, but I don't think he'll be able to do it without some help," Ren sighed.

"No clue, I've been trying to wake her up so we can investigate but she's sleeping like a log… and she's loud." Salamon finished dryly.

"That's because she's sleeping on her back, if she sleeps on her side she doesn't snore." Ren said idly as Salamon jumped off Nora's stomach and the stoic boy flipped her onto her side, and the snoring stopped just like that.

"Okay, glad that's over at least," Salamon sighed. "Now how to wake her up? And yes, I even tried jumping on her belly. It didn't work. At all."

In response, Ren raised his fingers, and snapped them, and they both heard Nora groan as she started waking up.

Salamon was speechless with her jaw hanging until Ren closed it for her.

"Nora tends to wake up if you snap your fingers. Unfortunately I'm not surprised you couldn't do that," Ren sighed, as the puppy-like Digimon was grumbling under her breath, something about 'hands'.

A moment later, Nora was sat up, yawning as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, blinking her eyesight clear, before her eyes fell on Ren… and she was suddenly gone from her seat and had her arms around him as she hugged him. "Glad to see you too, Nora," he managed to say through the hug.

"I missed you Renny! It sucked when I woke up and it was only me and Salamon so we kinda looked everywhere for you and all the others but we couldn't find anybody so then I started to worry what happened and if we were gonna find you but now you're here and everything's ok!" Nora said, all in one breath surprisingly.

"Well...I wouldn't say everything's ok," Ren started. "Still don't know where everyone else is, and we ARE inside a runaway train."

Nora blinked as she let go of him, looking around and then peering out the window "Huh… didn't know about the runaway part."

"It happened while you were asleep." Salamon supplied helpfully "Now, can I evolve please? I want to be ready in case anything happens."

"Oh, yeah, totally!" Nora said with a grin as she grabbed her D-Core and it glowed.

"Salamon, Evolution! Gatomon!"

"Much better." Gatomon said as she cracked her neck.

"We should head up to the front car, see if anything's wrong with the engine." Ren suggested.

"Okie-dokie! Lemme just grab Magnhild." Nora said before standing up on her seat and sticking in her hand in the small space on the ceiling, pulling out her weapon in grenade launcher form.

"...please be careful with that," Gatomon sweat dropped. "We ARE still inside a Digimon...okay, make that there still are OTHER Digimon inside here."

"Well, not in this specific car, and the ones in the last car were panicking about the train being out of control." Ren added.

"Right, don't smash stuff too quickly," Nora nodded.

"Hopefully Stingmon finds a way to slow Locomon down while we do this." Gatomon said as they headed into the next car.

* * *

"Okay...that's the last of them…" Stingmon sighed, having piled up a small barricade of boulders, hoping that'd stop Locomon. "And here he comes…" he said before getting out of the way. Locomon came...and promptly smashed through the barricade like it was nothing. Stingmon would have had his eye twitching if he could at his hard work going to waste.

* * *

"Okay...that was quite a bump…" Gatomon blinked once they all steadied themselves.

"Stingmon was probably trying to stop Locomon, but I think we'll need to slow him down from here if we want to be able to help," Ren frowned.

"Right! So… honest question, how do you stop a train? I don't know how they work." Nora asked curiously.

"Depends on the train, this one is steam powered, so we need to cool down the engine at the front." Ren answered easily.

"So the front of the train we go," Gatomon shrugged.

The trip down the train was...strangely uneventful. So far it didn't seem like there was anything to impede them, and soon enough, they were at the front of the train, where the engine was.

"There doesn't seem to be any water." Ren said with a frown as he looked around the engine car, not finding anything that could be used to put out the fire in the engine itself.

"And the grate is shut tight." Gatomon added as she tried to pry open the latch keeping the engine covered.

"Let me try." Nora said as she hefted Magnhild up, with Gatomon getting out of the way before Nora started swinging, striking the grate a few times, denting it and slowly succeeding in opening it.

Just as she was about to give the last swing…

Something green and slimy came at her from behind, grabbing her before she could swing again "Wha-?!" she didn't even get to finish one word before the tentacles pulled her back, over the coal car, and back into the train itself.

"Nora!" Ren and Gatomon said in alarm, before running after her. However, when they left the engine room, the door to the engine room shut tight by itself, followed by what appeared to be more tentacles suddenly wrapping around the door, sealing it off.

"If that isn't a sign there's something else going on here, I don't know what is." Gatomon said with a frown as she looked back at it.

* * *

At the same time, Nora was… afraid. Wherever she was, it wasn't good, especially not as she was made to remember.

Her parents, she inherited her mother's hair and her father's eyes, they had lived in Mistral, happy, for the first few years of her life.

Then she lost them, she still didn't know what caused it, but her parents had died one day, and she was inconsolable without them.

Until she ended up in the arms of her grandmother, her only remaining relative.

Her grandmother was strong despite her age, she had always thought the woman was quite possibly a retired huntress. Sadly, that too didn't last, as one day when she had come to wake her grandmother up...she didn't wake up…

After that… she was alone.

The only thing left being the memory of her family, and the words her grandmother told her.

"You have the brightest smile Nora, never lose it, it would be such a shame if no one ever saw it again."

So she did her best to smile, just like her grandmother would have wanted, despite the fact she was now wandering the wilderness alone, doing her best to scrounge up food.

And then she met Ren.

She woke up with a gasp, and immediately she was confused.

This… this wasn't where she had fallen asleep, and WHEN had she fallen asleep at that?

The last thing she remembered was something attacked her from behind while on board Locomon. Instead, she was...in a bed?

She blinked as she looked around, finding herself in what could best be described as a normal bedroom, with a whole bunch of dolls and stuff. Oh and it was really pink. Her favorite. Before she could think much of it though, the door to the room opened, revealing…

"G-Grandma?" Nora blinked. There was no doubt about it. There, standing in the doorway, was her grandmother.

"Is something wrong, dear? You look like you've seen a ghost," her grandmother asked in that kind voice she'd missed so dearly.

Nora was trying to form a sentence, her jaw working up and down in confusion as she looked at her grandmother, before she was further confused when she saw her parents behind the elderly woman. "M-mom? D-dad?" she asked, her eyes tearing up.

"What's wrong, Nora?" her parents asked, now very concerned for their daughter, before she promptly hugged them.

"I...I…" Nora sniffed, before they hugged her back, calming her down. Eventually she started telling them a number of things, about how they died, how she was left alone...but eventually they stopped her.

"Its okay dear...it was just a nightmare," the three of them said comfortingly.

"B-but what about all my friends? What about Ren? Or the Digimon?" Nora asked, still so confused.

"Oh, you just dreamt them all up. You've had dreams about that Ren boy before, I'm starting to wonder if he isn't your dream man." Her grandmother teased her, making Nora blush a bit.

"Though this is the first time you've had a dream with Sala in it," her mother chuckled, idly picking up a stuffed puppy toy with cream colored fur and floppy ears.

Nora frowned a bit as she accepted the stuffed toy from her mother.

She was happy that they were all alive.

But…

Something was… strange.

* * *

"Nora!" Ren exclaimed in a combination of worry and surprise when he and Gatomon entered one of the empty train cars and saw her just standing there, still holding onto Magnhild.

"Nora? Are you...alright?" Gatomon asked, worried at the state her partner seemed to be in. She got her answer when Nora suddenly swung her weapon at them, forcing them to jump back.

"Nora, what are you doing?!" Ren asked in confusion, before he was able to get a good look at her eyes.

They were empty, hollow, almost lifeless. And thus they were once more forced to evade as Nora moved, like a puppet on strings, attacking them without hesitation.

"This is bad. Something's controlling her, but we don't know what!" Ren growled.

"We need to find out what it is then." Gatomon said as the two of them retreated back outside and climbed up to the top of the train cars, with Ren narrowly avoiding having his foot smashed by Magnhild.

"Ren!" Stingmon said in worry as he came down quickly, landing on the roof when he saw his partner and Gatomon come up, only to do a double take when he saw Nora be… lifted into the air by nothing and placed on the roof "What did I miss in the last half hour?"

"Too much, Nora's being controlled by something if you want the short version." Gatomon said with a scowl.

"That's bad!" Stingmon said in alarm. "But what's controlling her? I can't see anything!"

"Then it's either invisible… or it's attached to her back." Ren said with narrowed eyes "The whole time she attacked us, she's been facing us."

Right as he realised this, Stingmon moved behind him in a flash, his spikes extended and in the process of ending a swing with his arms.

A second later, a pained screech was heard, as a small mass of green tentacles became visible, after being obviously cut to pieces by Stingmon.

"Not fast enough." Stingmon stated matter of factly, and although it wasn't obvious, he was glaring ahead.

"Tch. Annoying brats," a new voice growled, as the source of the tentacles faded into view.

The first thing they all noticed was how disgusting it looked, having the appearance of a large purple spider with a single eye covering up it's face, and a mass of (currently) cut tentacles coming out from behind it's mandibles, and although it wasn't currently visible, there was also a mouth full of sharp teeth on the back of its abdomen.

"Parasimon? What are you doing here?" Gatomon asked in confusion, her eyes narrowed at the Digimon.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Parasimon_

 _Parasimon. Virus Type. A Perfect Level Parasite Digimon. A Digimon that survives by leeching off the energy of others, never seen too far from stronger Digimon. It can push the abilities of its host beyond its limits, and tends to take advantage of their desires. Its special attacks are Electric Bind, grabbing an enemy with its tentacles and shocking them, and Digicabolic Steroid, further empowering its host._

"I should be asking YOU that," Parasimon snarled. "I will only say this once. Don't interfere or else…!"

"What are you doing?" Ren asked, already knowing he wouldn't like the answer.

"A little service to my master. With Locomon causing so much destruction with his shockwaves, it will be the perfect diversion from his plans!" Parasimon laughed, shamelessly explaining his plan.

"Causing so much destruction… just to grab attention?" Ren said with gritted teeth, the thought angering him.

"But of course. And Locomon are simply ideal for this task. They're Digimon who will serve a purpose. I'm simply giving it a more useful one!" Parasimon laughed. "Now, I believe I'll even push this plan into the next phase. Digicabolic Steroid!" he said, stabbing his backmost legs into Locomon's body, and the result was… powerful.

"Locomon, Evolution!" the train Digimon shouted as its eyes glowed, its body rearranging itself, parts moving around and panels opening, soon looking like a far more deadly train that was like the combination between a locomotive and a hot rod, with several exhaust pipes coming out of its body, and with one large spiked wheel at the front "GrandLocomon!"

 _Digimon Analyzer: GrandLocomon_

 _GrandLocomon. Data Type. An Ultimate Level Machine Digimon. Breaking beyond the limits of speed of its previous form, this Digimon can easily surpass the speed of sound, and is difficult to stop. Whereas it originally needed a railway system to move, it can now create rails wherever it goes. Its special attacks are Destroyed Crash, attacking its enemies with the spiked wheel at the front, and Limited Express, ramming into the enemy at supersonic speeds._

Everyone not flying or being helped by Parasimon had to hold onto to something to avoid being thrown off at the sudden increase of speed. Parasimon however was laughing maniacally. "That's it! That's it! Run wild! Destroy everything!" he laughed.

"S-Stop it…!" came a pained voice...from Locomon.

"No, you're doing as I say!" Parasimon snapped.

"Cruel… You're just too cruel!" Ren said through grit teeth as he kept his body low, shielding his face from the wind as his Crest started to glow softly.

"Why thank you!" Parasimon said condescendingly, before laughing again.

"Someone like you, who takes pleasure in the pain of others… I can't forgive someone like that!" Ren added as the glow of his Crest grew.

"That so? And what could you POSSIBLY do about it?" Parasimon asked condescendingly.

"We're going to stop you. THAT much is a promise," Ren growled, wanting nothing more than to stop the suffering this creature was so callously causing onto others. At that moment the glow of his Crest reached its peak.

 **(Play Brave Heart)**

Ren's D-Core vibrated before changing into a shade of Magenta with green buttons, before the beam of light was shot out, going through the Tag and releasing the Crest, which flew past the clouds, gathering power as it reached its peak and released the burst of energy that shot down the beam into Stingmon. "Stingmon, Super Evolution!" he called out, before his body was covered in energy, slowly hardening, before from the back of his shell, a crack developed and a split appeared, his new form soon emerging from within his old form. His new armor was a lighter shade of green than the previous, with red ridges, and yellow gems embedded into the armor, the gauntlets holding blade like claws at their tips, his helmet now covering most of his face, but exposing a human mouth, his antennae being thinner, but far longer than before, his wings now constantly released, and a spear with an almost star shaped tip appearing in his hand "JewelBeemon!"

 _Digimon Analyzer: JewelBeemon_

 _JewelBeemon. Virus Type. A Perfect Level Insect Digimon. His armor is covered in radiant jewels that reflect the light of the sun, blinding his enemies. A grappling expert, he is a graceful fighter, and wields his spear like a master. His special attacks are Spike Buster, swinging his spear at the speed of light and generating a shockwave, and Shot Claw, launching the claws at the tip of his gauntlets._

Parasimon looked up at the newly evolved Digimon and sweat dropped...maybe he shouldn't have ran his mouth in retrospect. Whatever the case, he shook his...body...and quickly focused again. He still held the cards after all. "Fine, if that's the way you want to play!" And with that, Nora ran forward, aiming to take someone's head off with her hammer. However, before she could hit anyone, JewelBeemon easily stopped her, before knocking her back (careful not to hurt her). "Gatomon, now!" he called out, to which Gatomon used his shoulder as a springboard, and jumped over Nora to get at her back. When she got close she saw a small purple and green spider attach to her back, grabbing hold of it and starting to pull, Nora's body going rigid "It's stuck pretty tight!" Gatomon said through grit teeth as she pulled.

"I'll help!" Ren said as he joined her in trying to pry off the spider from his friend's back.

"Oh no you don't!" Parasimon growled, before suddenly from within the train, a large number of 'Drones' appeared. "Let's see you try to stop me when you're under my control!" he said, and the drones began attempting to swarm them, only for JewelBeemon to quickly intercept and destroy a large portion of them, keeping them away.

"I'll hold them off! But hurry!" he said urgently, to which they nodded and resumed trying to get the drone off.

 **(Song End)**

* * *

At the same time, the home Nora was inside of was slowly crumbling away, as she sat in the living room with her family, looking down sadly.

"This… it was all in my head… wasn't it?" Nora said, as her D-Core and Crest faded into view on her body.

"We're sorry Nora. We never wanted to do this, but Parasimon's drone took control of the memories you had of us, and created this world to try and keep you in it." the memory of her father explained sadly, as he and the rest of her family were slowly fading away.

Nora nodded, still looking down "I kind of wish you guys actually were still alive though."

"We know Nora. I really wish we could have watched you grow." the memory of her mother said with a sad smile.

"But remember, you're not alone anymore. You have all of your friends, and you have something even more important." the memory of her grandmother said with a kind smile.

"More important than my friends?" Nora repeated in confusion.

"You know what it is." the old woman said with a kind laugh "It's the most important thing to you, or rather, the most important person, they are your light."

"My light." Nora repeated, a whisper, as she looked down at her crest, before smiling a bit as it started to glow.

"Go back Nora. They need your help." the memory of her father said with an encouraging nod.

Nora grasped her D-Core and Tag in her hand, before nodding, and getting up. "I love you," she said before turning to the door.

"We love you too," her Grandmother said warmly before she was out the door, while the world crumbled around her.

* * *

Nora gasped, like she was taking the first of many breaths, as the drone was pulled from her back, and her crest glowed.

She shook her head, before turning back to Ren and smiling at him "I'm back!"

"Welcome back." he answered with a nod and a sigh of relief.

She then looked to Gatomon "Ready?"

Gatomon grinned as she flexed her claws "Born ready." With that, she charged forward, and soon helped JewelBeemon fight off the drones, something Ren and Nora did as well, but the drones were numerous.

"Okay, this isn't working so well," Gatomon frowned, as while they were killing off drones by the dozens, more seemed to take their place.

"Then let's take out the leader!" JewelBeemon grunted, before going for Parasimon...only for Parasimon to suddenly dive under the train, easily maneuvering and hiding away from them, before reappearing again on another section.

"Hahahaha, talk all you want, but its no good if you can't hit me!" Parasimon laughed. "Give it up already, the only fate you all have is to become my puppets!"

"I won't let you do that to anyone else." Nora growled "You won't hurt those I care about!" she shouted, her crest finally reaching its peak.

 **(Play Brave Heart)**

Nora's D-Core vibrated, before changing color, turning pink with white buttons before it released the beam of light, which shot through the Tag, releasing her Crest into the sky. As it reached its peak, the Crest gathered power, before releasing a burst of energy which soon shot down a beam of light into Gatomon. "Gatomon, Super Evolution!" she called out, before her body began to glow, and soon began to change, going from its small cat-like form into a larger human-like form. Her clawed gloves fell off, before a ribbon wrapped around her right arm and extended around her body, resting on her shoulders, while a white glove with a pair of small wings slipped onto her left hand, eight holy wings appearing on her back. Boots slipped onto her feet, a Holy Ring acting as an anklet on her left ankle, while the rest of her outfit formed onto her body. It was honestly rather revealing, having several holes around her abdomen and missing the right leg completely. Finally the glow of her body died down as her upper face was covered by a grey helmet with a cross design on it and wings on its side, and her long hair showing itself as blonde "Angewomon!"

 _Digimon Analyzer: Angewomon_

 _Angewomon. Vaccine Type. A Perfect Level Archangel Digimon. A normally gentle Digimon, she cannot forgive those with cruel and evil hearts. She holds some of the strongest holy power in the Digital World, with few Digimon stronger than her. Her special attacks are Holy Arrow, creating a bow from the wings on her glove and firing an arrow made of pure holy energy, and Heaven's Charm, creating a cross of pure holy energy, which binds evil in its light before destroying them with the cross fired as a shockwave down the beam of light._

Angewomon descended, flying alongside JewelBeemon, both of them glaring at the approaching swarm.

"Looks like we both reached Perfect, huh?" Ren couldn't help but say as he and Nora saw both Perfect Digimon.

"Yeah, now break his legs guys!" Nora cheered.

"With pleasure!" both of them said, before going straight for Parasimon, though the drones soon got in the way again.

"Out of the way! Spike Buster!" JewelBeemon said, swinging his spear, and releasing a shockwave that destroyed a number of drones.

"Holy Arrow!" Angewomon called out, forming an arrow of light as the wings on her glove extended, before she notched the arrow in her hand, pulled back, and fired, the arrow spearing several drones. However, even as they decimated the drones, Parasimon's speed still proved to be a problem.

"We need to get him to stop, or we'll never catch him," JewelBeemon growled.

"Leave that to me!" Angewomon nodded, before spreading her arms. "Saint Air!" she called out, bringing her hands upward, creating a ring of energy which released particles of light into the air. The moment it was released, Parasimon who had been darting in and out froze.

"Can't….move!" he grunted, struggling to move.

Seeing what was happening, Ren and Nora nodded to each other, before bringing their weapons to bare, and firing at any remaining swarms of drones, destroying them in the ensuing hail of bullets and grenades. "Finish it now!" they both shouted, earning nods from their partners.

Angewomon stopped the flow of Saint Air, the remaining particles slowly dissipating, but it would still last more than long enough for what they had planned next. "Holy Arrow!"

"Shot Claw!" JewelBeemon added, firing the claws on his gauntlets.

"Nonononono!" Parasimon panicked, before he was speared by the attacks...through his big eye… "L-lord Myotismon!" he managed to choke out as his body started breaking down.

"Ouch…" the two hunters winced at the sight, but didn't say anything more as Parasimon was soon deleted.

 **(End song)**

With his deletion, all his remaining drones disappeared as well, and GrandLocomon's eyes stopped glowing as he started to finally slow down.

"Finally." Ren sighed in relief, glad the crisis was averted.

"Yeah! We win!" Nora shouted, before jumping at Ren and hugging him.

He expected that much, catching her with practiced ease.

But he didn't expect her to kiss him.

JewelBeemon and Angewomon both stared at the sight of Ren freezing in place while Nora continued to both hug and kiss him, looking at each other for a moment before going back to the sight "This is new." they both said together.

Once the train finally stopped (and Ren finally recovered from Nora basically admitting her feelings out of nowhere), the group disembarked from the roof, and the two humans were slightly surprised as their partners reverted to being Minomon and Nyaromon.

"Thank you for freeing me from his control. It's nice to have a clear mind again." GrandLocomon said, relief in his voice.

"Well, look on the bright side, you got a power boost out of it all." Nora said with a grin.

GrandLocomon laughed "I suppose you're right, I'll certainly be able to do my job even better than before now. How about in thanks I give you a ride to the next station? It's up in some mountains not too far from here."

"We'd greatly appreciate it." Ren said with a thankful smile.

"Just don't go too fast please." Minomon requested slightly nervously.

"We've had enough speed for one day." Nyaromon agreed with a nod, earning a few laughs.

* * *

 **Done!**

 **And yeah, this chapter we followed Ren and Nora (with ReNora finally sailing!) and they used one of the two Tamers Movies.**

 **So, yeah, JewelBeemon was changed into a virus type, for the simple reason that in Adventure, Digimon usually remained the same type upon evolution, and having him go from Virus, to Vaccine, and then back to Virus (not afraid to admit his final form is Virus) would have been weird.**

 **As for Parasimon receiving a lower level, two fold reason, one, no matter how weak, beating an Ultimate is no small feat, two, we don't want them to get overconfident.**

 **Now, the major thing you all noticed, Gatomon evolving into Angewomon MUCH earlier than in the original series.**

 **Trust me, we'll make this work.**

 **Anyway, hope you enjoyed, because...**

 **The Adventure Evolves.**


	29. 28: Break Through! AtlurKabuterimon!

**Welcome to the next chapter everyone!**

 **Sorry that this one's a bit short compared to the others, but we did the best with what we had.**

 **Also, we have an instance of a japanese Digimon named being used here, just so you all know, as well as an attack getting a name change so it's less weird/awkward.**

* * *

 **Break Through! AtlurKabuterimon!  
**

* * *

Weiss frowned as she and Tentomon walked through the rocky area. "We're...really far away from the others, huh?" she sighed. Three weeks. That was how long it had been since they'd been separated from the others. As it was, she thanked any deity she could think of that they'd at least split the supplies in the pouches they'd developed, so at the very least, she and Tentomon had been able to sustain themselves by rationing their supplies AND restocking at any chance they found...something that hadn't been easy due to the area they were in.

"Well, at least we have the radar to help us out so we have an idea where the others are," Tentomon said.

"Not just that, if we can, I'd like to see if we can find Gennai, or at least another projector along the way," Weiss added. "Remember, Wizardmon clearly said that hole was supposed to close by itself eventually, yet it exploded. I HIGHLY doubt it was a natural occurrence."

"So you think our next enemy was responsible for that?" Tentomon asked.

"I don't just think, I'm betting on it. And like it or not, Gennai, or even Renamon's faction, are the only ones who can probably answer our questions," Weiss explained. "And I fully intend to get answers, especially if they may be what keeps us all alive."

"That's what I like about you Weiss. You're always looking to answer the important questions." Tentomon said, and if he had a normal mouth, he'd most likely be smiling.

"Well, we have to remember what's really important. Otherwise we'll just be wandering aimlessly," Weiss said with a smile. "At any rate, we should keep going while we still have daylight."

The two of them continued walking for a while, going up the mountain trail and through the seemingly barren landscape...until they came across a sign.

"Watch out for… falling poop?" Tentomon read, before he pictured what the sign was describing and shuddered.

"Let's turn the other way." Weiss said in disgust. Normally she'd think this was some kind of joke, but after encountering Digimon that DID indeed throw their own poop...not to mention how nonsensical this world could be...she decided it best to not take chances.

"Right." Tentomon said with a nod as they went another way… and came upon another sign "Watch out for… the pit of poop."

"Turning again!" Weiss said loudly before Tentomon even had a chance to picture it.

"Agreed!" Tentomon said… and they saw a sign right as they turned "Beware of man eating… poop."

Silence reigned between them for a few moments "This place is full of itself." Weiss said lowly.

More silence for several seconds, before Tentomon snapped the fingers on his middle limbs "Ah! I get it, because it's full of shit."

Weiss couldn't help but chuckle at that, and at her impromptu joke, before she shook her head. "But in all seriousness, if I had to take a guess, I'm fairly sure the last sign is lying," she sighed. "If this entire area was THAT awful, we'd have seen something by now."

"Good point," Tentomon admitted. However, before they could move to get out of the area...the ground cracked before breaking away from under them.

"Oh Oum dammit!" Weiss shouted as she and Tentomon fell down the hole. "Quick, you have to evolve so we can get out of here!" Weiss said.

"I would, but I can't seem to fly!" Tentomon shot back frantically, as true enough, his wings were beating as fast as they could, but he wasn't flying at all. If anything he was falling faster.

"In that case…!" Weiss tried to summon some Glyphs to slow their fall...but the Glyphs were falling with them. "This isn't right! Where in Oum's name are we falling?!"

"You are falling towards hell." a disembodied voice said from… everywhere around them honestly.

"Hell?! But, how?! Why?!" Weiss asked, somewhat pale at the thought of falling to hell.

"Because you hold desire in your heart," the voice said.

"What?! But I don't want anything!" Weiss exclaimed, a bit annoyed and confused.

"That is false, you want knowledge. You wish to know everything." the voice continued to explain.

"Well doesn't everyone want to know something?! Even if it's trivial!" she shot back. This was ludicrous.

"Then you will fall into hell," the voice said simply, as they started to fall further. "If you wish to not fall, then you must cast away your desires."

"Don't listen to him Weiss!" Tentomon said urgently.

Weiss grit her teeth as another glyph she created just fell along with them "I know… but I don't think we have a choice. If we don't survive… then it was all for nothing." she said, as the two of them slowly fell into the darkness "I don't want to know… I don't want to know… I don't want to know…" she repeated like a mantra, before moments later, something that looked like a large purple gem rose out from the shadows.

The moment the gem rose up, Weiss and Tentomon soon floated up from the darkness, though Weiss seemed a little unfocused for some reason. "I feel...weird…" she mumbled, as the gem floated away, before a figure appeared from the darkness, and now they all appeared to be in some kind of area that resembled outer space.

"Good, you have cast aside your inquisitive heart, now you can truly open yourself to the universe." the figure said as they fully came into view, and they looked like… well, an alien with a huge brain was the best way of putting it, because their body was just very strange, since it was mostly made up of tentacles from the looks of it, and it held a ray gun in one hand.

"You… you're Vademon, right?" Tentomon asked, remembering having heard about this Digimon.

"The one and only." Vademon said, bowing at the… hip, as it were.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Vademon_

 _Vademon. Virus Type. A Perfect Level Alien Digimon. It claims to be a Digimon born from data that came from the deepest reaches of space, but in actuality, it was just a glitch in an agricultural computer. Despite its rather strange appearance, it's a terrifyingly powerful Digimon. Its special attacks are Demon's Blown Kiss, which makes a complete fool out of the opponent by blowing them a kiss which makes meteors and planets appear to be hurled at the target, and Abduction Ray, firing a beam from the ray gun in its hand._

"I am the overseer of the Sacred Mysterious Universe," Vademon explained, before the gem rose up. "This is the inquisitive heart you discarded. It must not be allowed to tarnish this Universe's sanctity," he said, before the gem was absorbed into the ray gun in his hand, before sighing in relief.

Before either Weiss or Tentomon could say anything, Weiss soon found a textbook in her hands. "In exchange, here is a book to help you attain the cosmic powers of this universe, and reach enlightenment," Vademon added. "Study it well," he said before chuckling as he vanished from the space.

Both of them stared at the spot where Vademon was, before Tentomon looked at Weiss "Are you actually gonna read that book?"

Weiss looked at the title of the book, before opening it "Try for a bit." she answered, and Tentomon sighed as the two drifted along.

* * *

Meanwhile, Vademon went through what appeared to be a door in another part of the space, and came out in...a shop?

Yes, it seemed Vademon had left space and entered a shop of some kind, before he took out his ray gun, and ejected the gem that was Weiss's Inquisitive Heart. Holding it in both hands, he chuckled as he went deeper into the shop. "An inquisitive heart, I'll place it next to an ignorant heart," Vademon chuckled, before developing into a full on noble's laugh. Yes, it was that annoying…

"Welcome to the Sacred Mysterious Universe, emporium of hearts and other such items. We only give the best for our customers," Vademon said, practicing a salesman line. Right as he said that, he heard the sound of a bell. "Oh! A Customer! I'll be right there!"

Meanwhile, outside of the shop, and of the strange universe, DemiDevimon was pressing the bell button hanging off a small pole repeatedly "Come on, I don't have all day." he muttered in annoyance. Right as he said that, Vademon popped out of the hole, scaring the little imp a little.

"Welcome! Thank you for the wait. How may I help you today?" Vademon said.

"Right, did you happen to see THIS human?" he asked, pulling out a photo of Weiss with Tentomon.

Vademon looked at the picture and nodded with a smile. "Ah yes, that one. I'll be right back," he said, before hopping into the hole. A few moments later, he jumped out, holding Weiss's Inquisitive Heart. "Sorry for the wait, here you are, sir."

DemiDevimon looked at the heart...and sighed. "No no no, that's not what I want."

Vademon frowned. "Excuse me? Sir, if you came here just to fool around, I kindly ask you to leave."

"No, I DID come here for business. Heck, I got a nice pile of poop ready to trade too," DemiDevimon said.

Vademon stilled at that, before raising an eyebrow "How big of a pile?"

"Taller than you at least." DemiDevimon said with a grin.

"Taller than me…" Vademon trailed off, picturing it in his mind, before swallowing hungrily.

Disgusting.

"You have yourself a deal customer!" Vademon said eagerly "What exactly where you looking for?"

"I just have a drawing of it, but, here, it looks like this, and it should be around her neck." DemiDevimon said as he showed Vademon a crude drawing of a Tag.

Vademon studied the image, before nodding after a few moments "Very well, I'll see what I can do, I should be back shortly." he said, before jumping back down his hole.

* * *

"...this book is garbage…" Weiss said flatly tossing the textbook aside. She'd read it and while it TRIED to sound like it was actually teaching anything, she could tell it was all talk and no substance.

"So, what do we do?" Tentomon asked, currently upside down.

"Thinking is… a bit hard." Weiss admitted as she rubbed her forehead "But… we have to find a way out of here."

"Hm...maybe if Vademon comes back, we could do something…" Tentomon mused. Vademon DID claim to be the overseer of this 'universe', so it made sense he probably had a trick or two up his proverbial sleeve.

As if called by his words, Vademon suddenly appeared in the space. "It seems this space still finds something you hold unworthy of being here. Please, relinquish all material possessions."

Weiss looked at him for a good long moment, before looking down at herself, then back up at him "All I have left are essentials."

"Are you sure? You MUST have something unnecessary. Such as perhaps a necklace of some kind?" Vademon pressed, before waving his hand, and from Weiss's dress, her tag levitated out.

Weiss tried to grab it, but it got pulled towards Vademon more quickly than she could move.

"Give that back!" Tentomon said as he angled himself to move quickly towards Vademon, having finally gotten the hang of moving in this strange place.

Vademon however, simply aimed his gun and fired, knocking Tentomon back, and causing him to degenerate to Motimon, though Weiss managed to catch him as he was tumbling back.

Motimon shook off the dizziness and looked ready to try again, but Weiss held him back...right as Vademon started to move away. "We can follow him…" she said.

"Right." Motimon said with a nod, as the two silently followed after him, keeping their distance for now.

Eventually, they saw him disappear behind a door, going up to it and peering through the small window attached to it, finding what looked like a curiosity shop.

"...we've been tricked…" Weiss said, her currently less than lively voice only adding to the deadpan tone.

"Seems like it," Motimon said flatly.

Silently, the two sneaked inside, thankful for the lack of a bell on the door, as they looked around the immediate area in the entrance. From the sound of it, they could hear Vademon talking to someone...and it seemed like he wasn't happy.

"We better not go that way. First things first, I think we should get my heart back," Weiss said.

"Good idea. Then we can get your Tag back when we get a chance," Motimon nodded. With that in mind, they made their way to the back of the shop, scanning the area, and before long…

"Here it is," Weiss nodded, picking up the gem. "Now...how do I get it back?"

"Well… you got rid of it by NOT wanting to know… so maybe the opposite would give it back?" Motimon suggested.

"Better than nothing." Weiss said with a nod, before touching her forehead to the gem, and repeating "I want to know… I want to know…" softly in a mantra.

Slowly, the gem sank into her body, and when it was fully inside, her eyes snapped open… and she was angry "I'm going to tear Vademon to shreds."

"There's my favorite Weiss." Motimon said with a smile.

"Thanks for putting up with me just now. I felt like an airhead without my curiosity," Weiss sighed. "Now then...how to get my Tag and Crest back?"

"Ambush?" Motimon suggested.

"...that'd work," Weiss nodded. With that in mind, they laid in wait. True enough, the sound of arguing became louder, before Vademon came back, looking rather angry...with her Crest in his hand.

"Wait for it…" Motimon frowned, waiting for Vademon to get closer...closer… "Now!"

Vademon barely had a moment to turn and register it, as he was suddenly pounced on by the two, a small comical smoke cloud appearing, before they both ran back to the door they came in from, Weiss's tag and crest in their hands again.

And it gained a soft glow as she placed it around her neck.

"Get back here!" Vademon shouted as he ran after them after reorienting himself.

"Nope!" the two called back as they ran out of the shop and into the strange space again, and Motimon finally reverted back into Tentomon "Good to be back!" he said as he turned towards the door.

"Let's not waste time." Weiss added, before her D-Core glowed.

"Tentomon, Evolution! Kabuterimon!"

"Don't give him a chance to fight back!" Weiss ordered, and Kabuterimon was all too happy to oblige, as he charged forward, forcing Vademon to duck and avoid the attack.

"Hey!" Vademon shouted indignantly...but soon had to duck again as Kabuterimon came in for another attack. "Fine then, try this! Abduction Ray!" he shouted, shooting his ray gun...only for Kabuterimon to evade it too, and ram into him with his horn, sending him flying through space.

Vademon quickly regained his balance and glared. "Alright, you asked for it! Demon's Blown Kiss~!" he called out, placing a hand to his lips, and making the motion of blowing a kiss, sending out what appeared to be a black kiss shape...which soon grew and turned into asteroids.

"What the fu-?!" Kabuterimon didn't manage to finish before he slammed head first into the asteroid, causing him to be thrown back.

"That's gonna hurt." Weiss said with a wince "Are you ok Kabuterimon!?"

"Hurt like hell but I'm good!" he called back.

"You won't be for long! Demon's Blown Kiss~!" Vademon shouted as he repeated the attack, even more asteroids slamming into Kabuterimon.

"Kabuterimon!" Weiss shouted in worry as she floated towards him "Please, you have to get up! We need to find the others! We need to find a way to save this world together!" At that moment, her crest responded to her desire to find a solution to the great problem not just her, but all their friend faced, and began to glow brightly before reaching its peak.

 **(Play Brave Heart)**

Weiss's D-Core vibrated, turning purple with maroon buttons, before a beam of light shot out, going through the back of the Tag and out the front, releasing the Crest from within. The Crest ascended beyond the clouds as it gathered energy in its ascent, before reaching its peak and releasing a burst of energy that sent down a beam of light that flowed into Kabuterimon. "Kabuterimon, Super Evolution!" he called out as his body started to change. Energy passed over his head, changing the helmet from a dark gray into a maroon color, with a new proper rhinoceros beetle horn replacing the old one, the same energy then passing over his four arms, covering them in maroon chitin armor while his hands remained blue, the same happening to his legs, while his torso became a lighter shade of maroon, with an almost skeleton like armor covering the front of his torso, as his wings receded into his back, and a new shell covered it, complete with a large teal gem on top of the shell. "AtlurKabuterimon!"

Vademon was laughing in satisfaction, confident of his win...until his asteroids promptly exploded as the newly evolved Digimon broke through them.

 _Digimon Analyzer: AtlurKabuterimon_

 _AtlurKabuterimon. Vaccine Type. A Perfect Level Insectoid Digimon. His horn has soared in strength upon evolution, and has become far better at flight, his new shell giving him one of the highest defensive capabilities as well. Overall, AtlurKabuterimon is a powerful Digimon, and known to defend the weak and helpless, just like a knight. His special attacks are Horn Buster, firing a bolt of energy from his horn, and Hyper Blaster, essentially a powered up version of his previous form's Mega Blaster._

"Our turn," AtlurKabuterimon smirked, before charging forward with Weiss on his back, breaking through the various asteroids.

"Don't get cocky!" Vademon growled. "Demon's Blown Kiiiissss!" he called out, shooting a kiss that this time turned into what looked like a moon or small planet. However, right before it impacted against AtlurKabuterimon, its velocity was slowed down by a large Glyph appearing, Weiss straining to keep it at bay, while giving AtlurKabuterimon a chance to brace against the large rock, before he soon began pushing it back.

"Wait, what?!" Vademon gasped at the sight, too stunned to do anything as it came closer.

"Here's a present for you! Horn Buster!" AtlurKabuterimon growled, energy gathering around his horn, before he fired the bolt at point blank range, causing the moon to explode, the explosion throwing Vademon off balance as he struggled to regain his balance. However, just as he did, he saw something coming for him, and didn't have time to react, before letting out a choked gasp as he was ran through, Weiss having leaped off of AtlurKabuterimon before driving Myrtenaster through the treacherous Digimon's chest.

"This...is for everyone you've tricked and would have tricked into giving up their hearts!" she growled, before activating the Dust Chambers, and filling Myrtenaster's blade with fire Dust. Vademon didn't have time to respond before the volatile substance ignited inside him, and he was soon deleted by the ensuing explosion.

 **(End song)**

* * *

At the same time, outside the strange dimension, the surrounding area was shaking, and a small group was worried.

"Oh come on! An earthquake now of all times?" Jaune said in worry as he kept away from the cliffs.

"I want off this ride!" Nora added as she held on tight in the back seat, her and Ren having been found by Jaune and Pyrrha a few hours ago after GrandLocomon dropped them off at the mountain station.

"Whatever you do, just don't panic!" Salamon said from the the box in the back of the jeep (like one you'd find on a pickup truck)... before Gomamon started shouting "Too much." she finished lamely.

And then an area in the mountainous region burst open, and they saw a huge maroon beetle flying out.

"I think Weiss activated her crest." Pyrrha said with wide eyes, as none of them doubted this was an evolution of Kabuterimon… especially when it landed near them and Weiss hopped down from him and he reverted back to Motimon.

"Oh not again!" Motimon groaned, before his stomach growled "Oh great, now I'm hungry to boot."

"Plenty of food in here." Ren said in amusement.

"Good, I was getting hungry." Weiss said with a smile, glad they had found the others so quickly, before everyone blinked in surprise as one of the rocks AtlurKabuterimon had sent flying landed in front of them… and a projector was on it.

"Talk about convenient." Wormmon said.

"Honestly, isn't everything that happens to us convenient in some way?" Gabumon added as the projector turned on, and Gennai appeared.

"Good to see you again Chosen Children, I don't have much time at the moment so I'll make this quick. I'm afraid that the distortions that plague the Digital World are still numerous, so your work isn't done just yet. As well, I decided to give you a bit of help, by sending something to all of your scrolls." Gennai said, his form already wavering "I have to go now it seems, good luck." he said, before the projector shut off.

"Well that was… abrupt." Weiss said, before opening her scroll, and seeing a new app on it, clicking it open and blinking at the name "Digimon Analyzer?" she said, before scrolling through it, and seeing it had information on every Digimon they had ever encountered "Well, at least we'll be less surprised by our opponents from now on."

"Now that that's taken care of, let's go! We still have the rest to find!" Motimon said as he jumped into the back of the jeep while Weiss stepped into the bench on the back, with Nora being in between her and Ren, before the group drove off, hoping to reunite everyone soon.

* * *

 **And done!**

 **Again, sorry for the short chapter, but this episode didn't have much going on.**

 **Now, the reason for Weiss being different from Koushiro without curiosity.**

 **For starters, she has more willpower than Koushiro did, and, she's also more mature than he was back then.**

 **Also, yes, Weiss killed a Digimon, reason why that went so easily, Vademon isn't THAT powerful, mostly relying on trickery and his attacks.**

 **Anyway, hope you enjoyed, because...**

 **The Adventure Evolves.**


	30. 29: The Flower Fairy! Lillymon!

**And the next chapter!**

 **This one is going to feature a slightly edited evolution sequence, nothing major, just simplifying it really.**

 **You can probably guess what that means... though the title makes it really obvious.**

 **Also, something I want to mention, I decided on Japanese VAs for Gyro and Pierce.**

 **Gyro is voiced by Yusaku/Playmaker's VA from Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS**

 **And Pierce is voiced by Roronoa Zoro's VA from One Piece.**

 **Anyway, let's go!**

* * *

 **The Flower Fairy! Lillymon!  
**

* * *

"Pedal! Pedal! Pedal!" Agumon and Veemon said encouragingly as Gyro and Pierce were paddling the swanboat they'd found when they reached the water...too bad being a swan boat, it meant the speed wasn't the fastest.

"How much further?" Pierce asked.

"Shouldn't be long now. I think we should see the coast soon," Gyro said.

"It's pretty foggy though." Agumon added after a moment.

"Can't be helped with how early in the morning it is." Veemon said with a shrug.

"Good thing we got the radars, or this could have been very annoying," Pierce sighed. "Still though, hope its not another situation like Jaune. I mean, whoever is in wherever we're going hasn't been moving around much."

"If they are, then hopefully we don't have to cut a figurative bloody swath this time…" Gyro sighed as well.

Eventually, the large form slowly came into view through the early morning fog, the brothers looking up curiously from high it was, until they were able to identify it.

"Is… is that a pagoda?" Pierce asked as he saw the very tall japanese style castle.

"I guess? This place sure likes to have different kinds of architecture." Gyro muttered at the end, shaking his head with a sigh.

"Well...at least we know where they are," Agumon offered weakly.

"Eh, we'll take that," Pierce shrugged as they soon got on dry land again. Not wasting any time, they made their way to the castle. Fortunately the drawbridge was already down so getting to the front entrance was an easy enough thing to do. When they opened the front door, they were soon met with an odd sight.

A large number of frogs with what looked like tuba's around their necks, and overgrown tadpoles, running around, panicking as they all talked over one another.

"So… these are?" Gyro asked, letting the question hang.

"The frogs are Gekomon." Veemon said, pointing to one of them.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Gekomon_

 _Gekomon. Virus Type. An Adult Level Amphibian Digimon. Though it looks rather silly, it has a surprisingly pleasant singing voice. It can even replicate the sounds of various instruments using its horn and strange tongue. Its special attack is Crash Symphony, attacking the enemy with high frequency vibrations._

"And the tadpoles are Otamamon." Agumon added.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Otamamon_

 _Otamamon. Virus Type. A Child Level Amphibian Digimon. A Digimon who spends most of its life underwater, making its skin softer than most other Digimon. It occasionally climbs to the surface to do vocal training. Its special attack is Lullaby Bubble, singing a mysterious melody that puts enemies to sleep._

"Wonder what's the rush for these guys," Pierce mused as they tried to listen in on the frantic amphibians.

"So busy so busy!" they said frantically. "The Princess needs honey and tea!"

"No, she needs onion soup!"

"You're wrong, she needs a soothing potion!"

And on and on the Digimon argued back and forth, apparently trying to prepare something for some 'Princess'

The group looked at all the Digimon running frantically, before Gyro and Pierce nodded at each other and brought their fingers to their lips and each letting out a loud whistle that halted everyone and brought attention to them.

"Ok, I don't know what's going on, but all of you, take deep breaths, you look like you need it." Gyro said, the Gekomon and Otamamon looking between each other, before slowly doing that, and already they looked more relaxed.

"Alright, you were talking about a princess? And how she needs something?" Pierce asked, hoping to understand what was going on.

One of the Gekomon nodded as he stepped up "Right, the princess isn't well, so we're trying everything we can to make her feel better."

"What exactly is the problem though? Some kind of cold?" Agumon asked in confusion.

"She's lost her voice!" one of the Otamamon said, about to panic, before another motioned for him to breathe deeply.

"I can see how that's an issue, but is it really a cause for panic?" Gyro asked, not seeing how this was that bad, since the 'Princess's' voice would come back eventually with enough rest.

"Because she was supposed to sing for us to awaken our lord. But there's only one song we know could wake him up, and she couldn't sing it because she didn't know the language, so we've had to not only give her vocal practice, but also teach her a whole new language." the Gekomon in the front explained further.

"So… this princess is someone you found recently then?" Veemon asked, figuring she probably wasn't from the area if she didn't know the language they wanted her to sing in.

"That's right, and she kind of looked like one of you." one of the Otamamon said as he pointed at Gyro and Pierce.

They both blinked at that, and quickly came to the same conclusion "What Digimon was with her?"

"Palmon." the same Otamamon answered simply.

"So it's Ruby then. Glad we found her." Gyro said, sighing in relief, before he looked back at the gathered Digimon "Thanks for looking after her, she's the youngest of our group so we were a bit worried something may have happened to her."

"Another one of you showed up a few days ago though, she said something pretty close to what you did." Gekomon added.

"Really? And what Digimon did she have with her?" Pierce asked.

"A Biyomon." Gekomon said… simply.

"Yang too then? That's good, I've been missing her." Pierce said with a grin, happy his girlfriend was here.

"She's not here right now. She went with some of the other for some herbs that might help the Princess," One of the Otamamon explained.

"Figures she'd be worried." Gyro said with a smile "Can you take us to see the princess then?" he asked, some amusement in his voice as he tried to picture Ruby as a princess.

"Well, if you're her friends, sure," one of the Gekkomon said, before leading them to one of the upper floors, and to a door...which ironically had a rose on it. "Here's her room," the Gekomon said. "But please be quiet if she's resting."

"That means you Veemon." Pierce said quickly.

"Oi!" Veemon said in annoyance at suddenly being called out.

"To be fair, you DO get pretty loud at times." Agumon told him.

Veemon crossed his arms and grumbled under his breath, unable to deny it.

Gyro laughed awkwardly at that, before knocking on the door a few times, waiting to see if anybody would answer it.

He only had to wait a few moments, before it opened, and a familiar pink flower poked out from the door.

"Yes?" Palmon asked as she poked the rest of her head past the door, before she smiled and was quickly hugging Agumon and Veemon "Guys! You found us!"

"Good to see you too Palmon. So, how's Ruby?" Gyro asked as he crouched down, chuckling a bit when the plant Digimon hugged him and Pierce as well.

Apparently she was really glad to see them.

"She's asleep right now. Her throat still isn't pretty good, she can't even talk normally." Palmon said with a frown, before inviting them into the room.

And in all honesty, it looked pretty modest, save for the fact the bed was rather large and it had curtains around it. It really didn't look like the stereotype Princess room, but it definitely fit Ruby.

The tea table did feel somewhat out of place for a room that belonged to Ruby though, but at least they had a place to sit down at as Palmon started to recount how exactly they ended up here.

"After we got separated by that explosion, me and Ruby were wandering for a little while, then when we got close to this castle, the Gekomon asked us to come and see if one of us could awaken their lord. They said Ruby's voice was pretty good, but they had a specific song they wanted her to sing, it's called 'I Wish' but Ruby didn't understand the words, so they've been teaching her how to read it, and she's also been doing vocal practice. But, she ended up practicing so much she lost her voice." Palmon finished with a frown "So, the Gekomon have been trying to find a way to help her voice heal, and a few days ago, Yang and Biyomon arrived and they decided to help out, so they went with some of the Gekomon and Otamamon to look for some herbs that are supposed to be a good remedy for sore throats."

"I see…" Gyro frowned. "I'm guessing you guys aren't going anywhere until you've helped them, so….anything we can do to help?" he asked.

"Well… do you know the language the song is in?" Palmon wondered, going to a dresser in the room and coming back with a lyrics sheet and showing it to him.

Gyro had a quick look at it "Ah, no wonder Ruby doesn't understand it, it's in japanese. So… the song is called 'I Wish' huh? I think I've heard about it on Earth before actually."

"Can you sing it?" Palmon asked hopefully.

"I mean… yeah, but it won't sound right sung by a guy with a voice like mine, maybe if I had a softer and higher pitched voice it could work." Gyro said with a frown.

"Then I guess all we can do is try and help Ruby get better," Veemon sighed.

"Or we could try singing it anyway," Agumon suggested...but was promptly met with deadpan expressions. "...what?"

"Do I really need to answer this?" Gyro said dryly.

Agumon slumped down at that.

"So...now what? We just wait till Ruby wakes up?" Pierce asked.

"Or maybe we could try singing different songs to see if they work?" Veemon added.

Everyone blinked at that "Well… it's worth a shot." Palmon said with a shrug.

* * *

Minutes later, the group was down in the room where the lord of the Gekomon was asleep in… and he was BIG.

"Wow, talk about a wide load." Pierce said, before Gyro elbowed him in the gut.

"So, what's his name?" Agumon asked as he ignored the currently doubled over Pierce.

"ShogunGekomon apparently." Palmon answered.

Everyone was silent for a moment at that, until… "Why isn't anyone saying anything?"

"I dunno, I think we were all expecting something to happen when we heard his name, don't know what though, it's a weird feeling. Oh well, maybe it'll happen later." Gyro said with a shrug. "So…" he turned to one of the Gekomon that were in the room. "What's the story behind this guy?"

"Well...it was about 300 years ago…" Gekomon started.

"Wait...300 years? He's been asleep for that long?!" Pierce blinked in surprise.

"Well...yes...but anyway, our lord was known for and prided himself for his singing voice. He was undefeated when it came to singing. However...one day he was challenged to a karaoke match and lost completely and utterly. The shock caused him to fall into a depression, then sleep...and now he hasn't woken up since…" the Gekomon sighed. "It is said that when he hears a voice singing more beautifully than his own, he will awaken."

"And does it HAVE to be the song 'I Wish'?" Agumon checked.

"Well...technically no, but it WAS his favorite song, so we figured…"

"That if you had someone with a good singing voice that fit the song try and sing it, it would give the intended effect," Gyro nodded in understanding. "Clever."

"But that also means maybe if we use another song with a good voice it might work too," Pierce nodded.

"Well, if you can do so you're welcome to try," the Gekomon nodded. "We'd really rather not have the Princess push herself too much, she's been nothing but helpful since she came here," he smiled.

"Alright then, let's give it a go," Gyro nodded.

"I'll go first. I got an idea," Pierce said, before turning to the Gekomon. "How good are you guys at playing just music?"

"We can play any song with any instrument as long as you give us the notes," the Gekomon puffed his chest out in pride.

"Great, cause I got a song I need you guys to make for me," he said, before explaining the details. It wasn't long after he was standing on stage, with several Gekomon ready with the instruments.

 **(Play Eyes of Zoro from the One Piece soundtrack)**

The song started off mostly instrumental, though it had a sort of techno vibe to the sounds, before the lyrics finally hit.

 _Tenohira no suna sarasara to ochi_

 _Kumo wa nagare nochi seiten_

 _Shio wa hiki mata michite yuku tsuki o miru_

 _Roukaku wa mata kuzuresari_

 _Hito wa nagare todomaru mono to_

 _Se ni omou mata kibou to iu yoake mae_

 _Gekka no hana tsuyu no shizuku_

 _Kanashimi wa ta ga tame ni fukiareru..._

 _Yume o mita otoko-tachi wa_

 _Chizu ni nai michi o isogu_

 _Kono fune ga tadoritsuku no wa_

 _Maboroshi da to shite mo..._

 _koko ni aru no wa tashika na mono_

 _Ichiaku no kaze karakara sugite_

 _Daichi kawaki nochi ni ame_

 _Midori moe mata karehatete nemuru toki_

 _Hi o kakonde wa yoru no utage_

 _Hito wa hitori hitori ga tsudoi_

 _Ge ni yukai mata karisome no yume o miru_

 _Gekka no hana fukarete iru_

 _Owaru tomo shirenu tabi sakihokoru_

 _Yume o mita otoko-tachi wa_

 _Osorenaki kokoro motome_

 _Kono karada sutete miru yume_

 _Maboroshi da to shite mo..._

 _koko ni aru no wa tashika na mono_

 _Gekka no hana tsuyu no shizuku_

 _Kanashimi wa ta ga tame ni fukiareru..._

 _Yume o mita otoko-tachi wa_

 _Chizu ni nai michi o isogu_

 _Kono fune ga tadoritsuku no wa_

 _Maboroshi da to shite mo..._

 _koko ni aru no wa tashika na mono_

 **(End Song)**

As the song ended, several of the Gekomon were clapping at the performance, before they all looked up… and saw their lord was still asleep.

"Well… I don't know if I should be feeling insulted right now honestly." Pierce said with a sigh as he walked off stage.

"Sorry, don't get us wrong, the song was great, but I guess it's just not what our Lord wants," one of the Gekomon said. "But thanks for showing us this song, it'd be great for another day."

"Okay, so I guess next is…" Gyro mused thinking what he should sing before…

"We wanna try!" Agumon and Veemon said.

Gyro blinked at that, looking down at the two of them "Well… I guess you can try. What do you two want to sing though?"

"Hm...well...how about we try that song the Gekomon said their lord liked?" Veemon suggested.

"Yeah, that might be good," Agumon nodded in agreement. Their enthusiasm...wasn't shared by their partners judging by the deadpan stares the two humans were giving them. "...what?"

"Just… oh god this is NOT going to go well." Pierce started, before muttering the last part.

Gyro sighed "Gimme a few minutes to translate the lyrics into something more clear to read at least."

Minutes later, and the result was… painful to the ears.

"Why are they so bad?" Palmon groaned as she covered what served as he ears.

"This is what's called being tone deaf." Gyro said,having pulled some earplugs from his pouch, and having just barely heard Palmon's question.

"So yeah, sorry guys, but I think that's a DEFINITE no," Pierce deadpanned, causing the two to slump slightly, before getting off the stage.

"Alright, my turn," Gyro sighed, getting on the stage.

"What do we play this time?" One of the Gekomon asked.

"Actually, if you could get me an acoustic guitar, I'll be able to do it myself." he requested, surprised the Gekomon a bit, before one of them ran off, and returned a few minutes later with just that, handing it to him.

It didn't take too long to set up this time compared to others, Gyro making sure the guitar was perfectly tuned, before he soon started playing.

 **(Play Tobira DOOR (acoustic version) by Yamato Ishida)**

The song started off slow with a few strums of the guitar, before he starting singing.

 _Totsuzen yatte kuru shoutai fumei no fuan itsumo bokura wo neratteru_

 _Uke uri no chishiki kudaranai joushiki bokura wo madowaseru_

 _Sonna mainichi ni iyake ga sashitara kyouto ni demo yuku no kai?_

 _Shiranai furi shite sugosu yori mitsumeyou bokura no shinjitsu_

 _Kore dake wa yuzurenai jibun no puraido mune ni hisomase..._

 _Hashiridasou dare no tame demo naku tomatteru yotu mashi dakara_

 _Toumei na kuuki kirisaite mabushii ano umi ni mukatte_

 _Oh keep on running keep on running_

 _Find out your reality_

 _Atarashii tobira no mae de gusugusu shiteru hima wa nai_

 _Josou tsukete tobidasou ze sono tobira keriagete_

 _Kimi datte kitto dekiru_

 _Mienai fuan ga kimi wo tsutsunda kimi no me ga mayotteru_

 _Yuragu jishin itsumo to chigau bokura karada wo furuwaseru_

 _Sonna jibun ga iya dakara hiza wo kakaete iru no kai?_

 _Me wo tojiru no wa hayasugiru mitsumeyou bokura no shinjitsu_

 _Muryoku nante koto nai bokura no yuuki furishibotte..._

 _Mitsuke dasou dare no tame demo naku akirameru yori mashi dakara_

 _Okubyou na kimochi furihodoite hontou no kotae sagashite_

 _Oh keep on running keep on running_

 _Find out your reality_

 _Atarashii sekai no tobira kagi nanka kakatte inai_

 _Jishin motte susumou ze sono tobira keriagete_

 _Kimi nara kitto mitsukerareru_

 _Hashiridasou dare no tame demo naku tomatteru yotu mashi dakara_

 _Toumei na kuuki kirisaite mabushii ano umi ni mukatte_

 _Oh keep on running keep on running_

 _Find out your reality_

 _Atarashii tobira no mae de gusugusu shiteru hima wa nai_

 _Josou tsukete tobidasou ze sono tobira keriagete_

 _Kimi datte kitto dekiru_

 _Kitto tadoritsukeru kara..._

 **(End Song)  
**

As Gyro strummed the last few notes on the guitar, the Gekomon clapped just as much as with Pierce, even though their lord didn't wake up, it was still nice to hear other people sing.

And thrown into the sounds of clapping was a whistle being blown just loud enough for everyone to hear it, making everyone turn to the door to see…

"Ruby! When did you wake up?" Palmon asked, a bit surprised to see her partner as she ran up to her.

And as Gyro looked at the young reaper, he blushed a bit as he saw her wearing a long black dress with red accents that stopped at her ankles, it was slightly poofy like a princess dress, but not overly so, and the only piece of her original outfit she was wearing was her hood and cape."Wow...uh...nice dress…" Gyro said when he regained his senses.

Ruby smiled, and blushed a little bit at the compliment, before walking over to them and placing a hand on each of their shoulders and smiling brightly, as if to say she was happy to see them.

"Good to see you as well." Pierce said, having gotten the gist of it.

"So, practiced so much you lost your voice huh?" Gyro asked in slight amusement.

Ruby puffed up her cheeks in annoyance...too bad it made her look absolutely adorable...before she pointed at the still sleeping ShogunGekomon, then mimed waiting for a very long time, then showed a look of desperation on her face, before crossing her arms, as if saying she couldn't just let the Gekomon be when they explained the problem to her, not when she could do something about it.

"I think I get what you mean yeah, can't just leave them hanging if they've been waiting for a few hundred years for him to wake up." Gyro said with a nod "By the way…" He blushed a bit "What did you think of the song I played?"

Ruby blushed a little, before nodding her head, and giving two thumbs up and a big smile. The message was obvious.

Gyro chuckled a bit, nodding in thanks.

"Say, Ruby, how was Yang when you saw her?" Pierce asked, sounding a bit worried.

At the mention of her sister, Ruby's expression turned glum. She folded her arms and slowly shook her head, looking utterly downtrodden, before doing an exaggerated shrug. The best she could do to say that Yang...wasn't doing so well...and she had no idea why or how to help.

"I see…" Pierce frowned. He'd been worried about her for a while now, remembering the look she had when they'd saved her from Datamon. He'd wanted to have been there for her but...it seems things just weren't allowing that to happen… "So...when is she gonna be back?" he asked.

Ruby seemed to sigh, before shrugging, meaning that she honestly didn't know, though it was clear she was hoping that they would return soon. Fortunately, it seemed they were in luck that day, as just as she did that, a Gekomon came running in. "Big news! The search party has returned!" he reported.

"Talk about convenient!" Palmon said with a smile as they all followed the Gekomon back to the main castle.

"Lots of convenience these days really." Agumon said, blinking in thought.

"Well, I think we should hurry and meet up with them," Veemon said. "Or I don't think Pierce is gonna wait for us," he added with a chuckle as true enough, Pierce was already running for the main hall.

When they did reach the main hall, there was a pause as Pierce entered it, and the first person he saw was Yang, and despite the fact she looked like she hadn't slept much recently, she still looked like her usual self.

When she saw him, he noticed her expression did brighten...but it was still...weak compared to how it usually was. Heck, Biyomon seemed very worried as well…

He wanted to talk to her, really he did, but from the looks of it, the Gekomon wouldn't be letting them...at least not until they got all the herbs they'd gathered.

When the Gekomon finally cleared away with all the herbs, Pierce finally went up to the lilac eyed girl and hugged her.

"I missed you." he murmured as he held her close, relaxing when she rested her head against his shoulder.

"Missed you too…" she mumbled. He could tell she meant it, but she very much lacked the energy she'd usually say that with.

"...something's wrong...isn't it?" he sighed. "Don't worry...we can talk later if you're feeling uncomfortable about it."

Yang nodded, thankful to him for being patient with her.

"For now though, please, get some sleep, you look like you really need it." he told her sternly.

She grimaced a bit "I've tried, trust me… mind staying close to me?"

He nodded at her request, before one of the Gekomon guided them to a room where she could get some rest.

When she was gone, Biyomon went up to Gyro and Ruby "I think Yang's afraid of something, or maybe it's something else, but it's not good." was the first thing the bird said.

Ruby frowned deeply at that. She'd also noticed, but she couldn't do anything to try and help on account of her voice being gone still. Likewise, Gyro frowned at that. "That's not good...did she by any chance say something? Even in her sleep maybe?" he asked. Maybe if they had a clue, they could start to help her.

"Well… a lot of the times she did manage to fall asleep she'd seem to have nightmares, something about not wanting someone to go… I think she also talked about her mother once." Biyomon explained.

Gyro winced, having a good idea what the issue might be "So… abandonment issues." he said, glancing at Ruby, who nodded, because that sounded pretty much accurate.

"Do you know how we can help her?" Biyomon asked hopefully.

"That's….a tough one…" Gyro sighed, and inwardly winced at how much of an understatement that was. Heck, Yang right now almost looked like she did at the end of...Volume 3…

"What caused it though?" Agumon wondered.

"Well…" Biyomon started, putting a wing to her beak in thought "I… I think it started around when we all learned what crests everyone has. Yang's crest is Love."

"And she has to deal with THOSE kinds of issues…." Gyro sighed, already realizing how bad the situation could become if they weren't careful.

"What can we do?" Veemon asked, looking back from where Pierce and Yang had walked away.

"Honestly, the only ones who have a chance at being able to do anything to fix this are Pierce, Ruby and Biyomon." Gyro said with a sigh.

"How can we help her?" Biyomon asked seriously.

"The best thing you can do is be there for her when she needs it." Gyro said with a shrug.

"Alright. We can do that," Biyomon said as she and Ruby nodded.

"Now then, aside from that though, how are we supposed to use those herbs to make you feel better?" Gyro asked.

"We're supposed to use them in a potion!" One of the Otamamon said.

* * *

Gyro had a deadpan look on his face as he watched the 'brewing'. The Gekomon in charge of making it either enjoyed the atmosphere or he was just a massive ham...or mentally unstable...whichever might have been more accurate, as right now they were all in a dark room, with said Gekomon giggling slightly while he stirred a big bubbling cauldron...oh and he was wearing a witch's hat on his head.

"...okay, are we brewing a cure for Ruby's throat, or a potion to curse our enemies with?" Gyro couldn't help but deadpan at the sight. Seriously, this looked less 'make a cure' and more 'sinister spellcaster'.

"A cure for the princess of course." the Gekomon said, looking up from the cauldron as he inserted some thankfully tame looking ingredients, such as plants and extracts from other plants… like honey and other such things.

"Been meaning to ask about that actually…" Gyro trailed off as he eyed Ruby who was sitting patiently "Why did you start calling her 'Princess'?"

"Honestly...it sorta started as a nickname one of us started, and eventually it stuck. She's been really nice and helpful, and she really does care. Like a princess in the old stories," one of the Otamamon explained.

Gyro nodded after a moment "Can't deny that." he said, while Ruby blushed a bit bashfully, though she was smiling.

"Its done!" The Gekomon called out, finishing off with a bang on the pot, before he grabbed a heaping ladle and poured it into a sizeable bottle, several more loading it onto a tray and presenting it to Ruby. "Here you go, Princess. This will heal your throat," they said

"So, is this going to be immediate or slow acting?" Gyro asked as Ruby slowly drank the concoction, grimacing as she pulled the bottle away from her lips.

"Slow acting, she'll be good as new in an hour or so." the Gekomon said proudly.

"In that case, mind if I take a few bottles and the recipe? In case we ever need more." Gyro requested.

"Of course! Help yourself! We have enough in the cauldron to last us a while anyway." was the answer, and Gyro nodded gratefully as he started filling a few bottles while the Gekomon wrote down the recipe.

"Alright then, so...now what do we do while waiting?" Agumon asked.

Ruby thought about it, before miming something that they could all easily tell.

"At once! We'll prepare a feast!" the Gekomon nodded happily.

All at once, the four partner Digimon present all had their stomachs growl. Hearing that, all of them couldn't help but chuckle, all agreeing that lunch sounded like a great idea. As such it wasn't long before they were all seated before a banquet with a full spread of various dishes. It seemed the Gekomon didn't pull their punches when it came to a feast.

"This looks delicious!" Veemon grinned as he was about to dig in, something that Agumon and Palmon were ready to do as well.

"I wonder if Yang will come down to eat?" Biyomon asked.

"Probably not, she looked like she really needed the sleep." Gyro said with a frown as everyone started to eat.

"Pierce isn't here too," Palmon mused.

Ruby made a few gestures, earning an understanding nod from the Gekomon, before some gathered some food into a tray, going to the upper floors, no doubt for said humans.

"Good thinking," Gyro nodded, to which Ruby smiled.

The meal was a more or less enjoyable affair, and by the time all was said and done, it was already past the time for the potion to work. Gathering with the others, Ruby took a small breath, before testing her voice, and found that yes, she could talk again with no difficulties.

"Finally." she sighed out in relief.

"Nice to have you back." Gyro said with a chuckle.

"Now, time to wake their boss up!" Ruby said, just about to run off towards the smaller castle where the sleeping lord was, but the Gekomon got in her way.

"Wait princess! You still need to let your voice relax a bit, it'll take about 2 days before you can sing again." the Gekomon who had brewed the remedy explained.

"...oh…" Ruby deflated. "Well...I guess waiting a bit more won't hurt."

"Don't worry Ruby, we'll be waiting for you right here," Agumon added, everyone grinning in agreement.

* * *

The next day had come, and Ruby was currently walking down into the dining room after having woken up and getting dressed.

She didn't see any sign of Yang last night, so she figured her sister was finally able to catch up on her sleep. So deep in thought, she almost missed the sound of metal creaking. Looking up, she was just in time to see a chandelier come off and fall down...fortunately she activated her semblance and avoided the chandelier that crashed into the ground.

"Ruby! What was that-?!" Palmon started as she came around the corner Ruby had walked out of, and stared with wide eyes at the crashed chandelier "What happened?"

"I think it broke off." Ruby said, looking at the ceiling, before going up to check on the chandelier… and quickly noticed something "Or something worse."

"What's worse?" Palmon asked.

In response, Ruby held up the chain the chandelier was hanging off of, with one of the links in the chain clearly sawed in half "It wasn't an accident."

The two didn't waste any time and quickly gathered the others.

"...10 bucks say its DemiDevimon," Pierce growled.

"Yeah, that little imp tried to keep Jaune and Pyrrha stuck," Agumon frowned.

"But why would he want to stop Ruby from waking up ShogunGekomon?" Veemon frowned.

"I don't think it's so much as stopping her from waking up ShogunGekomon as it is just stopping her in general." Gyro said with a frown.

"What do you mean?" Yang asked in concern, and she'd clearly had a good night's sleep recently.

"Well, with Jaune and Pyrrha, at first he was just trying to keep them stuck at a diner, but he also started to try and put them at each other's throats, to stop their crests from activating." Gyro explained "My guess is, he just decided to go for the direct route and get rid of Ruby directly since nothings happened to get her to stray from her Crest. Heck, now that I think about it...how DID you come to singing for the Gekomon?" Gyro asked.

"Well...we were wandering, and we saw the castle, hoping to be able to stay the night…" Ruby started...then it clicked. "Come to think of it, they seemed happy to see us, and they even asked us to try and sing...do you think that...DemiDevimon...had told them about us?"

"He did. He said a human with a beautiful singing voice was coming and that she could awaken our lord," one of the Gekomon spoke up, surprise and suspicion creeping into their ranks as they wondered if they'd been unwitting pawns the whole time.

"That little rat's sneakier than I thought." Gyro said, nibbling his thumbnail in thought, before snapping his fingers "I got it, if he wants to attack Ruby, we'll just catch him in the act."

"Oooh, so we'll use the same trick as with Jaune and Pyrrha?" Pierce grinned. "Or at least something like it."

"Something simpler actually, we just make Ruby wait out in the open basically while we lie in wait." Gyro said with a shrug.

"That works, I doubt he could resists the opportunity." Biyomon agreed with the idea.

"I don't know about this." Yang said with a frown.

"You'll get first dibs when we catch him, besides, I haven't show it off much, but I do have a gun in this thing." Pierce said as he pointed to Pandora on his back.

Yang looked him in the eyes..before slowly nodding. "...alright...but if anything happens…!"

"If anything happens, we'd probably do worse to ourselves," Gyro said, dead serious.

Ruby seemed a bit worried at how the conversation was going, but was quickly relieved when they simply nodded and the plan was a go. Now they just needed to set the stage.

* * *

"I'll be inside for a bit. Palmon, please don't disturb me," Ruby said gently, before opening the door to the music room she used to practice.

"But Ruby, aren't you still supposed to be resting?" Palmon asked worriedly.

"Don't worry, I won't be doing anything straining," Ruby reassured, before going into the room.

Once inside, she went to a box full of the music sheets and started going through them, her back turned to the open window.

Minutes later, as she was sat and warming up her voice, a small figure appeared in the window, unseen… or so they liked to think.

DemiDevimon grinned to himself, thinking about how this was just the perfect setup to get rid of her, and almost cackling in glee when she put on a pair of sound dampening headphones. This was just too perfect. With that in mind, he soon prepared his attack. His legs/claws came together and a syringe materialized, ready and aimed at the back of Ruby's neck. "Demi…!" he started...but didn't get far as he was suddenly caught in a net.

"Well well well," came Pierce's amused voice. "Look what our little trap dragged in. A conniving imp."

"Wait what?!" DemiDevimon said before he was hoisted up into the air, tangled in the net.

"So, hook, line and sinker huh?" Ruby said as she turned around, pulling the headphones off.

"You REALLY just don't learn do you? You actually fell for the same trick we used with Jaune and Pyrrha," Gyro chuckled. "You're lucky he's not around or we'd give you to him to make a new rug with."

"But…" Yang glared. "You DID try to attack my little sister. So that's...gonna cost you." With that she cracked her knuckles, before they moved to another room, the Gekomon having prepared some kind of metal bar...and the net was hung on the bar...in a way that looked like a punching bag.

"W-wait! No! What are you doing?!" DemiDevimon tried to struggle free, only for his cries of protest to soon be replaced with those of pain.

"WAIT!" Veemon suddenly shouted, stopping Yang in surprise...before he borrowed Pierce's Scroll and set it on camera mode. "Please continue."

Everyone couldn't help but laugh at the action, before Yang obliged, the room now filled with the sound of DemiDevimon in pain...and a camera clicking.

After an hour or so of the pain, they soon brought the now battered and bruised imp to a balcony.

"AND STAY OUT!" the group roared before one shotgun powered punch later, and DemiDevimon was flying through the air, till he was little more than a twinkle in the sky.

"Glad he's gone," Palmon huffed. Now they could probably continue in peace.

"Yep, and just a bit more and we'll be able to wake ShogunGekomon up. I think I'll get the song right this time," Ruby said, earning a few cheers from the Gekomon.

* * *

That night, the castle was quiet. Yang sighed as she walked to her room, Biyomon having gone ahead earlier.

"You've been doing that a lot," came Pierce's voice as he came up behind her, having followed her earlier. "You know you can talk to us, right?"

Yang turned to him, looking down with a frown "Yeah… I know." she sighed "I guess… I just don't know what to do. I mean, my crest is supposed to be what makes Biyomon stronger, but I don't know if I can actually make it work."

Pierce sighed, he could understand her feelings to a degree "This is about your birth mother leaving, isn't it?" if her wince was any indication, he hit the nail on the head. Frowning deeply, he didn't say anything, instead he went over, and pulled her into a comforting hug.

She didn't react at first, until she laid her head on his shoulder, slowing bringing her arms around him, sniffling at first until she started to sob.

"W-what am I supposed to do dammit?" she asked through her tears as she clung to him.

Pierce was silent for a long moment, before he took a breath "I guess… I'm sorry in advance if this sounds cheesy, but think about what love is, in all it's different forms, and ask yourself if you've been doing it right."

Yang listened to his words, tears falling silently, but at a slower rate as she focused on his words "Is it really that simple?"

"Who knows? I'll get back to you once I find the perfect guide to the human emotional spectrum." he said with a snort, wanting to cheer her up, and thankfully, it worked, as she let out a chuckle at his words.

"Guess I'll be waiting a LONG time for that, huh?" Yang joked back, a small smile on her face.

"There's the Yang I know and love," Pierce smiled.

Yang smiled a little at that, before she sighed again, wanting little more than to enjoy his embrace. But at the same time, it was getting late. Perhaps she was feeling bold...or vulnerable...but she asked her next question anyway. "Could you...stay with me tonight?"

Pierce smiled at her, before he nodded "Sure, I can do that." he then gained a slightly teasing grin. "Just don't blame me if my hands wander in my sleep though."

"I was gonna say the same thing." Yang shot back, smiling more naturally as she punched his chest lightly, before walking back to her room with him, and unnoticed by both, her crest gave off a faint spark before fading.

* * *

A light singing could be heard from the room as Ruby finished up her last bit of exercise. Tomorrow she'd be able to awaken ShogunGekomon, and when all was said and done, they'd be able to continue on their journey. "Perfect," she smiled as she put the sheet away.

"You're really getting good at that," came Gyro's voice, the boy having found his way into the room to get a better listen.

Ruby looked up in surprise, she wasn't in any sort of strange outfit or position thankfully, but she did blush a bit at someone listening to her when she didn't even notice, but she smiled nonetheless at the compliment "Thanks, I think I'm gonna be ready for the song tomorrow."

"That's good to know." he said as he sat down in front of her "So, how was it to learn a completely different language?"

"Kind of tough at first honestly, but I got the hang of it after enough lessons." she said confidently.

Gyro grinned a bit "Enough to hold a conversation in it?" he asked… in japanese.

"I like to think I can." Ruby replied, also in japanese.

"Not bad, but that's just a few words, can you do more?" Gyro challenged with a friendly grin, still in japanese.

"Well, I guess I can try, it can't be too hard to string together a lot of words like I'm doing right now, right?" Ruby shot back with a grin, again, still in japanese.

The two looked at each other for a few moments, before they both started laughing.

"Ok, you definitely have it down pat." Gyro said, switching back to english.

"Thanks, like I said, it took a lot of work, but it was worth it." Ruby said, also switching back to english.

"It sure was. You'll do great tomorrow," Gyro smiled encouragingly.

Ruby nodded, before having to cover her mouth as she yawned "I think I'm gonna head to bed." she said, standing up and waving at him as she walked past "Good night."

"Night Ruby." he shot back, watching her leave the room, before doing the same a few moments later.

* * *

The next morning (after breakfast of course) had them all gathered before the sleeping ShogunGekomon, before Ruby went up to the stage. All the equipment was checked and double checked, the song ready. Ruby took a deep breath, before the music began to play and she started to sing. The song was perfect, showing the practice she'd put into it, and better yet, they could tell ShogunGekomon was reacting, little by little he was stirring, before he moved and let out a large yawn as he got up.

"Lord ShogunGekomon! You've finally awakened!" The Gekomon and Otamamon all cheered, while Ruby got off the stage, the hunters and their Digimon smiling at the sight of the loyal servants welcoming their lord.

….however that image was soon shattered when instead of a happy reunion, ShogunGekomon growled angrily and smashed the stage, before starting to smash the rest of the room.

"What the heck is wrong with him?!" Gyro questioned.

"Is this another stray Black Gear or something?" Pierce couldn't help but wonder.

"If so, then here we go again," Yang frowned a bit, before pounding her fists.

Ruby however had other ideas as she ran forward. "Stop it! The Gekomon have been desperately trying to wake you up! Why are you doing this?!" she tried to reason with ShogunGekomon.

ShogunGekomon glared at her. "You think I care about that? I was having a great nap, and you lot woke me up!"

"But that's no reason to-!" Ruby tried again.

"Silence! I'm the Lord of this Castle! I can do as I please!" ShogunGekomon roared.

 _Digimon Analyzer: ShogunGekomon_

 _ShogunGekomon. Virus Type. A Perfect Level Amphibian Digimon. A Digimon that evolved from a Gekomon who spent countless time in a karaoke system, and thus learned thousands of different songs. It is arrogant to a fault, believing itself to be above mistakes due to being a lord. Its special attacks are Samurai Tone, unleashing a powerful sound from its horns that blows its enemies away, and Horn Howling, shooting out an air bullet from his horns that can punch through steel._

"...okay, I'm gonna kick his ass," were the deadpan words that came from Yang, Biyomon, Gyro, Agumon, Pierce, and Veemon at the words of the arrogant Digimon.

"Just because you're the lord doesn't mean you can be a jerk!" Palmon said, and just as some loosened piece of ceiling that ShogunGekomon smashed up was about to fall on Ruby, a large boxing glove punched it away as she quickly evolved into Togemon. "And more importantly...don't you DARE look down on what the Gekomon and Otamamon went through to wake you up after 3 HUNDRED years! Togemon, let's teach him a lesson!" Ruby said, pulling out Crescent Rose.

"You got it, Ruby!" Togemon nodded as she pounded her gloves together.

"P-Princess…!" The Gekomon and Otamamon were moved to tears at her defending them like that without hesitation or doubts. Truly she was the princess they'd come to care for dearly. The sight was only made even stronger, as at that moment, a green light started to shine from within Ruby's clothes.

 **(Play Brave Heart)**

Ruby's D-Core vibrated, before turning green with orange buttons. The beam of light was fired out of the Digivice, going through her Tag from the back and releasing the Crest into the sky. As the Crest of Purity ascended, it gathered energy before spinning in place and releasing the burst of energy, firing down the beam which flowed into Togemon. "Togemon, Super Evolution!" Togemon called out as light burst forth from here eyes and mouth, before at the top of her head, the 'hairs' began to change, a large flower growing out of her head, before it began to bloom. From within the blooming flower emerged a new Digimon, one completely different from Togemon, as it was more accurate to say this one was like a fairy, wearing an outfit made from pink flower petals, the top of her head surrounded in those same petals as long, green, thorn riddled vines came out from the bottom of those petals, mimicking hair. Her forearms were covered with green sleeves that had yellow petals at her wrists, while green boots covered her feet, yellow flowers on the ankles of the boots, and finally, four wings made of leaves appeared on her back. "Lillymon!"

The hunters and Digimon all stared in wonder at Togemon's new form. Compared to her previous form, Lillymon didn't seem built for power. However, if there was anything they'd learned since coming here, it was never to judge a book by its cover. Lillymon landed next to Ruby and smiled at her. "Ruby, let's fight together," she said.

Ruby got over her wonder, and nodded with a smile. "Let's go, Lillymon!"

 _Digimon Analyzer: Lillymon_

 _Lillymon. Data Type. A Perfect Level Fairy Digimon. Though she looks like a human child, Lillymon packs all the power of a Perfect Digimon in her body, and knows how to make use of it. She gets along most with those who have similar personalities to her, and it is said that wherever she flies, a fresh breeze will follow. Her special attacks are Flower Cannon, bringing both hands together as the petals on her wrists enlarge and form a flower with a cannon in the middle, firing an energy shell from it, and Vicious Vine, attacking the enemy with a thorned vine that shoots out from her wrist._

"Don't get cocky! Samurai Tone!" ShogunGekomon growled, before firing off his attack, forcing everyone to duck out of the way...and cover their ears...from the soundwave that blasted a hole through the wall.

"Okay, I've heard of dreadful musicians, but THIS is ridiculous," Pierce couldn't help but say at the sight of the destruction.

"Time to evolve?" Veemon asked rhetorically.

"Time to evolve," everyone nodded as the remaining Digivices began to shine.

"Agumon, Evolution! Greymon!"

"Biyomon, Evolution! Birdramon!"

"Veemon, Evolution! Veedramon!"

The walls burst as the three large adult Digimon came out, dragging ShogunGekomon with them.

"Take this outside, guys!" Yang called out, though ShogunGekomon was struggling against the pull.

"You especially! Vicious Vine!" Lillymon said, whipping ShogunGekomon's leg, causing him to lose balance and allow them to throw him out...down the cliffside, where he landed in a heap, before the four of them followed after him.

"How dare you do that!" ShogunGekomon growled. "Samurai Tone!" he fired his attack again, blowing the three Adults back. "And now…!" he started again...but not before Lillymon came out, with Ruby in her arms who seen jumped out, and using her semblance, began zipping around him. "W-what the?!" he gasped, trying to swat at her, but to no avail, before Ruby hit him on the leg, causing him to roar in pain and try to squash her...before a Vicious Vine nailed him in the face, causing him to lose balance and fall flat on his back.

"Nice try, but not good enough," Ruby and Lillymon chuckled before blowing raspberries at the large toad.

At the same time, Gyro, Pierce, and Yang got out and saw the scene. "Okay, time for a little extra power," Gyro frowned, pulling out his Tag which soon started to shine.

"Greymon, Super Evolution! MetalGreymon!"

ShogunGekomon had just gotten to his feet, before he was met with a Trident Arm to the face, knocking him back, before he tried to brace against it, actually managing to stop it. "Gotcha!" he grinned.

"You sure about that?" Gyro smirked, much to his confusion...before MetalGreymon promptly swung his arm upward, taking ShogunGekomon with it, before he was launched to the sky.

As he was airborne, Ruby turned to the Gekomon and Otamamon. "Are you sure about this?" she asked.

"Yeah," they all nodded. "We did our duty to awaken our lord, but we don't HAVE to follow him. Especially a big jerk like him!" they all said.

"Alright. Let him have it everyone!" Ruby said.

"You got it!" they all nodded.

"Meteor Wing!"

"V Breath Arrow!"

"Giga Destroyer!"

"Flower Cannon!"

The attacks all impacted, creating a huge explosion, before ShogunGekomon was launched away, screaming as he went over the horizon and was soon just a twinkle in the sky.

 **(Song end)**

Once the battle was over, the evolved Digimon all reverted, with Lillymon and MetalGreymon going back to Tanemon and Koromon. "This is the one part of going Perfect I don't like," Koromon grumbled slightly.

About an hour later, the group stood in front of the main castle, Ruby finally having changed back to her usual outfit, as the Gekomon and Otamamon were seeing them off.

"Know that you will always be welcome here everyone, it was a pleasure to have you." the leading Gekomon said, as all of them bowed to their guests.

"Make sure the next time you guys pick a leader, you do a full background check on him." Gyro said jokingly.

"We don't want another jerk like that guy calling the shots after all." Ruby added.

"We'll be careful with who we choose the next." Gekomon assured them, before the group left, waving to the Digimon at the castle, and headed in the direction of the last blinking dot.

As they did walk, Gyro hanged back a bit so he was next to Ruby "For what it's worth, even though you were interrupted, your singing was amazing." he told her with a smile.

Ruby blushed a bit at the compliment "Thanks." she said, before acting on an impulse, and giving him a peck on the cheek.

Gyro froze in place at that, before his face slowly became completely red, and you could practically see the steam pouring out of his ears.

"I… I don't know if I should be the overprotective big sister right now." Yang said, staring at the frozen Gyro and blushing Ruby.

"Meh, don't worry, Gyro's never had an impure thought about women in his life." Pierce waved off her concerns, as Ruby intertwined her fingers with Gyro's and tugged him along.

* * *

 **And our next ship is sailing!**

 **Also, yeah, Togemon reached the next level earlier.**

 **Yeah, this is pretty much a theme at this point isn't it?**

 **Also, obviously, Ruby is SO pure, she didn't turn out like Mimi did after becoming the princess.**

 **It also helps she has the hero dream.**

 **Anyway, hope you all enjoyed this longer than usual chapter people, since it made up for the shortness of the last one... and of the next one.**

 **Yeah, we don't expect it to be too long, but, anyway, for now...**

 **The Adventure Evolves.**


	31. 30: Heavensent! HolyAngemon!

**Huh... this ended up being longer than we expected.**

 **Seriously, this chapter is all original content, so we thought it would be shorter like others like it, but turns out we were able to make it big.**

 **Anyway, time for something that might knock a few of you on your asses because you didn't see it coming.**

 **Let's go!**

* * *

 **Heavensent! HolyAngemon!  
**

* * *

Blake sighed as she and Patamon walked down the seemingly endless road on this seemingly empty field. It had been like this for a while now, which only served to hammer in the constant fact. It had been weeks and not a single sign of her friends. The only comfort she could get from this was the fact that her Digivice was still giving a signal, meaning that they should be alright...though the signals were still pretty far off.

Next to her, Patamon flapped his wings, noticing her glum expression and landing on her shoulder. "Don't worry Blake, we'll find them eventually," he encouraged.

She sighed "I know Patamon. It's just that it's been a long 3 weeks." she explained "I'm sure we'll find them eventually, but it's getting tiring."

Patamon frowned, but quickly brightened up. "But it'll all be worth it when this is all over," he said. "I'm sure everyone is looking forward to seeing us as much as we are to them."

Despite herself, Blake couldn't help but smile a little at her partner's words. "You're right. We need to keep going. It'll be for nothing if we stop."

The two continued down the path, before going over a hill...and seeing what appeared to be some kind of village in the distance.

"Looks like our luck is turning around." Patamon said with a smile as he flapped his wings and flew ahead a bit.

"I guess so." Blake admitted with a small smile as she looked at the village, she couldn't make out much from here, but it seemed to be decently , when they arrived...they found that it had been abandoned, albeit relatively recently, seeing as most of the architecture seemed perfectly intact. "That's...strange…" Blake frowned, before on a whim they looked into one of the open houses. What they found was even stranger.

"It...looks as if whoever was here left in the middle of a meal," Patamon frowned, flapping over to the table that still had a full spread. "Hey! This food is still kinda warm!"

Now Blake was getting suspicious. It was one thing to abandon a town, but to do so while leaving literally everything behind...considering the fact that the town was still in pristine condition, there was something VERY wrong here. "Patamon...we may want to get out of here as fast as we can…" she started...only to get cut off when the sound of stomachs growling were heard. Namely her's and Patamon's.

Blake's face was blank for a long moment, while Patamon blushed in embarrassment at the timing, until slowly, Blake reached out… and grabbed the food on the table "This stays between us." she said lowly, to which Patamon nodded as they both started to eat their fill.

The food, despite being lukewarm by now, was actually pretty good. It helped too since they were running low on supplies thanks to going through paths that were seemingly barren for a while now. Eventually they'd eaten their fill. "Hope whoever made this doesn't mind," Patamon sighed contently.

"They won't know," Blake deadpanned with a sigh. "Still...its abnormal for a town to just...vanish like that. Like I said, we should get going soon. The last thing we want is for whatever did this to possibly come back."

"Do you really think someone or something caused the town to just up and leave?" Patamon asked.

"It's the most logical conclusion, yes," Blake nodded.

"Then I guess we should get out," Patamon nodded, to which they exited the building...but not before refilling their supply pouch.

...what? It's called survival for a reason.

As they made their way through the town to another exit, Blake couldn't help but take notice of the architecture.

"Is something wrong, Blake?" Patamon asked.

"Hm? Oh, no, nothing is wrong," Blake shook her head. "Just...the architecture here kind of reminded me of Menagerie," she said. Softly.

"Menagerie? Is that a place in Remnant?" Patamon asked curiously.

"Yes. It's also where I was born," Blake said.

"What's it like?" Patamon asked.

Blake hummed in thought, thinking of how best to put it "Well… cramped, for starters. See, there was a huge war several years ago, humans VS faunus, and the faunus actually won. But… the humans were sore losers, and while they granted faunus rights, a lot of humans don't care, and it doesn't help that when we were given land, it was a small continent that is ⅔ an unlivable desert. Slowly, the problems became more and more apparent, until my father began a proper faunus rights group, naming it the White Fang, a way of saying we weren't afraid to show our teeth when attacked, but that they would never be bloodied. It was during that time he met my mother and married her, and a few years later, I was born. One of my first memories is standing on his shoulders at a rally. We lived in a decent house at the main village of Menagerie, Kuo Kuana, and according to them, it was in that same house I was born," Blake explained.

"That's not fair…" Patamon frowned, not liking the part where the Faunus got what they did even though they won their rights. "But...it's not all bad, right?"

"Well… they could have been worse, I'll admit that. Like I said before, my father eventually stepped down as leader, leaving Sienna Khan to take his place, except she adopted a new method of doing things, a violent one, which a lot of faunus either loved or hated. My parents still prefered a peaceful solution… but I was young and stupid back then, and thought they were cowards, so I stayed with the group as it became violent. Eventually I came to work with a mentor of mine, Adam Taurus, and at first, I practically idolised him, but over time I saw the truth, that he was nothing more than a ruthless murderer… the last straw that opened my eyes was when he killed a faunus woman who was married to a human man… and she was pregnant."

"That's horrible…" Patamon frowned deeply. Even if he didn't fully understand, he could tell that was something VERY bad. "I'm glad you got away from them when you did," he said.

"You and me both," Blake sighed.

"Awww….isn't that sad…" came a new voice all of a sudden, causing both of them to jolt. Looking around, they saw what appeared to be a mist of some kind appearing and starting to cover the village. "So so sad…" the voice said seemingly in sympathy, but Blake could hear the malicious undertone.

"Patamon…" Blake said softly.

"Right…" Patamon tensed, ready to evolve. However, before they could even try, the mist suddenly surged forward and they were covered in it. The moment it hit, both started feeling drowsy, drowsy...and before long they were collapsed on the ground.

* * *

Blake groaned slightly, opening her eyes. What was she doing? She couldn't remember. Her eyesight soon focused and she blinked as she realized she was in...Vale? Yes, she was in Vale, yet somehow something felt...off. That something was soon visible when she saw the crowd of Faunus protesters...all carrying the banner of the White Fang, the old design at that which just featured the head of a wolf in a circle. She remembered now. This she'd been here before, seeing as well...she could see a younger version of herself right up front.

Her younger self was, evidently, much younger, as the small cat eared girl was looking around everywhere while absentmindedly holding a White Fang banner as she was sat on her father's shoulders. The protest was loud, but as true to their ideals in the day, it was peaceful. She remembered, they'd planned it such that it wouldn't get into anyone else's way, wouldn't disrupt the people not involved more than necessary, and generally intended to only aim for the ones they were protesting against. It should have been a day where they sent a strong message that people would hear. Sadly the keyword was indeed should, as suddenly a number of police were swarming the area, barely an hour into the protest, driving off the protesters, and while some tried to stand their ground, including her father and herself, they were ultimately driven off. However, the vision didn't end there. It ended on one bit that while she didn't understand when she was younger, she understood clearly as she got older. She saw her younger self turning a little as her father left...just in time to see a human in a business suit...sneaking a stack of Lien into the hand of the officer leading the group that had driven them off.

Blake grit her teeth. It hadn't meant much to her as a child, but now that she understood the world better, the reality was obvious. The Police hadn't driven them off cause they were causing trouble or they were disrupting the peace. They'd driven them off because they'd been paid to do it. That their efforts towards equality didn't mean more than some Lien to the humans who were SUPPOSED to be protecting the people. The memory caused her to bite back tears as more memories of her past started to resurface, and just for a moment, her crest became dimmer.

The scenery soon shifted, as a new memory emerged.

She saw her younger self, seemingly a few years older, walking through Vale, and next to her were two other faunus. One a taller boy with red hair, red eyes, and brown horns at the front of his head, while the other was a girl with a short ponytail that seemed to curve on it's own like a chameleon's tail, several freckles all over her body… and her skin and freckles changing color from time to time along with her auburn hair, becoming a rainbow of different colors, indicating she was a chameleon faunus. At first the memory started peaceful enough...but Blake grit her teeth again, already knowing what was coming. They saw an elderly faunus, a rabbit if she recalled correctly, being kicked out of a store. He had been begging for food, but the stores would have none of it. Taking pity, her younger self tried to buy some food...but was denied service. Apparently the shopkeeper just didn't like Faunus. Things got even more heated as the bull faunus with them, Adam, fought back, saying that they had just as much right as any other customer, but the shopkeeper wouldn't have any of it. It eventually took walking away, before her chameleon faunus friend, Ilia, had to focus to stop her color changing, and appeared to be just a normal human girl, as she went in, and came out with a large bag of bread and other food items, which she handed to the elderly faunus, who thanked them deeply.

While Blake did have a smile at seeing Ilia, especially when the chameleon faunus became pink in color after being praised by the younger Blake, her eyes gazed at Adam, seeing him glaring at the store, a snarl pulling at his face, finding herself wondering if this was how he started becoming the man he was today. The memories at seeing how things once had been, and how things were now...added with once again a reminder of the apathy so many had...once again it made her bite back tears as her crest became dimmer again, before the crest and tag seemingly vanished from around her neck, same with her D-Core, but she didn't notice either, as more and more memories began to flash across her vision, again and again she felt the crushing despair at how it seemed as if the world itself was determined to make her family's dream for equality just that. A dream.

* * *

"...ata...on... Pa...mon…" a voice cut through the darkness clouding Patamon's mind.

It felt familiar, but it felt like he hadn't heard it in weeks.

Slowly, the voice came further and further into focus, as he groggily opened his eyes, seeing blurred figures standing over him.

"Pata… ake up!" he almost had it on the tip of his tongue, he just knew who the person calling out his name was.

It was… it was.. "Gyro!" Patamon shouted as his eyes snapped open completely, seeing the goggle head crouched over him, his face breaking into a relieved smile.

"Thank Oum, you're awake." Gyro said with a sigh as Patamon looked around after a moment, seeing that Agumon, Pierce, Veemon, Ruby, Palmon, Yang and Biyomon were all present as well.

"What happened?" Patamon said in confusion as he flipped himself onto his stomach before getting to his feet.

"We found you collapsed in the middle of the street here." Agumon answered.

"Huh…?" Patamon blinked, wondering what had happened...before it all came back to him. "Blake! Where's Blake?!"

"We don't know," Yang frowned. "We kinda only found you by yourself, so we got worried too."

Patamon frowned in worry at that as he flew up and looked around, hoping to spot something… and he did.

But it's not what he wanted to see.

He flew towards what he saw, fluttering next to a lamp post that had Blake's bow tangled around it.

Grabbing it, he quickly returned to the others, and everyone was silent as they looked at the bow in worry.

"Blake's bow...she never takes that off…" Pierce frowned.

"We'd better find her quick," Veemon gulped.

"Right!" Everyone nodded, urgency in their voices as they soon made their way deeper into the village. As they got deeper, they soon found themselves confronted by a thick mist that was pretty much fog.

"This is…" Ruby frowned.

"Careful. I remember mist before I blacked out. I'm not sure if this is the same stuff, but still…" Patamon warned.

"Right, everybody cover your mouths and nose, just in case." Gyro said, everyone nodding as they did just that before going through the mist.

When they did enter the mist, everything seemed normal at first, until their visions became blurry for a moment, in which they saw something… different.

Gyro blinked as he was back in his and Pierce's old room back on Earth, and watched as he saw Botamon hatching out of the egg all over again and sped under the bed.

Pierce saw a light blue egg with darker blue stripes crack open amongst 9 other eggs, and out of it came Chibomon… who tripped on his way out of the egg somehow and fell face first on the ground.

Yang saw a pinkish egg with red hearts on it, the top of it cracking open, before the top half of the shell shot up into the air… and then fell off, revealing it was covering a small black Digimon that looked like a sprouting plant, the two leaves on its head spinning as it gently floated down to the ground.

And Ruby saw a light green egg with darker green splotches on it, cracking open as it fell onto its side, and out of it crawled out a small purple Digimon with grey hair covering its body, before it made itself comfortable on the grass and started to bask in the sunlight overhead.

Just as they started, the visions ended. "...did you guys…?" Gyro started.

"See a Digimon hatch?" they all asked, basically confirming it.

Ruby looked at Palmon for a moment, considering something "Hey, Palmon, your Fresh form, did it look like a little purple thing with grey hairs all over it?"

Palmon blinked at the sudden question "That's right, it's called Yuramon."

"Did… did we all just see our partners when they first hatched?" Yang asked in confusion.

"Considering I just saw the moment Botamon first hatched all over again, I'd say that's accurate." Gyro answered, just as confused.

"Think it's cause of this mist?" Pierce mused.

"That's...very likely…" Patamon frowned. Now that he thought about it, he DID remember seeing things after the mist hit them.

"Still...what are we dealing with that can make us see things from the past…?" Yang couldn't help but ask. This wasn't something simple by any stretch.

"I think I've heard of a Digimon that can make you see things before. I can't remember who it is though." Biyomon said as she tried to think back on what she had heard.

"We're probably going to have to fight it, whatever it is." Veemon said with a frown.

"...well, nothing new there," Agumon and Palmon sighed in unison. It was honestly the norm now that whenever something happened, they usually ended up having to fight a Digimon.

Their respite didn't last long however, as they were soon assaulted by new visions.

Gyro and Pierce were a bit surprised as they saw each other, apparently sharing the same vision, in a place that was vaguely familiar to them.

"I… I think this is Patch." Pierce said as he looked up at the house.

"So, a memory from the girls then." Gyro realised, before looking around "You know, I wonder what the Digimon are seeing right now?"

At the same time as he wondered this, Biyomon was wandering around a house at night, looking around in confusion "Where is this? Is this… a memory from someone?"

Her attention was then drawn to an open door, tilting her head in confusion, she walked into it, passing through the door as if it wasn't there, and ended up in a toddler's room, if the design was anything to go by, with a crib up against a wall, going up to it and being a little confused by the physics of the vision as she could actually touch the crib, before flapping up and perching herself on the railing, looking down into the crib to see a little baby with a tuft of blonde hair on their head, and as the baby opened its eyes, she saw lavender orbs look up at the ceiling, making her blink in recognition "Yang was this tiny before?" she blinked, wondering if humans also went through a form of evolution like Digimon did.

However, before she could think on it further, she noticed the Yang in the vision reach out to something. Turning to the sight, she saw another human, one who looked a LOT like Yang, albeit with black hair and red eyes. Wearing a black and red outfit, mostly red though, with some of her hair tied back, as she had a sword at her hip, with a rather large and circular sheith.

The woman looked down at Yang, the little baby trying to reach up to her, but the woman simply continued to stare, her face rather unreadable, but Biyomon could see a hint of regret in it as she spoke "This is for your own good. Family we may be, but you have to learn that you can't always rely on it." she said, before turning away, drawing her sword from her hip and slashing the air in front of her with it, leaving a tear in it that she walked through, before it sealed shut.

Biyomon blinked, wondering what that was about...but ultimately decided to ask Yang about it later. That seemed to be important.

Back to Gyro and Pierce, the two were looking around the outside of the house, before the two of them noticed someone else was present.

"Oh, you guys are here too." Palmon said in surprise as she had ended up on the opposite side of the house.

"Feels weird to suddenly not have Agumon and Veemon with us for once." Gyro commented after a moment.

"Well, it feels just as weird for me to not be around Ruby honestly." Palmon added.

"Well, let's look around until we get back to what we SHOULD be doing then." Pierce said as started towards the house.

"Feels like we're intruding though." Gyro said with an unsure frown.

"Meh, if Palmon's here, these memories are probably mostly Ruby, so we won't see anything we're not supposed to." Pierce shrugged off his worries as he walked through a wall and into the house, Gyro and Palmon glancing at each other before copying him.

When they got inside, the first thing that hit them was the smell of freshly baked cookies.

"Well… that smells good." Gyro said after a moment, smiling a bit.

"What is that smell though?" Palmon asked.

"That would be cookies fresh out of the oven." Pierce chuckled.

"You can smell them really clearly too. These must be a really strong memory for Ruby," Gyro mused. However, he and Pierce had a good idea who this memory was about.

They soon got their answer when they saw a 3 year old Ruby speed out of a room in her pajamas, with Yang running after her while holding a shirt and some pants "Ruby get dressed!"

"Na!" the little Ruby said with a giggle as she sped around the living room.

"So, guess even Ruby was a rascal at some point." Gyro chuckled.

"And Yang was pretty much always a mother hen it seems." Pierce said as he looked at the 5 year old version of his girlfriend in amusement as she chased after her little sister.

"Is that a baby version of Ruby and Yang?" Palmon blinked.

"Well...something like that," Pierce chuckled.

Then the chase continued on into what the brothers assumed was the kitchen, making them follow to see Ruby was finally caught, but not by Yang.

Holding the little Ruby in her arms was a woman who essentially looked like a fully grown up Ruby, with hair reaching her shoulders, and wearing a white cloak and hood. "Girls, the cookies are ready," she said with a gentle smile.

The twins blinked as they saw who could only be Summer Rose...and a thought crossed their minds. "Hey...don't you think she…?" Pierce started.

"Kinda sounds like Renamon's partner? Yeah, the thought crossed my mind…" Gyro finished with a nod.

"Do you think it's her?" Palmon asked, having heard about the woman a little from Ruby herself.

"Well… maybe, Yang did tell me she's been missing for the last 10 or so years. Guess we'll only know when we find her or Renamon again." Pierce said.

Meanwhile, Ruby was… confused.

Previously, she'd seen a memory of her partner hatching, so she assumed that this mist showed them the past.

But now? Now she saw things that didn't happen, or happened differently.

She saw her first day at Beacon again, except this time there was a lack of Gyro and Pierce, and somehow she made the dust Weiss had with her blow up, then she saw the initiation, where she and Weiss were practically at each other's throats, and again, no Gyro and Pierce.

And contrary to what actually happened, once the initiation was over, they didn't get sucked up into the Digital World, but just went back to Beacon and were put into teams, although she didn't see who led what team.

Then she saw several other events play out, like Weiss storming away from her, Jaune looking utterly lost about what he should do, and then walking through the docks at Vale with her team, composed of herself, Weiss, Blake, and Yang.

She saw them walking around, ending up in front of a store, before she saw last bit of them chasing after someone, though she couldn't see who, and then Weiss crashing into someone.

It was a carrot haired girl with freckles, a pink bow in her hair, and wearing an outfit which could be described as cute, old, and techy all rolled into one.

The girl seemed friendly, making Ruby smile as it looked like her other self was befriending soon followed were...well...a lot of things, but generally light hearted shots, life in Beacon, and overall things seemed...swell. Then it all went wrong…

The first thing she saw was the carrot haired girl in a arena… and her body shredded to pieces, yet there was no blood or guts, only machinery and wiring. That in itself was enough to make her gasp in shock...and then things just went from bad to worse. Grimm began pouring into the city, a massive one smashing into Beacon, she saw robots suddenly turning on people and firing like crazy, she saw her friends, yet once again notably lacking the two brothers, fighting for their lives. She saw Blake on a losing battle against a bull faunus who was almost toying with her, before that same bull faunus chopped off Yang's arm when she tried to help Blake, then she saw Pyrrha fighting tooth and nail against a woman using fire, before she saw what could only have been the end of the fight...with Pyrrha having an arrow in her chest.

She didn't know why she was seeing all these horrible things, but she wanted it all to stop, not realising as her eyes started to glow.

As for Yang, she was looking around an apartment in slight confusion, only to start when two small forms ran through her legs, literally passing through them.

After recovering from the surprise, she followed the two and found two young boys, identical twins with different colored eyes, one blue and the other green, but both sporting blonde hair. Blinking she soon recognized her boyfriend and his brother...as younger children. Seeing them playing and having fun like that brought a gentle smile to her face.

"Nice place they lived in." she said to herself as she followed the two kids around the apartment.

Then, as she walked in front of the bathroom, she stopped as she heard a voice "Help!" came a strained voice from the room, and since the two boys didn't react to it, she guessed this wasn't in the memory, so, poking her head through the door to the bathroom, she was met with… Veemon, his tail stuck in the toilet bowl as he kept spinning on himself, the toilet apparently trying to flush him down the drain.

Despite herself she couldn't help but laugh at the Digimon's predicament. "What the heck were you trying to do?" she asked through chuckles as she moved to help him.

"I had to use it but my tail got stuck when I sat down!" Veemon said as Yang pulled him free, making him wince as he grabbed his tail.

"You do realise we're just looking at something in our brains right? What do you think would have happened if you actually went and took care of business?" she told him with a raised eyebrow.

It took all of two seconds before Veemon's face took on an embarrassed shade of red "Oh…"

Yang couldn't help but laugh at his expression. "Right, now then, we should see where this memory is going. I'm sure we can find a REAL toilet AFTER we're done here," she said.

"R-Right…" Veemon nodded.

Right after that the two stepped back out of the bathroom and Yang saw that the memories seemed to have jumped ahead, as she saw Gyro and Pierce, both of which looked to be just a year younger than they were at present.

The two of them were eating breakfast from the looks of it, and were soon joined by Azure, coming in from another room, which got her curious, going into it with Veemon following, and both of them starred with wide eyes at the large structure.

"What is this thing?" Veemon whispered in a mix of awe and confusion.

"I'm not sure." Yang said, before walking around the obvious workshop and looking everything over, then looked back at the machine "Maybe this is what they used to get to Remnant though." As if to confirm her thoughts, Azure came by and commented on the 'Dimensional Doorway'.

"Good guess," Veemon chuckled at the convenient timing. However, that's when they heard something interesting.

"So you both know the plan, right?" Pierce checked.

"Yep. If we time it right, we can change things. We can prevent the events of 'Volume 3' from happening, or at least minimize the damage as much as possible," Gyro nodded.

"Just keep in mind, that we're basically altering the timeline. We'd better be ready for the Butterfly Effect," Azure reminded.

"Wait, what?" Yang blinked in shock at what she'd just heard. However, once again it seemed the memories had good timing, as in response, Azure brought out a….laptop, if she recalled the name properly. What appeared on the screen was...herself? Not just that, they were soon fast forwarding and showed a few things. An older looking Ruby traveling with Jaune, Nora, and Ren, and what REALLY shocked her: a slightly older version of herself talking with a woman with black hair that looked like her. It was her mother. And the conversation didn't seem happy if the cold expressions both had was any indication.

"I don't think we should let Yang ACTUALLY meet with Raven." Gyro said with a grimace.

"Considering we plan on making sure Yang doesn't get depressed? Yeah, let's not make it so a more volatile Yang pisses off her Spring Maiden mother." Azure said, shaking his head with a sigh.

"Honestly, the only good thing Raven did was give Yang that 'freebie' when she saved her from Neo, and that talk about not believing everything Ozpin says at face value, I mean, the man has good intentions yes, but blindly following him isn't the best choice." Pierce added.

"Hopefully we find a way to convey that to everyone. I trust him, but I'm not going to follow him into a volcano, know what I mean?" Azure said, his brothers nodding in agreement.

"Then there's the issue with Salem and her group, but we'll work on THAT bit once we avert Beacon's destruction," Gyro sighed. The brothers continued to converse on some kind of plan, but by then Yang was utterly reeling at what she'd just heard.

"You ok Yang?" Veemon asked her as she teetered back, before he quickly put a chair behind her, sighing in relief when she landed on it instead of falling through.

"I'm...okay, I don't think 'okay' is the right word, but...I know I just saw something that we'll NEED to talk about when this is over…" she sighed in response.

"You're not mad at Pierce are you?" Veemon asked with a frown, at least understanding by now that she and his partner were very close.

She shook her head "No, no I'm not mad. What we just heard… it's something I would have called him crazy or some kind of stalker for if he had just straight up told me about it, so I can understand why he kept it secret. I mean, they came to Remnant, not just to save it, but apparently to help US specifically. I mean, sure, it's a bit weird that there's apparently a web show about us, but I can honestly say that by now, I've seen plenty of weird things."

"Though...come to think of it...I didn't see any Digimon in that," Veemon mused. "What do you think it means?"

"I doubt its cause you guys didn't come along," Yang said. "No, something tells me all 'this'," she waved around to refer to their whole adventure in this world. "Never happened in that 'web show'."

"Then I guess this is all one of those 'Butterfly Effects' they talked about?" Veemon mused.

"We'll find out eventually," Yang sighed, right as the vision began to fade. She knew they had a LOT to talk about when they got back…

* * *

Blake groaned as she opened her eyes again. That was some nightmare she had...seeing her past again. Sighing a little, she noticed she was the first up today and decided she might as well get ready for the day a little earlier. With that in mind, she got out from her bed, careful not to disturb the books that were being used to hold the upper bunk up...and not paying the loud snoring coming from her teammate on the upper bunk.

Once she was done getting ready, she came out just as her teammates were waking up, and the day started just about as normal for team RWBY.

As Blake left the dorm though she blinked as she thought she saw a shadow at the edge of her vision, before shrugging as she couldn't find it anymore. Classes were soon in session as once again Professor Port was busy droning on and on again about some story of his past which had some kind of remote connection to the topic today...if only most of it wasn't basically bragging…

Looking a bit to the side, she saw Ruby and Yang once again asleep, while Weiss was busy taking notes. Other students were also doing various stuff...though many looked ready to fall asleep. Classes went by, and the day went as usual, a seemingly straightforward routine. Even if occasionally some of the more...interesting...students like Ruby, Yang, Nora, and occasionally even Jaune, did something that caught attention. However, even as she had this seemingly normal life, she looked in a mirror and sighed at the sight of the bow on her head. How much different would things be if everyone knew? Honestly, even here it was clear people didn't care…

As if to emphasize the point, she noticed a second year rabbit faunus being picked on by the local jocks of the first year...and it didn't seem like anyone was doing anything to try and stop it. Sure they talked about it, but...nobody did anything...not even herself..

Life went on, seemingly like clockwork, the days going by. While it was somewhat enjoyable, and she felt...happy...being around friends...she still felt like something was missing...she didn't know why or what, but she felt...empty...like she was losing sight of something...but what was it…?

Time seemed to move forward, before she found herself with her team walking towards the harbor, apparently preparing to see some of the students coming from other academies. That was when a figure darted past the street, the police on their tail. She couldn't see the details clearly, only that she knew it was a faunus. From there for some reason they were soon chasing after them too, and somewhere along the way, she soon found herself in an argument with Weiss. It seemed they were arguing over the faunus, but for some reason it was starting to feel like things were playing by themselves, as she could barely hear Weiss, but they were still arguing, the argument getting worse and worse. Then she seemed to say something she shouldn't have. Once again she wasn't really sure what, only that she knew she'd given her secret away.

Weiss's reaction was less than pleasant, it started as shock, before her face became a scowl as she said… something. She wasn't sure what though, especially when the scene before her seemed to be starting to just fall apart.

That's when she started to hear… something, she wasn't sure what it was, only that it sounded rather far away, so she couldn't make it out just yet.

And everything she saw around her was changing, Beacon was fading away and she saw another place, one that just felt so familiar, but the word didn't want to come to her, as if something was stopping it.

The sound in the background was also becoming clearer, it was voices, but she couldn't make out who's voices just yet. However, she was starting to see more images. She saw her friends, all of them smiling at her, then she saw more. Two more humans appearing in the images, then 10 odd creatures who were with the group. She started seeing them working together through thick or thin, often fighting against large monsters, or simply surviving in strange places.

"...lake...Bl...Blake…!" voices started being heard through the fog that seemed to be clouding her mind.

Blake gripped her head, trying hard to focus as the view started to spin around. She knew the ones calling her name...but why couldn't she recall their names…?! She was forgetting something important, she knew that now, she realized too what she had been seeing was fake.

"Snap…! Snap out of it!" came a voice, high pitched...and one that struck a chord with her. It was someone important to her, how could she forget his name?! At that moment, her eyes snapped open when a soft light appeared, and around her neck, her Tag and Crest reappeared, while in her hand, she found her D-Core once more. "Pa...Patamon!" she shouted, the name returning to her, just as her D-Core glowed brightly, before the images trying to tear her mind apart promptly shattered, as a glowing fist quite literally punched through them, causing the scene to turn to mist.

"Blake!" a familiar stronger voice called, as Angemon broke through, causing the visions to finally subside...just in time for Angemon to grab her and pull her out of the way, as two large figures hit the ground, revealing MetalGreymon and AeroVeedramon, while looking around, she saw Birdramon and a new Digimon that looked like a fairy of some kind almost back to back, seemingly trying to find some foe in the mist.

"W-what happened?!" Blake gasped in surprise.

"Oh hey, look what the cat dragged in!" she heard Yang say from behind her, looking back to see her grinning as she had her fists raised and was scanning the area.

"Not the time Yang!" Gyro shouted in a bit of annoyance at the pun as he landed next to Blake "Glad to have you back in the land of the waking."

"It's good to be back, but what's going on?" Blake asked, still rather disoriented.

"Long story short, we're fighting an enemy who's been using this mist to mess with our memories a bit, he's pretty good at staying hidden though, all we managed to see of him was a scythe." Gyro explained.

As if to emphasise the last bit, she noticed Ruby seemingly having a scythe duel with whoever was using the mist, seeing as she caught glimpses of...something...wielding a scythe and trying to hack off a body part or two, only for Ruby to block, before the assailant disengaged and tried again later.

"Yeaaah...things aren't really going too well for us," Pierce added, narrowly avoiding an attempt for his head.

"And sadly it won't get any better," came a voice in the mist. "You should have all been content drowning in my illusions, then you could have continued living in a dream...but it seems now I must eliminate you all...how sad…" the voice seemed to show concern and sympathy, but the cold tone made it clear how fake that was.

Blake scowled at the voice, glaring into the mist "Why would you show me those things?!"

"Oh please, I only showed you the truth, exactly what your life holds in store for you, it's not my fault you're so weak." the voice said dismissively. "People like you hold onto such a useless thing as hope. You should all just drown in empty dreams like the fools you are," the voice snorted. "Worry not, you will soon know no more pain from your empty hopes and dreams."

His words angered everyone present, but none moreso than Blake, because finally, after years of keeping up her calm facade… she snapped. "What the hell…" she snarled. "Do you know about anything?!" she roared, so much so everyone actually stepped back in surprise.

"Holy shit…" Gyro gasped. Blake was actually pretty scary right now and if looks could kill, whoever was in the mist would be 10 kinds of dead.

"You're acting all high and mighty, but you don't know the first thing about what it means to hold onto something even when everything seems against it!" she glared, walking towards the mist, drawing Gambol Shroud. A flash of movement and a scythe went for her head...but she almost casually blocked it with her weapon, before wrapping the ribbon around the scythe, stopping it from being pulled away. "I won't act like I'm someone who held on to something through thick and thin, I've run away plenty of times...but at least I've had the wish to believe in that better world even now! You on the other hand...you hide in the mist, using people's memories against them, only attacking when they're at their weakest. Why? Is it because you're so fearful you can't even stand up for yourself?!" she glared.

"Watch your mouth, child!" the voice shot back.

"No! You watch your mouth!" Blake growled, aiming and firing at the source of the voice, drawing a grunt of pain as the scythe was freed and the owner of the voice retreated into the mist. "Everyone has something they wish for, something they're willing to struggle to reach! That hope to one day reach it is what keeps them going! Maybe my hope had become weak, but don't you dare spit on the ideals of my people, of my family! Maybe I did wonder if it was even possible…" she admitted, before smiling. "But I know it's possible now! Even when you tried to make the images of my friends turn on me, you never could! Because deep down, I knew that no matter what, they would never betray me! That's why...I won't let anyone say its wrong to hope for a better world, to hope for a future where everyone can be treated as equals! And there's nothing YOU can do about it!"

"Damn… really knows what to say." Pierce sniffed, looking a bit misty eyed.

"Are you crying?" Ruby asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No!" He denied, a bit too quickly though as the others laughed a bit.

"Nice to know she didn't lose hope in any of us." Gyro said with a smile, ignoring his brother being a big softie.

"That's not the only thing she did," Lillymon said, eyes widening.

"She's right. Look!" Birdramon added, as true enough, the Crest around Blake's neck was glowing with a bright light.

 **(Play Brave Heart)**

Blake's D-Core vibrated before it turned yellow with green buttons, before the beam of light was shot out, going through the back of the Tag and out the front, releasing the Crest into the sky. Dispersing the clouds above, the Crest ascended higher and higher as it gathered energy, before releasing it in a burst of light that shot down a beam into Angemon below.

"Angemon, Super Evolution!" A flurry of feathers filled the air, as Angemon was soon enveloped in what appeared to be a cocoon of light, before the light unfurled to reveal to be 8 bright glowing wings, a golden ribbon wrapping around his body, starting at the neck, then around his torso, before simply hanging off the back as a white bodysuit covered his body with grey boots on his legs, his left arm in black armor before a translucent purple shield covered most of it. A golden ring wrapped itself on his right wrist, before a purple blade of energy came out of it as he raised his arm high, and finally, a new mask covered his upper face, purple in color, still keeping the cross design, but it didn't cover his full head this time and only the front, letting his long blonde hair flow freely, as four of his wings curled around his shoulders and waist, leaving the remaining four in a normal position "HolyAngemon!"

"No!" the voice in the mist gasped as everyone present had to shield their eyes slightly from the bright light that was radiating off of the newly evolved Digimon.

"Wow...this is really something…" AeroVeedramon couldn't help but say as he and the other Digimon looked in awe.

 _Digimon Analyzer: HolyAngemon_

 _HolyAngemon. Vaccine Type. A Perfect Level Archangel Digimon. Wielding the Beam Shield on his left arm, and the holy blade Excalibur on his right, HolyAngemon is a powerful angel Digimon, and is said in myths to appear when darkness covers the world. While he is a benevolent guardian in times of peace, he becomes strict in times of battle. His special attacks are Heaven's Gate, banishing enemies to another dimension from which they shall never return, and Soul Banish, building holy energy in the Excalibur, before throwing it as a blade beam at his opponent._

"Evil soul who manipulates the heart of others, you have tried to use my friend's memories against her and tried to confuse us with our own minds mixed with your deception," HolyAngemon said.

"And what of it?" the voice growled. "What can you do as long as this mist is at my command?"

"So you do not repent nor feel remorse for your actions?" HolyAngemon frowned.

"What was your first clue?" the voice sneered, before a flash of light and the scythe swung towards HolyAngemon, only for his Beam Shield to intercept, stopping it dead and even knocking it back.

"Very well then, if that is your decision, then prepare for the consequences," HolyAngemon said solemnly, before Excalibur extended from his right arm, to which he raised it upward. "Heaven's Gate!" he declared, before tracing a massive circle in the air with his sword, the circle solidifying before it formed a golden gate covered in inscriptions. The gate spun for a moment, before opening, revealing a white void, and suddenly the feeling of something being sucked was felt, as true enough, the mist was being drawn into the gate.

"Wh-what are you doing?! Stop!" the voice called out desperately, but before long the mist was gone, revealing him for all to see.

He looked like a ghost, his body floating off the ground, lacking legs, and covered in a grey cloth, a red hood and cape obscuring his face, revealing only blue eyes within, a red eye attached to a golden chain hanging off his neck as he held a golden scythe in one hand, a chain coming from underneath it and ending in a round weight.

"That's Phantomon, no wonder we had so much trouble." MetalGreymon said in realisation.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Phantomon_

 _Phantomon. Virus Type. A Perfect Level Ghost Digimon. A high class of ghost Digimon, capable of possessing others in their final moments to take their souls and data for himself. He is capable of casting illusions thanks to a fog released from within his body, using it to attack his opponent's mind. His special attacks are Soul Chopper, using his scythe to cut the opponent's soul to pieces, and Diabolic Star, gathering dark energy in the weight on his scythe before throwing it at the enemy._

"Tch! So you've found me, but this changes nothing! I WILL stop you all right here!" Phantomon growled as he flew towards HolyAngemon, intending to cut him in half, only for his scythe to be blocked by excalibur, stopping it dead. Phantomon grunted, trying to free his weapon...only for Blake to come up from behind HolyAngemon, and throw Gambol Shroud at him, causing him to cry out in pain as the sword embedded into his chest, causing him to recoil, breaking the lock.

Blake landed on the ground, glaring at the manipulative Digimon, before turning to HolyAngemon, and saying in a flat and simple tone. "Finish this."

"It will be done," HolyAngemon nodded, energy gathering in Excalibur.

"Damn damn DAMN!" Phantomon roared. "Soul Chopper!" he shouted, flying towards HolyAngemon again. However, that proved to be a mistake.

HolyAngemon raised Excalibur up, now glowing with energy. "Soul Banish!" he declared, swinging his sword down, and sending a shockwave out, the energy flying true, right as Phantomon tried to counter, but his weapon was promptly cut in half, and shortly after, so was he.

"L-Lord Myotismon, forgive me!" Phantomon roared in pain, before he was soon deleted.

 **(Song End)**

With the battle over, all the Digimon present soon reverted back, everyone save Biyomon reverting to their Baby forms. "Okay...that's going to need some getting used to," Tokomon blinked as the Digimon soon ran back to their partners.

"Trust me, I'm still not used to it, it's annoying." Koromon grumbled as Gyro picked him up.

"So… nice speech you gave him by the way." Gyro said as Blake came up to them with Tokomon in her arms.

Blake blushed a bit at being reminded "Thanks." but she didn't deny her words, even though she'd said them in the heat of things.

"By the way, we kind of found this earlier." Pierce said as he held up her bow.

Blake blinked, before one hand reached up to her head, and she touched her exposed cat ears, and honestly, she didn't know how she should react right now.

"Their pretty cute." Ruby said after a few silent moments.

"Um… thank you." Blake said, looking away.

"Guess you're the only black cat that brings good luck." Yang quipped, before wincing as she felt someone pinch her, turning to Gyro who was giving her a dry stare.

"Control yourself, this isn't the time." he said, before turning to Blake, who had been giving Yang an even drier stare "If you're worried about a bad reaction from us, don't be, I think me and Piece have made it pretty clear we supported the original leader's ideals anyway."

"I… yeah, yeah I guess you have." Blake sighed, but still looked somewhat worried "I'm more worried about how Weiss will react."

"My guess, a bit angry you kept it from us, but once someone calms her down, she'll understand why you kept it hidden." Pierce said with a shrug.

Blake looked away "I… I do have another secret though."

"Something bad?" Ruby asked.

"It depends on your point of view." Blake answered, before taking a deep breath, she had meant her words earlier, and as such, she wanted to trust them "I used to be a part of the White Fang, my father was actually the founder, and I stayed with the group when it went violent before deserting last year."

Silence for a few moments "Oh… well… you never hurt anyone though, right?" Yang asked hopefully.

"Never, I'd sooner hurt myself than harm an innocent." Blake said seriously.

"Then it's fine, you're not part of it anymore, so it doesn't matter now." Yang said.

"Gotta agree there, if you left, it means you're trying to change, and that's good enough for me." Pierce added.

At that, Blake breathed a sigh, before smiling slightly, nodding in thanks at them.

"There's something else we gotta talk about now though." Yang said suddenly, before looking at the brothers "The mist showed me your memories, from before you came to Remnant… I know about the webshow."

Gyro and Pierce froze at that, completely thrown for a loop.

"She ain't mad at you though, but she said we should definitely talk about this." DemiVeemon added.

"You saw it too?" Gyro asked after recovering.

"Yeah, he was with me in that memory, and like he said, I'm not mad, I can kind of understand why you kept that a secret, I mean, if you suddenly came up to me and told me everything I managed to see? I would have punched your lights out and called you a fantasising stalker." Yang said, grimacing a bit at the mental image she conjured up herself.

"Yeaaah, that's among the reasons. Aside from us being tossed in the looney bin, we were also worried about the whole… existential crisis that might cause," Gyro added, scratching the back of his head.

"You think you could explain for the rest of us that aren't following?" Ruby asked with a raised hand.

"Basically there's a webshow on our world about you girls called RWBY, spelled with a W, not a U like your name." Pierce clarified.

"And to put it simply, shit hits the fan by the time of the Vytal Festival, and a lot of good people die." Gyro said with a frown.

Ruby blinked at that, before gasping in realisation "Like Pyrrha." she whispered.

"Ok, what?" Pierce said, looking at the youngest of the hunters in confusion.

"I saw it, in the mist, I saw visions from the show itself, our future I guess, and I saw Pyrrha die, and some other people too." Ruby whispered, shaking as she remembered it.

Gyro looked at her in worry, before Yang put her hand on his back and pushed him up to Ruby, and, surprising him a bit, Ruby leaned against him.

"Um… nobody's mad? Or going to have an existential crisis?" He voiced his concerns.

"We're good, trust me." Blake said, before grabbing both Koromon and Tanemon, having her arms full before Gyro finally hugged Ruby and started consoling her.

"I saw something too Yang, I think it was from your memories, but you were tiny in it." Biyomon said, looking up at her partner.

"Whatever it is, I think we should meet up with the others first, I'm sure it's important, but… this? This is even more so." Yang said with a shrug, with Biyomon nodding in acceptance.

"Right, let's get moving then. We're not that far away from the rendezvous point," Pierce nodded.

With that said, the group set off, ready to reunite, and ready for new revelations.

* * *

 **Yeah, that happened.**

 **Not only did we deal with Phantomon a bit earlier, but the chosen obtained HolyAngemon roughly 20 episodes earlier than the canon crew did.**

 **Don't worry, he won't be TOO overpowered, Heaven's Gate can be stopped, so the fights won't just be HolyAngemon opening the gate and sucking enemies into it now.**

 **And also, yeah, secrets coming to light finally.**

 **Figured now would be the best time, because going forward, the chosen will all need to have the highest trust in each other, so there can't be anymore big secrets like that.**

 **Anyway, hope you enjoyed, because...**

 **The Adventure Evolves.**


	32. 31: Radiant Wings! Garudamon!

**Well that was quick.**

 **No, seriously, I didn't think we'd get the next chapter out so soon after the last one, but we somehow managed to do it.**

 **Anyway, considering everyone has been found, you all know what this next chapter is, and the title makes it obvious.**

 **So, let's go!**

* * *

 **Radiant Wings! Garudamon!  
**

* * *

In a darkened part of Server, in an ominous castle under dark clouds, the sounds of pain could be heard. "Mercy! Forgive me!" DemiDevimon shouted as he was tied to a torture rack by his wings and legs, the apparatus pulling away in both directions at an agonizingly slow speed.

"Mercy? You would beg for mercy, when you have done nothing but constantly fail me? You have even caused the deletion of quite a few of my trusted warriors with NOTHING to show for it! You were sent to stop the 8 remaining Crests from awakening, and all you've done is cause 7 of them to awaken!" Spoke a tall being, as the low lighting of the room kept him hidden for the most part, except for a black cape with a high collar, and a regal looking blue outfit.

Once again DemiDevimon let out a scream of pain "B-but that's just it my lord! The last crest! The one who has it, she has doubts, I've seen it! I-if you strike her down now, the Chosen Children will be in disarray, and your victory will be all but secured!" he said, coming up with a plan to use to plead with for his life.

The being was silent at that, and DemiDevimon could feel his piercing gaze through the darkness "I suppose you are correct. She is indeed the weakest link of their group at the moment. Dealing with her swiftly before she somehow activates her Crest is imperative." the being then let out a low laugh as a pair of small fangs glinted in the low light of the room "Perhaps I may even find myself with a feast once I defeat them."

"O-Of course. They are no match for your great power, my lord!" DemiDevimon said frantically. "Why, I'm sure you could crush them all right now yourself!"

However, instead of being flattered, the being seemed less than impressed. "Fool!" he roared, as the pull increased a little. "This is why you constantly fail! There is a time and a place for everything, and now is not it. No, if I were to go now, my odds would be less than favorable, especially should they all reunite, which they will no doubt accomplish. Even more, should I attack them, they possess two Perfect Levels with holy abilities, it would be like jumping into the Maw of Leviamon."

DemiDevimon shivered at that last part "No disrespect my lord, but THEY scare me even more than you do."

"I don't blame you, they're not ones to be trifled with." the being said, annoyance clear in his voice. "At any rate, in order to ensure the holder of Love's elimination, it would be prudent to separate her from the flock. United they will stand, so divided I will make them fall," he smirked, dark laughter leaving his lips, one that would send chills of fear down many spines.

* * *

"This is very uncomfortable." Blake groaned as she was squeezed between Yang and Ruby in the swan boat.

"At least you don't have boots in your back." Gyro said, before feeling said boots be removed… and be replaced with normal feet "I guess that's better, thanks Ruby."

"No problem." the silver eyed girl said, before pushing a little on his back, only instead of him being annoyed, he groaned a little bit "Little to the right." making her blink, before shrugging, figuring she could give him a hand… sorta, if his back was hurting.

"I'm not complaining." Pierce said, as he felt two rather soft objects on the back of his neck.

"Of course you aren't." Yang said in amusement as she rested her arms on top of his head and pushed herself forwards just a bit, making him shiver as her chest pushed up against him more.

Blake gave her a deadpan look but chose not to comment on it. Instead she looked upward. "You guys okay up there?" she asked to the Digimon on top of the boat.

"We're okay," came the reply as the Digimon were a little cramped up on top and had to regularly be careful to avoid falling, Patamon and Biyomon even having to stand on top of the others. In retrospect they probably SHOULD have remained in Baby Form. As it was, Biyomon was sitting on top of Agumon and Veemon, while Patamon was sitting on top of Palmon. "Are we there yet?" came the long suffering question.

"Not yet," came the reply from below.

"But I think I can see the shores!" Ruby added.

"Thank you!" was response, a mix to her and to the heavens.

When they finally did reach the shore, they were met with a slightly surprising sight, seeing that Jaune's group was waiting there for them. "Well...I guess it makes sense they got here sooner. They DID have the jeep," Veemon commented.

"Jeep which I heavily doubt is going to have enough place for all of us." Gyro said in slight annoyance.

"It WAS a temporary thing until we found the RV again...hopefully…" Agumon sighed.

"Well enough of that, we should meet up with them," Blake pointed out, before idly fingering her ears, the bow no longer covering them. In fact, with her mind made up, she'd went and discarded it altogether. She'd made her choice, and come what may, she wouldn't run from who she is anymore.

Ruby was the first to come forward. "Everyone!" she called out, catching their attention.

"Huh, looks like they found the others." Jaune noticed.

"That can't be comfortable though." Weiss said when she saw how cramped the other group was in the swan boat. She also winced when she noticed them all but crawling out of the boat, which was easier said than done… and then she looked on in confusion when Blake crawled out, and she spotted the cat ears on top of her head. She wasn't the only one.

"Uh...did we miss something?" Nora blinked.

"It's...a long story…" Gyro sighed. And here comes the less than enjoyable part.

"Should I open with THAT?" Blake muttered.

"You probably should honestly." Yang told her just as low.

"Guess you're right," Blake sighed.

* * *

A short amount of time later, the group was gathered together, the sun setting as they sat around a campfire in the woods.

Weiss sighed after several silent moments "This honestly doesn't bother me as much as I thought it would."

"You're… not angry?" Blake asked in surprise.

"Not really, I'm more annoyed honestly about you keeping it secret for so long. I've had a long time to think honestly about what Gyro and Pierce said on our first day here, two whole months to think, and I've found that they were right." Weiss said after a moment.

"Well… that's issue number 1 dealt with at least." Gyro muttered.

"We can deal with the second one in the morning if you need a bit more time to think about how to explain it." Yang assured the twins.

"We'd appreciate that, we need to think about how best to put it so no one panics." Pierce murmured with a nod from his spot next to her.

"Well...since we're all here and it's starting to get late, we should probably plan to set up camp," Ren suggested.

"Good idea," Pyrrha nodded in agreement.

"I'll go look for firewood," Gabumon volunteered.

"We'll help," Agumon and Biyomon said as well.

"Right, we should also put our supplies together so we know what we got, then we can plan from there," Gyro nodded.

Being back together was definitely nice, as before long they all had a merry fire going on, with some dinner being cooked using some local ingredients as well as some of their supplies, including some pots and pans they'd...borrowed...from Digitamamon's diner.

...what? Nobody ever said they had no hard feelings for that incident.

It wasn't long before they were all sharing an enjoyable dinner around the fire. However, despite the cheerful atmosphere, Yang was feeling a little...down again...she'd tried not to let it bother her, but the fact remains that she was the only one in their group who HADN'T awakened her Crest yet, and this added with her own insecurities...it wasn't helping at all…

Ruby seemed to notice, and went closer. "Yang? You okay?" she asked, more than a little worried.

Yang sighed "Yeah, I'm good, just… it's just I noticed something, that's all."

"Is it about your Crest?" Ruby asked. She had a feeling that was the issue still.

"...yeah…" Yang sighed. There really wasn't much point hiding it. "I...don't really want to talk about it right now…"

"Oh…" Ruby said, looking down, before hugging her sister "I'll be there when you want to talk."

Yang smiled a bit and returned the hug "Thanks Rubes."

"No problem, sis," Ruby smiled.

A short time later, Yang did look a little better as Biyomon sat next to her, and she watched as Ruby was still being a bit awkward around Gyro, and vice versa, while being a little further away from camp.

Honestly, they really made such an adorable couple.

"Feeling ok?" the pink bird asked her partner.

"Pretty decent I guess." Yang admitted, smiling a bit.

Biyomon nodded at that, smiling in relief, before looking thoughtful "Do you want me to tell you what I saw in the mist?"

Yang actually paused to think about it, before slowly, she nodded silently, curiosity eating at her.

"Well, I saw you, and you were really small, small enough I could probably hold you in my arms, and then a woman came into the room and she looked a lot like you, but she had black hair and red eyes, and she said that 'This is for your own good.' and that 'You can't always rely on your family.' before she made a hole in the air and just left." Biyomon explained, giving Yang only the important parts.

Yang frowned. "Mom said that, huh…?" she said. At one point she thought she'd have felt...sad...at hearing that...but ever since she saw what would have been a meeting between her and her mother in one future...she honestly couldn't say she was surprised to hear those words…

She took a deep breath for a few moments, before letting it out slowly "Well… she can go jump off a cliff then."

Biyomon blinked in surprise at the words "Um… isn't that kind of extreme?"

"Honestly? Maybe, but I just can't be bothered to care about her opinion right now." Yang said with a shrug.

"...okay?" Biyomon blinked. She...wasn't sure how to feel about that answer...but if that was how Yang felt about it, then she'd support her. "If that's how you feel, then I'm always there for you," she said.

"Thanks, Biyomon," Yang smiled. The two soon descended into some quiet...before a new voice cut in.

"Got room for one more?" Pierce asked.

"Sure, sit down." Yang said with a smile as he sat next to her and put an arm around her waist.

"So...feeling better?" he asked. "I saw you earlier, but I had a feeling you wanted some time to think before anything so...yeah…"

"A bit better yeah, especially after letting some emotion out." she admitted.

"Yeah, I heard that bit." Pierce said in amusement.

Yang laughed sheepishly at that "Yeah… maybe I went overboard, but, seriously, I don't care about her opinion anymore, so she can just bugger off you know?"

"Yeah, I get what you mean." Pierce said with a small laugh.

"...so...you've seen her, right? Through the webshow?" Yang couldn't help but ask. "I know its kinda strange for me to ask now but...did she ever...care?"

"That's...complicated…" Pierce sighed. "I don't think I can give you a clear yes or no on that."

"Huh?" Yang blinked.

"I think the best way to describe your mom from what I could see before we came here... Complicated," Pierce started. "I won't say she never cared, and if the last scene we saw her was any indication, she does in some way. But she's...let's just say she has a very different world view. Personally, I never liked her much. Any mom who'd call saving her daughter ONCE a 'freebie' and be perfectly willing to let her be after that, come what may...she sucks as a mom. Plain and simple," Pierce said. "But did she care? I guess, in her own way, she did. Still don't think it's the kind any of us would care for though…"

Yang nodded slowly, taking it in, before hooking onto one part of what he said "Freebie?" she repeated in confusion.

"Ah, yeah, basically, there was going to be a point in the future where some psycho mute girl was going to stab you but Raven got in the way and then left… and then when you got in even worse danger later on, she didn't come to help at all." Pierce explained, while trying to think about how to mention what the worse danger led to. "Bluntly put...she's a believer of 'Law of the Jungle'. Strong live, weak die, and that's that."

"I...see…" Yang said rigidly, while next to her Biyomon had her beak hanging open in complete shock.

"Uh...Yang?" Pierce asked, a little worried when she didn't say anything for a while. He knew she probably didn't take that so well but…

"Well she can go take her beliefs and choke on them…" Yang said softly, coldly even.

"You won't hear me disagreeing." Pierce said softly.

"In that case I'm glad she left me!" Yang shouted suddenly, causing both him and Biyomon to jump back in surprise.

"Y-Yang?" Biyomon asked, worried.

"You know...I can't believe I wasted so much time wondering about someone like her…" Yang chuckled emptily. It was a self loathing and hollow sound. "But I get it now. She never cared. Not about dad, not about uncle Qrow, and not about me. I get it now. Raven Branwen may have given birth to me...BUT SHE'S NOT MY MOM!" Yang shouted, before suddenly turning around and running off deeper into the nearby woods.

"Yang!" Biyomon called out after her, before following.

"What happened?!" came Blake's surprised voice as the others arrived at the scene, having heard Yang's angry shout.

Pierce sighed, and looked at Gyro, before saying, "Yang asked about her mom."

"...ah…" was all Gyro could say at that.

"Why is that a problem?" Weiss couldn't help but ask.

"Yeah, why is that a problem?" Some of the Digimon asked too.

"Let me put it this way. Yang's mom is a contender for 'worst parent of the year' award. Falling only a little behind Jacques Schnee," Gyro said bluntly.

"...ah…" was all the other hunters could say at that…

"And Yang's been looking for her…" Ruby said in realization. "We should go after her!"

"Wait!" Pierce said. "She's got a lot on her mind. I don't think all of us should go."

"But we can't leave her!" Ruby argued.

"Never said we had to," Pierce said. "Ruby, you and me should go after her. I think she'll be more likely to listen to us rather than if everyone goes after her."

"He's got a point. I think she needs her sister and boyfriend the most right now," Pyrrha nodded in agreement.

"And we're coming too," Palmon and Veemon said.

"Right. We should hurry before she gets too far," Pierce said before the four of them ran after Yang. "We'll call if anything happens. Just stay at camp first," he added as they were soon out of sight.

"So, hold down the fort I guess." Jaune said with a sigh.

"It's the only thing we CAN do." Ren added.

"I just wish we knew more about what's going on." Weiss said with a sigh.

"You will in the morning, I promise you all that, I just need to think of the best way of explaining it because it's some pretty heavy stuff." Gyro assured her, earning a nod from the heiress.

"You humans are pretty complicated though." Tentomon said.

"Yeah, one minute you're ok, the next, well, THAT." Gomamon added, pointing towards the deeper parts of the forest.

"For now let's just go back to the campsite." Gabumon suggested.

"I wonder if anything got caught in the nets?" Wormmon murmured in thought.

However, Agumon paused, sniffing the air before grimacing "Does anybody else smell that?"

* * *

Pierce, Ruby, Palmon, and Veemon ran for a while, before reaching a clearing, and finding Yang kneeling on the ground, sobbing while Biyomon was trying to console her.

Pierce sighed softly, before going up to Yang, making sure his presence was obvious before crouching down next to her and putting his arms around her, pulling her close, while Ruby went up and hugged her as well, both being silent and simply letting her know they were there.

"...I don't know what to think anymore…" Yang finally said. "I don't know...if I can even use this Crest or if its even right for me…"

"You shouldn't say that Yang." Pierce started "I know it's a lot of pressure, trust me, we're all feeling it, but I doubt that whoever's in charge would make a mistake on that. He's been right 9 times so far, I think that's reason enough to believe you're definitely the right person to have the Crest of Love."

"But what the heck do I even know about love?!" Yang shouted. "My own mother left me, and now I find out she doesn't really care. Maybe she never did care. How the heck am I supposed to feel or show love in the face of that?!"

"She's not your mom though!" Ruby exclaimed as she pulled away slightly from her sister, the blonde looking at her "That woman didn't raise you at all. My own mom did, so if anything, SHE's your mom! And don't you ever dare say you've never showed love, because not only have I seen the way you two act when you think no one's looking, but you've always been the best big sis a girl could ask for."

"Ruby…" Yang said softly, thinking about what she just said. Didn't she herself just say that Raven Branwen wasn't her mom and that she didn't want anything to do with her? And honestly, now that she'd stopped to think…

However, before she could finish THAT train of though, the sound of heavy wingbeats filled the air...and a rather mad/sinister cackling.

"What the…?!" Veemon started, all of them looking upward to see what appeared to be a Devidramon...pulling a carriage with what appeared to be a Bakemon...wearing an oversized witch's hat if the fact it was covering its eyes was any indication, holding the reins flying overhead. From the back of the carriage, something was dropped out, while coming up behind the carriage was…

"...its a flying broomstick…" was the blank observation that came from everyone in the clearing. However, that soon became the least of their worries as suddenly a flash of light occurred...and a massive field appeared around the area they were in. A barrier. They were boxed in with only themselves, and the object that was still fast descending, but now they could see what it was clearly.

"Is that a...coffin?" Yang blinked in surprise.

"Yes...I...think it is…" Ruby said, equally surprised. That surprise grew when the coffin burst open mid-fall, revealing a figure wrapped in a cloak which suddenly slowed its descent before landing softly on the ground.

The cloak unfurled itself mere moments later, revealing a being wearing a regal dark blue outfit with gold highlights, a golden bat ornament holding the cloak in place around their neck. Their skin was deathly pale, their blonde hair slicked back, and they sported a red mask with bat wings over their eyes.

"Who the hell are you supposed to be?" Pierce said as he stood up straight, glaring at the being, getting nothing but bad vibes from him.

"Hold your tongue!" DemiDevimon shouted as he flew down, keeping a respectable distance behind the being "This is the great Lord Myotismon! You should be begging for forgiveness by simply being in his presence!"

"So, that's his boss huh?" Yang murmured nervously.

"Myotismon… about time we were able to put a face to the name." Pierce said with a frown.

"Yes, you lot have been rather annoying these last few days, haven't you?" Myotismon said, exuding an air of total confidence.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Myotismon_

 _Myotismon. Virus Type. A Perfect Level Undead Digimon. A powerful viral Digimon, capable of infecting and controlling computers, and reviving any data he destroys as a virus. He is a cunning Digimon, and very powerful, always planning his every move before acting, but only goes out at night, as his power is cut down in the day. His special attacks are Night Raid, releasing a swarm of bats upon his enemies, and Bloody Stream, using a stream of blood like a whip._

"Let me guess then, seeing as you're here, it means you probably got tired of us 'being in the way'," Pierce frowned, the three of them fingering their D-Cores. "And naturally the barrier is so we can't run and our friends can't help, and seeing as you targeted us...you're no doubt wanting to stop our last Crest from awakening. Sound about right?"

Myotismon actually chuckled, clapping his hands a little. "Bravo, you've said my plan exactly. I must admit, I can see why DemiDevimon utterly failed to stop all of you. It's almost a shame I'm about to kill all of you, my army could always use soldiers with actual brains in them," he smirked, while DemiDevimon sweatdropped at the indirect jab.

"Heh, an actually smart and classy villain, huh? Gotta say, that's actually pretty refreshing. But enough with the pleasantries. We all know how this is gonna go, so bring it Dracula!" Pierce said. "Let's go, everyone!"

"Right!" came the replies from the rest of them.

"Biyomon, Evolution! Birdramon!"

"Veemon, Evolution! Veedramon! Veedramon, Super Evolution! AeroVeedramon!"

"Palmon, Evolution! Togemon! Togemon, Super Evolution! Lillymon!"

"Give us your best shot!" Ruby challenged.

"I think I shall!" Myotismon smirked as his cape wrapped around him again. "Night Raid!" he called out as he released a swarm of bats at them.

"Uh..how are bats supposed to hurt us?" Yang couldn't help but ask, but Pierce shot a net at them...only for them to catch it...and eat it… "Oh…"

"...FLYING PIRANHA SWARM!" Pierce shouted, to which they all started opening fire on the swarm to kill as many as fast as possible.

"Where the heck does he get so many?!" AeroVeedramon growled as he used Dragon Impulse on a portion of the swarm.

"No idea, not really caring right now!" Birdramon shot back as she burned a section of the swarm down. Eventually they managed to get them all, but just as they were done…

"Bloody Stream!" came Myotismon's voice as they were suddenly struck with a red whip of energy, causing them all to stumble back.

"Hey, no consecutive attacks!" Yang barked as she and Ruby opened fire...only for their bullets to stop cold before they even reached Myotismon's cape, and promptly dissolving into data.

"...we...might be in trouble..." Ruby gulped.

"Calling for backup!" Pierce nodded, calling Gyro.

"Hello? Pierce? Please tell me you guys aren't in trouble," Gyro said.

"Uh...we are. Why?"

"Cause we got our handsful with these two over here. Between the living mammoth and the stink pile, we can't get there easily!" Gyro shot back. "Whoah!" he suddenly said, as a loud thud was heard through the phone. "We'll get there as soon as we can, but you guys need to hold out till we do! Good timing though, at least now we know NOT to all go Perfect so we got some fighters available for later!" Gyro said quickly before ending the call.

"...clever bastard…" was all Pierce could say in begrudging respect.

"I do try my best." Myotismon said with a laugh "And even when your friends DO finish off Mammothmon and Raremon, they'll still have the barrier to deal with, and I know for a fact my soldier is good at making them."

"Okay...guess we ARE in trouble. Now what?" Yang asked.

"Keep fighting and don't die?" Ruby offered.

"...I like that plan," Pierce nodded. "Okay everyone, looks like we'll have to play defensive for now! Buy as much time as we can before the others arrive!"

"Right!" the Digimon all nodded, before approaching their partners. They couldn't attack carelessly now it seemed.

"Plan all you'd like, I don't intend to leave here empty handed! Bloody Stream!" Myotismon smirked before lashing out again, the deceptively powerful move knocking the Digimon aside again.

"Ok, kind of annoying that even though we have two Perfects, he can kick them around like it's nothing." Ruby said as she tried shooting him, only for Myotismon to catch the bullets this time instead of block them.

"Oh great, now he's taunting us." Pierce murmured with a groan.

Yang opted to stay quiet despite the frown on her face, the one thing she wanted to say would be taunting Murphy, and they didn't need that right now. The fight kept going on, but it was clear that things weren't going well for them Despite being 3 on 1, Myotismon showed why he was the boss of the Digimon they'd fought before. He was ridiculously powerful, fending them off with little issue, blocking their attacks, and generally not looking like he was really having much of a challenge.

"He's...tough…!" Lillymon panted.

"He's way stronger than anything else we've fought…" AeroVeedramon groaned.

"About time you realized how outclassed you are," Myotismon smirked. "Night Raid!" he called out, hitting them with the swarm of bats, causing massive damage and forcing them both to revert back to their Baby Forms.

"DemiVeemon!" Pierce shouted in worry as he grabbed his falling partner, Ruby doing the same for Tanemon.

"Are you ok?" the reaper asked her partner with a worried frown.

"I don't know." Tanemon muttered lowly, tired from the beating she just took.

Birdramon looked down at the others, worried, before looking towards Myotismon "I'm the only one left." she murmured, before diving towards the vampiric Digimon, hoping to stall for time.

"Everything you attempt is useless." Myotismon said darkly "Bloody Stream!" and threw his whip towards Birdramon, striking her right in the chest and sending her flying back, skidding onto the ground.

"Birdamon!" Yang shouted as she ran towards her partner, checking her over "You're in bad shape." she said, her worry increasing as they were running out of options.

"Not… important…" Birdamon groaned as she tried to hoist herself up.

"Stay down! You're too hurt to keep fighting!" Yang said, tears at her eyes as she tried to keep her partner down.

"And if I don't fight… then he's going to hurt you! And I don't want that!" Birdramon told her.

"And I don't want YOU to be hurt either!" Yang shot back, her crest glowing softly.

"Yang, I-!"

"No, I'm not letting you get hurt for me again, I don't want to see that happen again, not to you, not to anyone I care about!" Yang cut her off. "If you're going to fight him, then I'm going with you!"

"Feel free to, it won't make a difference," Myotismon chuckled in amusement, not noticing the glow.

Birdramon and Yang didn't hear him. Eventually Birdramon nodded. "Alright," she nodded, as Yang got on her back and she took to the sky.

"Yang?" Ruby said in confusion as she saw her sister go up in the sky with Birdramon.

"Something tells me we're about to do a turnabout." Pierce murmured.

"I won't run from it anymore!" Yang shouted from Birdramon's back "What's in the past is going to stay there, and I'll look forward with those I care about instead!" she said, as the glow from her Crest was growing, enough to finally be noticeable.

"No… no!" Myotismon shouted in rage as he saw the final Crest finally reach its peak. "I won't let you! Night Raid!" he shouted, firing his attack but...too late.

 **(Play Brave Heart)**

Yang's D-Core vibrated, before turning red with yellow buttons. The beam of light shot out of it, going into the Tag, and releasing the Crest. The Crest of Love flew into the air, dispersing the clouds as it gathered energy in its ascent, before reaching its peak and releasing a burst of energy, which sent down the beam of light to Birdramon below. "Birdramon, Super Evolution!" Her body was covered in flames for a few moments, before hew new form slowly emerged from within, first her head, still avian, but it had a native american feel to it, sporting long blonde hair coming out the the back of the helmet that covered the top of her head, with two braids of hair falling to either side of her head as white feathers covered her neck down to her chest. Arms emerged from within the flames, with hands in the shape of her previous form's feet, looking like three fingers with two thumbs on either side of her hands now. Her feet now only had the normal four talons of a bird foot. The biggest change was obvious as her body left the flames, as she was now humanoid in stature, sporting soft red feathers on her chest and arms, and darker red feathers on her legs as a bandana was tied around her left bicep, her large wings spreading open, sporting red feathers tipped in yellow "Garudamon!"

The flames enveloped the sky, burning every last bat to ashes in an instant. "No! I was so close!" Myotismon shouted as he had to hide himself with his cloak from how bright the flames were.

"Woah… you look awesome now… Garudamon, right?" Yang said, smiling up at her partner as she was in her hands.

Garudamon nodded "Yes, thank you Yang, it's thanks to your love I was able to evolve."

 _Digimon Analyzer: Garudamon_

 _Garudamon. Vaccine Type. A Perfect Level Bird Man Digimon. A Digimon who honors justice and order, she is said to be a guardian of the land and skies. It is said that when the Digital World falls into disorder, Garudamon will appear and quell the source of unrest. Her special attacks are Shadow Wing, firing an energy blast in the form of a firebird from her body, and Fire Hurricane, spinning on herself to create a tornado of flames._

"Aw come on, don't say it like that, it's so cheesy." Yang said, blushing a bit in embarrassment. "But enough of that, ready for some payback, partner?"

"You know it," Garudamon nodded, before they turned to Myotismon.

"You may have evolved, but you're still no match for me!" Myotismon growled.

"Maybe, but what about ALL of us?" Yang smirked.

"What?" Myotismon gasped.

"Giga Destroyer!"

"Horn Buster!"

The two voices rang out, before the barrier was under heavy assault from the two heavy hitting Digimon.

"Let's see what happens first. Can you beat us, or will our friends break through first," Garudamon said.

"Don't get conceited! Bloody Stream!" Myotismon growled, but Garudamon's speed had increased dramatically, allowing her to evade the attacks.

"In that case, Night Raid!" Myotismon followed up.

"Fire Hurricane!" Garudamon countered, burning all the bats down, and forcing Myotismon to evade, but Garudamon didn't let him rest. "Shadow Wing!" she followed up, firing her next attack right in the way he was jumping, hitting him and pushing him back.

Myotismon grunted as he skidded across the ground. However, before he could begin to counter attack, cracks were now spreading through the barrier, meaning it would fall soon. He glared at the group...before making his decision. "You got lucky this time," he growled, before he seemed to sink into the shadows, vanishing from their sight.

 **(Song End)**

Despite the battle being over, Garudamon stayed in her current form, on her guard, even as MetalGreymon and AtlurKabuterimon broke the barrier and flew to her side, carrying everyone else on their backs, though Gyro opted to stand on one of his partner's horns.

"Guess we missed the party." Gyro said, grinning when he saw Garudamon, easily guessing she was Birdramon's evolution considering how she was carrying Yang.

"Let's not stay here in case they decide on an encore though." Weiss suggested from her spot on AtlurKabuterimon's back.

"Right." Garudamon nodded, before crouching down and bringing her hands to the ground "Get on." she said quickly, Ruby and Pierce complying as they got into her hands while still holding their partners, before the trio of Perfect Levels took off into the sky, intent on getting as far away from possible.

Eventually, they reached an area beyond some distant mountains, with Garudamon and AtlurKabuterimon reverting to Yokomon and Motimon, while MetalGreymon reverted to, surprisingly, Agumon.

"Finally! I got the hang of it!" he cheered, glad he wouldn't revert to Koromon anymore.

"Glad to hear that," Gyro chuckled in amusement at his partner's reaction.

However, at that moment, despite the moon being out, the skies darkened for a moment, as they heard Myotismon's voice echo out "You may have defeated me now, but it matters not, my throne lies elsewhere."

"I don't like the sound of that." Nora said with a frown.

"Neither do I, but that's why we'll put a stop to whatever he's planning." Gyro said… before yawning "After we finally get some sleep though."

"Hey… has anyone seen Yang and Pierce? They were here a minute ago." Yokomon said in confusion as she looked around.

Gyro blinked at the question, before looking around, seeing the couple was indeed missing, before looking to Blake "Hear anything?"

Blake glanced at him, before her cat ears perked up turned ever so slightly towards a direction hidden beyond the trees… and she blushed "Well… heavy makeout session, but I think we shouldn't disturb them for the next… several hours."

Everyone blinked at that, before most of the hunters got the message as they too blushed… except for Ruby, who was confused, and the Digimon, who didn't get it at all.

* * *

"Are you sure about this?" Pierce asked, breaking the deep kiss they had been in, Yang pressed against a tree.

"I've thought about it a lot...and yeah, I want this," she smiled seductively at him.

"Alright then," Pierce smiled gently as they resumed their kiss, and it wasn't long before they were on the ground, neither of them noticing Yang's tag which had fallen out of her clothes to the side a little, the Crest glowing warmly and brightly.

* * *

 **And there!**

 **We finally have all 10 Perfects.**

 **As for Yang and Pierce, if you didn't get it, let me put it bluntly.**

 **Bow chika bow wow.**

 **Other important thing, Agumon finally mastered the art of the Perfect Level, so no more turning back into Koromon for him... at least until he gets the Ultimate Level.**

 **Anyway, hope you enjoyed, because...**

 **The Adventure Evolves.**


	33. 32: A Dark Retelling

**And welcome back to the story!**

 **Now, all of you were probably expecting storming Myotismon's castle, right?**

 **Well nope, time for the truth to come out!**

 **Anyway, in case you had been picturing title cards in your head when reading the chapter title, the title card for this chapter features the broken moon of Remnant.**

* * *

 **A Dark Retelling  
**

* * *

The group was wide awake more or less, with everyone gathered, the brothers standing opposite to them, fiddling with their scrolls. It was time for them to come completely clean. No more secrets, no more hiding. For that, they had prepared a lock inside their scrolls to be released just for this occasion.

"Alright, first of all, the information we're about to give you? It can't leave our group without our say so. The only other one who knows is Azure, and he's higher on the authority than us, but when he's not around, it's up to me and Pierce to decide who gets to learn, and we DO have a list of people who can, but quite a few of them depend on timing it right." Gyro started.

"We had to go through a lot of trouble to transfer everything from our old phones into our scrolls while keeping it heavily encrypted so no one on the network could end up seeing it by accident, especially since we had to dump it all into a computer first before transferring it into the scrolls." Pierce added, before muttering "Still a bit peeved about having to completely destroy our old phones and then scatter the pieces into the ocean."

"Now, full disclosure, what we're about to tell you was only a possible future, but with the last two months in mind, it's pretty much a guarantee that the timeline has been derailed, considering how we've been missing since the initiation." Gyro said, and everyone frowned as they were reminded that no doubt everyone on Remnant had been searching for them nonstop for these last two months.

"Now, our first change apparently happened without any of us knowing about it, when all of you saw the night Greymon fought against Parrotmon." Pierce said, everyone nodding.

"Good thing we found out the bird's name in the Analyzer." Gyro muttered before focusing back "Our next change happened after we arrived on Remnant, where we interfered with Jaune's life and gave him basic training, which originally, he wouldn't have had, and would have falsified his way into Beacon."

Jaune frowned at that "Well… original me is kind of an idiot then if you're saying the truth."

"We are." Pierce said dryly, before pulling up a video on his scroll and showing it to everyone, showing the scene where Jaune had revealed to Pyrrha how he had falsified his papers to get into Beacon.

Jaune winced at that "Yeah, that's not good." he then gave the twins a thumbs up "Thanks for the training then."

"On the upside, at least other you was smart enough to make good papers, right?" Gomamon commented idly.

"I… don't think that's a skill I'd like to flaunt." Jaune said slowly.

"Next thing we changed after that was the initiation, we weren't originally part of it, so you all had handled it on your own… oh, and Azure wasn't there to get a teaching job, but that's not a major timeline change." Pierce added as he showed the original fights of the initiation, deciding to leave out the part where Jaune had screamed like a girl, no matter how hilarious it had been.

"And now we enter the remaining territory of the short list of things we missed, and the larger one of things yet to happen." Gyro said before starting a clip on his scroll "First on the tiny list, our first day at Beacon, which was composed of waking up to fix up the room, rushing to class, Weiss getting angry because Ruby was the leader of the team."

"Wait what?" Weiss and Ruby said together.

"Yeah, Ruby was the leader of the team, know as team RWBY, spelled R, W, B, Y, with the other two members being Blake and Yang." Gyro said for clarification.

"Oh, so THAT's why you wanted us to have Ruby be one of the secondary leaders if you weren't around." Nora said in realisation, and honestly they'd stopped being surprised by her new calmer self rather quickly. Seems whatever happened when she awakened her Crest had given the girl something of an 'epiphany', and ultimately they decided to just take it in stride.

"Wait… that means the leader of the other team was Jaune, right?" Salamon deduced.

"Yeah, team JNPR, spelled J,N,P,R, and Jaune was leader, because of his tactical mind for the most part." Pierce confirmed. "Jaune in the show may have sucked in a fight, but he managed to make some pretty good strategies. You even made a strategy to fight a Geist type Grimm."

"... I feel like I should be impressed, but I don't know what a Geist is." Jaune admitted.

"We've been over this before Jaune, remember ghost Grimm? Basically that, and Geist can possess inanimate objects." Gyro clarified. "The one you made a strategy to beat was basically constantly 'fixing' the stone body it made for itself with whatever was nearby, meaning whittling away at it was a waste of time. You managed to figure out how to topple the whole thing in one shot."

"Look at that, you became reliable without needing me around." Gomamon said with a grin as he nudged Jaune.

"Shows how helpful you really are." Jaune said jokingly, to which Gomamon laughed.

"Anyway, speaking of Jaune, next is someone who's likely gonna be a pain in the ass for us for the next semester or two, and assuming we can still prevent the bad things from happening, a bit longer than that. One Cardin Winchester, leader of team CRDL. I'll be blunt, he's the textbook definition of a dumb jock. A big guy who thinks he's all that, a bully who doesn't give a damn, and an all round muscle head. All brawn barely any brain," Gyro said in annoyance. "Oh and he's a complete racist too, and a coward to boot. He'll act all tough when he's with his team, but once he's alone or against someone stronger than him, he'll turn tail and run."

"So he's going to be a pain in our behinds then." Ren said with a sigh.

"I can probably tie him up and leave him hanging off the ceiling if he keeps talking too much." Wormmon assured his partner.

"Well that's something to look forward too." Pierce said with a grin "But yeah, he's gonna be a pain to us, first major thing he does is overhear Jaune tell Pyrrha about his false papers, so he uses that as blackmail to get Jaune to do all his schoolwork for him."

"Sounds like one of those stupid highschool dramas." Blake said as she rolled her eyes.

"Honestly...the first season of RWBY kind of DID play like that...only with guns...and killing monsters…" Gyro admitted with an amused chuckle.

"Anyway, back on track, those events originally came to a head about… I think a week ago would have been accurate. We would have had a trip to Forever Fall to collect sap, and Cardin, being the jerk he is with an over inflated ego that could give Etemon a run for his money, planned on setting a box of rapier wasps free on Pyrrha...to get back at her for 'humiliating' him in history class...just because she knew the answer to a question HE was quized on but didn't get right...yeah, he's THAT petty."

"He sounds like a big baby." Agumon said.

"Pretty sure a baby is calmer than him." Veemon added with a snicker, everyone laughing at the joke.

"Definitely breaking his legs first chance I get," Nora actually deadpanned.

"I don't think any of us would stop you," Salamon nodded in agreement.

"That'd be something to see," Pierce chuckled. "Anyway, moving on...the next big thing that happens is well...how its revealed Blake is a Faunus...which is gonna be VERY different, seeing as we already know Blake is a Faunus now."

"How it went was that Weiss wanted to 'observe', read: spy, on the students coming over for the Vytal Festival from other academies," Gyro started.

Everybody looked at the heiress at that, prompting her to look back "What?"

"Nothing." Yang said, before turning back to the twins. "How did that turn out?"

"Well, the student you ended up finding was a faunus who stowed away on a boat to get to Vale early, he's a monkey called Sun Wukong, and despite his...lively...personality, he actually ends up one of your best friends and allies over time in the original timeline anyway," Gyro continued.

"Honestly, we doubt that's gonna change, dude is too friendly, so we plan on actively befriending him ourselves." Pierce said with a chuckle. "Anyway, seeing as in that timeline Weiss hadn't had much if any positive interactions with faunus, save for Blake, who she didn't know was a faunus at the time...you can probably guess how this goes…"

Nobody said anything as Weiss and Blake looked away. They could already tell how their other selves probably acted.

"Long story short, you had an argument, ending with Blake accidentally revealing she's a faunus...then she ran away. What followed was you guys needing to find her and a bunch of shenanigans that we hope to avert this time around...though I guess we COULD still try to stop the shipment," Gyro mused. "Oh, and before we move on, you met another friend in that incident. A girl named Penny Polendina from Atlas."

Ruby's eyes widened when she heard that, quickly realizing who she was. "She has orange hair with a mainly green outfit with green eyes, right?" she checked.

"Ah...so you saw her…" Gyro frowned.

Ruby nodded. "I saw a lot more than I would have wanted…" Ruby said glumly, glancing at Pyrrha for a brief second, enough only those directly looking at her face noticed.

Gyro internally winced, figuring out how much she'd seen "Yeah, spoilers for everyone, Penny is neither human or faunus, she's an android made by Atlas."

"Wait, what? But wasn't she a student too?" Jaune blinked. "How does a robot become a student? I mean, wouldn't the lack of aura...or the ability to awaken it for that matter, be a dead give away?"

"That would be true...if she were a normal machine," Pierce sighed. "Penny is...somehow...an android with a soul. Tons of unconfirmed theories, but it boils down to either Atlas found a way to artificially replicate/create a living soul...or the more disturbing, they transplanted a living soul into a mechanical body. Take your pick on which one you think it is, but either way the end result was Penny, who despite her mechanical body, is as much a person as any of us."

"Seriously, she ended up becoming one of Ruby's best friends, despite how Atlas forbade her from talking to Ruby again." Gyro added, smiling a bit.

"I'm afraid to ask...but what happened to her?" Pyrrha of all people asked, causing the brothers to wince. "...I'm not going to like the answer, am I?"

"Absolutely not." Pierce said seriously.

"One of our enemies has a semblance that allows her to make people see illusions, but she can only use it one person at a time, so during the Vytal Festival finals, she used it on you to make you see Penny's weapon, a few swords she swings around with thin cables, suddenly multiply to thousands of copies, like a torrent of blades, so that made you use your semblance at full blast to send it all back flying… and the cables got wrapped up around Penny's body and… and they ended up tearing her to shreds." Gyro finished sadly. "And the sad part of it all? It was all done just to sow discord and distrust. THAT is how cruel and merciless our future enemies are."

Pyrrha looked like she wanted to throw up by the time they finished talking at hearing what she would have been tricked into doing. "I...I did that…?" she choked.

"No you didn't!" Jaune and Gabumon quickly said.

"You didn't do it on purpose, and this time you won't do it, not when you know what's going to happen!" Gabumon said, quickly placing a paw on her shoulder.

"He's right. Maybe this was what would have happened, but we can change that now," Jaune nodded in agreement.

"Their right, we know it's coming, so we can prepare for it. We've been thinking of several plans to stop the abilities of our enemies, well, the ones we know of, we don't know everything our two main threats can do. BUT, now that we have the Digimon on our side, I think we'll be able to handle them." Gyro said, finishing with a smile as he looked at all of the Digimon.

"In that case, we promise we'll be there to help you out." Tentomon said.

"That's right, you said it yourselves on the first day, we'll come to the real world with you." Palmon added, all the other Digimon soon throwing in their agreement.

"Speaking of threats, before you start to face the real threats, you have a bit of a 'taste' in the form of Roman Torchwick," Pierce added. "The first semester was mainly calm, but come the second semester, things started getting rougher, especially when you all got info regarding the White Fang, which you later find out that Torchwick is working with the White Fang."

"Wait, what? But that's impossible," Blake said. "The White Fang as it is now, most of them hate humans that they'd rather drink broken glass than work with a human...and I wish that was a metaphor…"

"...okay, putting aside that rather disturbing, albeit strangely amusing image, that's what happens. Also, no offense Weiss, but the Atlas military is REALLY slacking off if Torchwick could get his hands on a Paladin of all things," Gyro added to which Weiss jaw dropped at hearing the criminal actually got one of those.

"Paladin?" Nora asked.

"It's a mechanical exo suit. Something the military was working on," Weiss answered. "My family's company provides a good deal of the Dust used in projects, so we hear a thing or two."

"Honest thing, Earth has better exo suit designs, less bulky and more flexible." Pierce said, the Paladin's design had always irked him honestly.

"So yeah, bla bla bla, Paladin, fight, and team RWBY managed to smash it, but Torchwick got away thanks to his mute and psycho partner, Neopolitan, Neo for short. The original Yang ended up growing an annoyance towards the girl." Gyro explained. "Its partly cause she beat the original Yang, though that was also due to a flaw in her fight style. Bluntly put, she was too reckless, and it got her into a LOT of trouble. So much so after a rather...traumatic event...she got depressed for a few months, but eventually got out of it and started learning a new style. One that is more...controlled, and yes Yang, we'll be sure to explain it to you like how your dad did. Better to nip this one in the bud, right?"

"Yeah, I...kinda learned my lesson after our last fight with Etemon…" Yang admitted, looking at Biyomon guiltily, only for the bird to smile and place a wing on her shoulder comfortingly.

'At least something good came out of that then...besides the Crests anyway…' Pierce and Gyro couldn't help but inwardly smile. Yang learning the lesson that took her losing an arm in canon now...would help her a LOT down the road.

"Now, next thing that happened was the dance at Beacon." Pierce started.

"Let me guess, it also goes wrong." Pyrrha said with a sigh.

"Kind of, the dance itself goes off without a hitch, but one of our enemies uses it to cover their attempt at inserting a virus into the CCT which they'll use to hijack airwaves and even take control of the new Atlesian Knight models during a later event." Gyro said seriously.

"Weiss, I swear to Oum, call your sister, and have her find a way to upgrade the anti-virus in their tech, and ESPECIALLY don't let Ironwood go through with his stupid idea of putting an AI in a Paladin." Pierce said, some annoyance in his tone.

"On the plus side, I just realized if the Digimon are with us, we can get the amusing image of Godzilla stomping on one Paladin," Gyro added jokingly. "No seriously, a Paladin is big, but you guys can still be bigger."

"I'll make sure to give my sister a call and try to slip a message about anti-virus upgrades." Weiss said with a sigh.

"Anyway, back onto important matters, Ruby tried to stop the enemy who put in the virus, but she got away when Ironwood entered the room, however, we plan to not only stop the virus, but replace it with a proxy too, one that looks and acts like the original, but it'll actually give them useless information, while feeding US helpful things from their scrolls. Azure was working on the virus last time we talked to him, and hopefully, you can help him finish it Weiss." Pierce explained, grinning a bit at the thought of their own plan.

"Clever," Blake chuckled. "Make them THINK their plan is working, when it actually isn't."

"That's what we were going for. Our enemies have us outnumbered and...questionably outgunned. They beat the Kingdoms last time using cunning, so we gotta be even more cunning to outdo them," Gyro nodded.

"So what happens next?" Ren asked, very curious now.

"After that is the next big event, the Breach. Basically, when the original team RWBY dealt with Roman, they ended up learning about an operation in the south-east… and biggest failure of humanity is in that area, and perfect for a hideout?" Pierce started, asking his question with a knowing look.

"Mountain Glenn." Ruby whispered in understanding.

"Bingo," Gyro nodded. "So the original team RWBY tried to get there, which ended with Ozpin 'bending the rules' to allow them to go. Oh and your dad sent your dog over to live with you a bit before you guys left for Mount Glenn."

"How'd he send a dog over?" Weiss couldn't help but ask.

"In the mail," Pierce deadpanned. "No seriously, he somehow fit Zwei inside this tube he mailed to your room...and also fit in a ton of cans of dog food...and a can opener...which Ruby and Yang implied Zwei could use…"

"Oh yeah, Zwei got a lot smarter after we had his aura awakened," Yang nodded.

"So THAT's why he's a super dog." Gyro said with wide eyes.

"Huh...the more you know…" Pierce blinked. "Anyway, you got saddled with Prof...I mean, Doctor Oobleck, your history teacher, on the mission, while Ruby got it in her head to bring Zwei along...which actually turned out to be a good idea."

Ruby grinned at that one, while her future teammates gave her a dry look.

"So yeah, after a day of hunting Grimm, and a few things, Ruby followed Zwei and ended up stumbling upon the hideout...literally," Gyro said.

"And by stumble, we mean she fell through the ground right into the hideout. Turns out they were using the old tunnels," Pierce said. "Oh and speaking of which, another thing we gotta work on. Your unarmed combat. No offense Ruby, but you suck worse than Jaune's original self did without your weapon."

Ruby winced at that, while Jaune felt mildly miffed, but figured it wasn't so bad since they were taking a jab at the original him.

"So yeah, seeing as Ruby lost Crescent Rose...you can probably guess what happened next. Fortunately it seemed Torchwick sorta picked up the Villain Ball and ended up spilling his immediate plan, so when the others came to rescue her, they could do more to try stopping the train," Pierce said.

"So, what happened with that was, you all ended up finding that the train was full of bombs, and that Torchwick was using it to lead Grimm towards Vale, Ruby stayed on top of the train to help Doctor Oobleck try and deal with that from the outside, while the rest of the girls went inside, where Yang ended up fighting Neo, but lost, and was saved by a freebie given to her by her bitch of a mom." Gyro explained, not even bothering to censor himself for once.

"If I meet Raven… I'm gonna punch her in the face." Yang said calmly, no rage at all, and was simply stating a fact.

"On that I think we can all agree," Jaune frowned. He didn't know that much, but Yang's biological mom seemed like someone they'd all really not like.

"What happens next?" Pyrrha frowned.

"Well, they made a breach and Grimm came in, but you managed to stop it with a bit of help from a few other teams," Pierce said. "Things calmed down a bit...but that was just the calm before the storm as the next bit is the Vytal Festival AKA when shit hits the fan."

"What happened?" Blake asked, having a feeling she wouldn't like it.

"Well, at first, seemingly nothing, the tournament was going normally, both teams RWBY and JNPR even made it to the finals… but so did our main enemies at the time. First, Cinder Fall, the ringleader behind the attack, second, Emerald Sustrai, the girl with the illusion semblance, and finally, Mercury Black, son of Marcus Black, a well known assassin in underground circles." Gyro started, his face completely serious.

"We'll start on the goons before miss head honcho, because the information on her is… big." Pierce said, pausing to find the right word "So, first, Emerald, easy way to identify her, mint green hair, dark skin, and red eyes, she's completely devoted to Cinder and is a master pickpocket, so be wary around her. Her weapons are a pair of revolvers she can turn into sickles."

"Next up, Mercury Black, AKA, Mr. I'm-too-cool. No, really, he's cocky as hell. He's got silver hair and likes to wear clothes in shade of greyish blue and black. Now, the main thing about him, his legs are artificial, so we'll have to find a way to expose that to everyone, probably pull them off during a fight. Pyrrha, if you ever end up having to spar against him when they infiltrate Beacon, don't hold back on the semblance, pull his legs off, make sure everyone knows so they can't pull the broken leg card during the Vytal Festival finals." Gyro said.

"Broken Leg card?" Nora asked, just a tiny bit eager to hear the answer.

Pierce sighed. "They 'framed' Yang by making it look like she broke Mercury's leg during their match. How they did it was that Emerald used her Semblance to make Yang think Mercury was attacking, while in reality, Mercury had moved to 'shake her hand' after she beat him, so to the crowd it looked like she went and broke the guy's leg for no reason. Naturally you can guess that didn't go over so well with everyone...or with her for that matter when the illusion was lifted."

"So they made everyone think Yang was crazy?" Biyomon asked with a frown.

"Basically yeah, and honestly, it was working, even the other members of RWBY were unsure about what actually happened. That's why it's imperative we find a way to stop Emerald from being able to use her Semblance." Gyro said seriously.

"Right, green haired girl, BAD news," Ren nodded. "Now...about that ringleader you mentioned?"

"Right. Get ready everyone, cause this one is gonna be a doozy," Pierce nodded. "First of all, everyone here knows the story of the Four Maidens, right?"

"Uh...we don't," the Digimon said.

"It's a classic story in Remnant," Pyrrha smiled, before reciting the tale for the Digimon to hear.

" _Centuries ago, Deep in the forests of Remnant, beside a great and mighty river, stood the small, fragile home of a cold, frail man- a lone wizard._

 _Hidden from the dangers and distractions of the world, the wizard seldom had visitors. But on this day, as he peered out his window, his gaze fell upon a young maiden._

 _Calmly, she sat beneath his tree in a state of absolute tranquility. When the wizard demanded an explanation, the maiden simply replied, "My name is Winter. I am on a journey, and I am waiting for my sisters."_

 _With that, she closed her eyes and sat in silence._

 _The wizard told himself the girl was a fool, but the longer she sat, the more he wished to share in the serenity the young maiden enjoyed. In time, he grew tired and decided to close his eyes as well, thinking on this strange predicament._

 _Upon opening his eyes, the wizard was befuddled to find that a second maiden appeared beneath his tree, cheerful and spry, with a basket of fruit and flowers._

 _When he asked for an explanation, the girl simply replied,_

 _"My name is Spring. I am on a journey, and I am waiting for my sisters."_

 _To show her gratitude for his reluctant hospitality, the girl retrieved a handful of seeds from her basket and planted them in the wizard's garden._

 _The old hermit could hardly believe his eyes as the maiden turned what was once a mere pile of dirt and manure into a beautiful garden, from which life would surely blossom._

 _It's likely he would have gazed for hours, were it not for the unfamiliar laughter he heard from beneath his tree._

 _A young woman with a warm smile now stood beside the two maidens._

 _The wizard begged her to introduce herself, to which she happily responded,_

 _"My name is Summer. I am on a journey, and I am waiting for my sister."_

 _"Of course," thought the wizard. But another chirp of laughter left the old man perplexed._

 _What in the world was so funny?_

 _As it turned out, it was him. The new arrival found the wizard's insistence on staying indoors so very amusing._

 _Why choose to view the world through a small window when the door leading out to it was right at his side?_

 _It was a compelling argument. And after only a moment of brief hesitation, the wizard left his home -_

 _\- and stepped outside._

 _The warmth of the sun brought with it a surge of energy and life, and soon the wizard wasn't feeling much like himself anymore._

 _He was feeling much better._

 _As the day drew to a close, the maidens and the wizard all settled down and prepared a feast._

 _Winter set the table. Spring supplied the crops, Summer prepped the meal, and the wizard was the happiest he'd been in ages._

 _But in all the excitement, he nearly failed to notice the delicate woman that now stood beneath his tree._

 _He smiled, and beckoned her to join them, asking only for her name._

 _"My name is Fall," she replied softly. "I am on a journey, and am here to meet my sisters. Who are you?"_

 _"Me?", the wizard wondered. "Well, I am but an old hermit - I have lived in these woods alone for centuries and I'm afraid my story is not very interesting, as I have no one to love and nothing to my name."_

 _The elder sister looked up at all that surrounded them._

 _"But sir, do you not see? You have so much."_

 _It was true. With their help, it was now clear to see that the wizard had everything he could ever need. He was grateful, but a question lingered in his mind._

 _"Why me?", he asked. "Why did the four of you choose to open my eyes? To share with me your gifts? Why am I so special?"_

 _The four sisters looked to one another, perplexed. Finally, the eldest spoke._

 _"I beg your pardon sir, but we did not do these things for you because you were special. We do what we can for everyone, because we are able."_

 _The old wizard was at a loss. Never in his years had he come across such kindness. It was in that moment that he knew what should be done._

 _The wizard summoned his magic, every ounce he could muster, and bestowed it upon the sisters._

 _He smiled. "Take this gift, and know now that you are able to do so much more."_

 _Now armed with the elements, the very powers of nature, and the unimaginable magic of the wizard, the four maidens, Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall, promised to carry on with their journey, using their gifts to aid others, just as they aided him._

 _One by one, the sisters left. Before they did, they made one final promise._

 _They promised to return each and every year, to visit their dear friend."_

Once she was done, Pierce nodded. "Now then, that story has a BIG role here, seeing as it's true. Heck, that old wizard? Believe it or not...it's Ozpin."

A long silence passed, during which the Digimon looked at their partners in confusion, not understanding why they were so shocked.

Eventually, Weiss managed to recover first "Wait, so… the maidens exist? And Professor Ozpin is the wizard from the tale?"

"Yeahp, and what's more, Cinder is one of the maidens. Cinder Fall, AKA, the False Fall Maiden." Gyro said.

"False?" Pyrrha asked with a raised eyebrow.

"She stole the Maiden powers from the true Fall Maiden, a young woman by the name of Amber, except she didn't get ALL of the powers, just a large portion, Amber still holds the last few drops of it so to speak." he said. "Now, to explain, Amber is NOT the Fall from the story. See, Maidens can still die, and when they do, their power transfers to the last person in their minds...provided that person is a maiden. If it was an old person or a guy, then the power randomly flies off to another person. Really annoying, we know."

"And speaking of maidens, about punching Raven in the face…" Pierce started.

"Let me guess," Blake sighed. "She's gotten her hands on Maiden Powers too, hasn't she?" she deadpanned, cause why not.

"Got it in one," Pierce sighed. "She's got the Spring Maiden powers, when she killed the previous Spring Maiden as a 'mercy kill' she said. To be fair, if she was telling the truth, then the previous one really didn't like her powers and the troubles that came with them, but still..."

"She still murdered someone." Ren summed up with a frown, he really wasn't liking Yang's mother by now.

"Exactly. Anyway, back to Cinder, she's going to be trouble, considering she has a good handle on the Fall Maiden powers, which seem to include flame control for starters, and being able to weaponize leaves as well if what we saw from Amber was correct." Gyro said "The easiest way to identify Cinder is that she has amber colored eyes and black hair that covers up a bit of her face, she also likes to wear a red dress with fire dust woven into it, but, when she infiltrated Beacon, she wore an outfit that looked like something a scrap fighter would wear. She's also the woman you fought when you were accepted into Beacon, Ruby."

"I see…" Ruby frowned, remembering that woman well. To think she had a glimpse of someone who would have caused so much pain and suffering...the thought was admittedly more than a little frightening now that she realized what was going on.

"Now, regarding the tournament. First, Cinder had managed to gain control of Atlas tech through Ironwood's scroll thanks to her virus, which most fans dubbed the Castle Virus since it shows the image of a rook chess piece. Thanks to that, she also gained control of the match selections for the Vytal Festival, meaning she was able to setup some favorable matchups for her goons, as well as rig the finals. And because earlier in the year they'd been able to figure out Pyrrha's semblance, as well as obtain the blueprints for Penny, they set up that match, and, well, you know how that turned out." Pierce explained, grimacing at the end.

"And right after that, that's when shit hit the fan. They broadcasted the whole thing, starting to plant doubt into the people...before beginning the next phase. With help from the White Fang, they smuggled live Grimm and unleashed them into Vale, throwing the city into a panic. The Atlesian Military tried to stop them, but...well...remember that virus? Yeah, it ended up being that the Knights soon turned on the people, something they were sure to broadcast to all the Kingdoms to watch. And if that wasn't bad enough, turns out there was this BIG Grimm Dragon hibernating in the mountains outside of Vale and all the fear and other negative emotions must have woken it up...you can probably guess what happened next…" Gyro said grimly.

"Long story short, Grimm Dragon wakes up, smashes up Vale a bit, then destroys Beacon castle, the CCT Tower with it, thus shutting down the entire CCT Network with the last scenes the world saw being the berserk Knights killing civilians, thus fucking up the relationship between the Kingdoms. Suffice to say, the bad guys won that day. Spectacularly I might add…" Pierce sighed. "There are a few more details of course, but that's the overall of events that we're trying to prevent."

"So that's it? We lost Beacon and Vale, and the bad guys won?" Jaune asked in abject disbelief. Sure he wasn't one of those types who believed in the 'good always wins' mentality, since he knew there was more to things than just that, but still…

"Not a complete victory mind you, but very nearly that," Gyro said. "You got out of it alive...well...most of you did…" he said, and when he did, he couldn't help glancing at Pyrrha, something all of them noticed.

"...I died, didn't I?" Pyrrha said...her voice unnaturally calm for someone who just pieced together their own possible fate.

"You tried to stop Cinder, who'd managed to kill Amber thus gaining the full maiden powers, alone. It...didn't end well for you…" was Gyro's response.

"Over my deleted/dead body!" were Gabumon's and Jaune's angry growls at what they'd heard.

"It won't get to that this time. The original issue was that Pyrrha had decided to go at it alone and not bring backup." Pierce said, crossing his arms. "But I'm pretty sure we won't need to worry about that now, would we?"

Pyrrha blinked, before realizing what he was getting at and smiled a little. "No we won't," she smiled. "I think I know why my other self tried to do that...but I won't be like that. I'm not alone anymore."

"Damn straight," Yang said as they all smiled.

"Right, now then...while Cinder is the main issue, we have a few smaller but no less important things to worry about. Among them is one Adam Taurus," Gyro continued.

"Of course Adam would be involved…" Blake sighed.

"Adam? Isn't he that bad faunus who you used to work with?" Patamon checked.

"That's him," Blake confirmed. Strange as it sounded, being with the group right now, the idea of having to face Adam in the future didn't scare her as much as she thought it would.

"Now, the obvious issue with Adam, his Semblance." Gyro started.

"Right, he calls it Moonslice for some reason, though I don't know where he got the name. He absorbs attacks that collide with his sword and charges himself up, before returning it all in one powerful strike that can easily cut through a full aura." Blake explained, seeing as she knew Adam the most.

"Considering he destroyed an entire robot and some of the surroundings from some of the clips we saw? Yeah, we can confirm that much," Pierce sighed.

"...something wrong? You seemed kinda...upset...when Blake explained that," Biyomon asked.

"The irony of you asking…" Gyro couldn't help but say as they decided to come clean. "In the battle of Beacon, Yang tried to help Blake who Adam had pinned down and was in the middle of stabbing...and ended up losing her right arm to that ability…"

Yang flinched at that, her left hand grasping her right arm instinctively.

"Don't worry, we won't let that happen either," Pierce reassured. "On top of that, the fact that you learned the very lesson that it took said loss of a limb now, that's going to help you a LOT. Trust me, even if the you after you recovered was a lot less...lively...she'd definitely improved a lot."

"...somehow that doesn't sound like it came out right," Ren commented.

"You try consoling your girlfriend over how in one timeline she's gonna lose her arm and see how you do," Pierce deadpanned.

"Moving on," Gyro quickly said before any arguments could start. "Right, there was the part where Ironwood kept Torchwick locked up in a cell on one of his airships...which made it so when Neo came calling, having infiltrated with her Physical Illusion semblance, it was...stupidly easy for them to use the virus to hijack an airship…"

"Wait, what? They hijacked an airship? No offense to the people of Atlas, but what the heck?" Jaune couldn't help but say incredulously.

"None taken. I can't believe how...incompetent the army seemed to be in that timeline…" Weiss said.

"If there was anything good that came from that, at least when Torchwick had to fight Ruby, he went on a rant about how the world is cruel, so you gotta do anything to survive, which was dripping with negativity...while they were surrounded by Grimm," Pierce smirked. "The irony of Torchwick saying he's good at surviving...only to be swallowed by a Gryphon like 2 seconds later."

"Sweet, sweet irony." Gyro said with a grin "As for Neo, Ruby ended up making her parasol open while there were powerful winds around, so the ice cream runt got sent flying and hasn't been seen since."

"But you don't know if she's actually gone or not," Pyrrha noted.

"Yep, so until we get some solid proof...assume she's still at large," Gyro nodded, before adding "And blaming Ruby for Roman's death."

"Now then...the last big thing...Ozpin kinda...gets killed…" Pierce said.

"Ok… that's bad." Yang said a bit nervously.

"Yeah, somehow, Cinder was able to overpower him… but, being dead hasn't stopped him before." Gyro added after a few moments.

"Huh?" was the universal response from everyone present.

"Ok, so you know how Ozpin is the wizard from the story of the maidens? Well, there's a reason he's so old, and that's because whenever he dies, his soul finds a new host body, kind of dark yes, but even he admits he doesn't like it. Anyway, his new host is a farm boy by the name of Oscar Pine, who lives somewhere in Anima with his aunt." Pierce explained.

"Preferably we'd like to avoid that, but if we can't...at least we know who to look for," Gyro said, crossing his arms a little.

"So, what's Oscar like? In case we have to look for him." Jaune asked just in case.

"Shorter than Nora, has a tan with freckles, black hair, and his eyes are this really weird orangish green." Pierce summed up, and Nora actually laughed at hearing there was someone shorter than her.

"So that's about everything in the immediate future we need to worry about," Gyro said. "Sure there's a bit more, but depending on what we do, how relevant that knowledge will be...varies. For now, just worry about this first."

"Right," the group nodded.

"Hey, uh...thanks for trusting us with this," Ruby started. "And thanks for coming to try and help us," she smiled.

The twins smiled at that. "This world is hard enough as is...you guys didn't deserve what happened to you, that's why we wanted to change that," they said.

Everyone nodded in thanks at that, and as they were about discuss what to do next, the ground between them rose up… and revealed a projector, with Gennai quickly appearing on it.

"Chosen Children! I have some important information!"

* * *

 **And there.**

 **Yeahp, just a recap chapter of the RWBY series for the gang.**

 **Well, up to the end of V3 at least.**

 **As for why Grimm Eclipse wasn't mentionned, the boys just don't know if it's canon at the moment.**

 **Anyway, next time, we'll continue on with what we actually need to do, so...**

 **The Adventure Evolves.**


	34. 33: Pursuit! Hurry to Remnant!

**Ok, second time's the charm!**

 **Yeah, this is the second time I'm doing the final edits of the chapter, you know, the cleaning up part.**

 **Yeah, FF thought it would be a good idea to log me out right as I'm doing this shit, so now I have to do it twice, at least I don't have to write the whole chapter again like what would happen in my early days.**

 **Oh well, hopefully it goes well this time.**

* * *

 **Pursuit! Hurry to Remnant!  
**

* * *

An ominous castle loomed before them, dark, foreboding...and honestly looking every bit like something out of a horror movie.

"...okay, he's REALLY milking the Dracula vibe…" Gyro deadpanned at the sight before them, before shaking his head.

"So, what's the plan?" Blake asked as they were hidden in the edge of the trees.

"We'll need to find a way to sneak inside, best to avoid raising any potential alarms and get the drop on them instead." Gyro explained, holding his chin in thought.

"I really hate that we have to do this." Weiss sighed.

"Except we don't have a choice." Ren said simply.

 _(Flashback start)_

" _Would you like to hear the good news or the bad news first?" Gennai asked._

" _Honestly...give us both at the same time," Weiss sighed._

" _Oh?" Gennai mused._

" _We're gonna need to hear all of it, so why not just give it straight," she clarified, the others nodding as well._

" _Alright then," Gennai nodded. "Put simply, there is a way for you all to return to your world, a gateway that can send you back to Remnant. However, it's located in Myotismon's castle," he said. "Not just that, Myotismon plans to use this gate to leave the Digital World himself, and bring his army to your world."_

" _Wait… what's he planning?" Ruby asked, feeling she wouldn't like the answer._

" _From what we've been able to gather? An invasion. He plans to take over your world and rule over it." Gennai said grimly._

" _That's… REALLY bad." Jaune said nervously._

" _We have to stop him." Pyrrha said seriously._

" _Looks like we're going to save Remnant a bit earlier than expected then." Pierce couldn't help but say._

" _We're all in agreement then?" Gyro asked, receiving nods all around "Alright, time to head home."_

 _(Flashback end)_

Scanning around, it was at that point they noticed an entrance that was guarded...but for some reason had a banner on it. Using his goggles, Gyro zoomed in...and sweat dropped at what he was reading. "New Recruits Accepted. Join Myotismon's army for fame, glory, and three square meals a day," he read, his voice conveying his incredulity perfectly.

"...they seriously put that on an advertisement?" was Gomamon's deadpan question.

"That's really just inviting someone to take advantage of…" Salamon said dryly.

"Oh it gets better," Gyro stifled a laugh.

"How so?" Palmon asked.

"I'm seeing mainly Numemon coming for the applications," Gyro said, his tone perfectly flat despite clearly holding back laughter.

All of them had to try to hold back their laughter at that, knowing that if Numemon were showing up, whoever set this up was scraping the bottom of the barrel. "50 Lien says its DemiDevimon who had this 'brilliant' idea, one we're about to exploit the hell out of," Pierce smirked.

"No deal," everyone else said in amusement.

"Though...how are we planning on using this without being recognized?" Patamon asked.

"By abusing two things. Their stupidity, and one of the oddest parts of the Digital World," Pierce smirked.

* * *

"If this was anywhere else, I'd call this a horrible idea. But here? This could actually work," Gyro chuckled as their little 'infiltrators' got in without any issue.

Inside the castle, a bunch of Numemon, Vegiemon, along with a Sukamon and Chuumon were lining up, eager to join the army for fame, glory, and three square meals a day...but mostly the three square meals.

Before them was DemiDevimon who looked...less than confident in the new recruits. "They all look like useless bums…" he sighed to himself. He was on thin ice as it was, so the fact that his attempt to recruit more followers for Myotismon had netted these guys...yeah…

"Nothing to worry about!" came a new masculine voice from behind him, causing him to turn around and see a new Digimon coming down the stairs… and the sight did not inspire that much confidence in him, as the Digimon was mainly round with short, stubby, but muscular, arms and legs. He lacked a torso, as his body was just a head with limbs, and he had the face of an old man, sporting a beard, and with a head of balding hair, the last notable thing he was wearing being a pair of sunglasses. "I'll whip them into shape!" he said once he got down the stairs.

"I'm counting on you, coach Nanimon," DemiDevimon said. "Only someone with years of military experience like you is fit for this job," he said, before flying away.

"Leave it to me!" Nanimon nodded.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Nanimon_

 _Nanimon. Virus Type. An Adult Level Invader Digimon. Not much is known about this Digimon, other than it comes from another world, in which others referred to it as 'Old Man' all the time. He rather acts the part as well, being very much like the annoying uncle you want to avoid at family parties. His special attack is… Poop Dunk… that's it, I'm done, call me when we get a non poop throwing Digimon._

"Now then, time to whip you lot into shape!" Nanimon started.

"Hey, this where the tryouts are?" came a new voice.

"Who's there?" Nanimon asked.

"We wanted to see if we could join," came another voice as the figures stepped into view.

"The name's PunkAgumon," the first introduced. It was Agumon...wearing a puffy wig, and a cloth around his neck like what cowboys in a western movie would use.

"I'm ReggaePalmon, yay!" the second said. It was Palmon...wearing some beads around her neck, with a Bob Marley style hairdo made with...stuff…

"And you can call me, ThugGatomon," the third smirked. It was Gatomon...wearing a cap and sunglasses, giving her the image of the internet meme of 'Thug Life', while on her tail her Holy Ring had been removed, which would allow her to maintain the form for prolonged time.

Nanimon looked at them, before turning to the rest of the recruits, then back again. "...these guys might be better than the rest of these dorks…" he muttered. "Okay! Come on over!"

"Right on!" the three cheered.

And somewhere in the background, Gyro had tapped his mouth shut as he was at risk of laughing his ass off due to observing the scene with his goggles. For once a paper thin disguise was actually a viable disguise.

* * *

Meanwhile, deeper in the castle, Myotismon was sitting in a library illuminated by candlelight.

Silently, he turned the pages of a book, looking for something in it, until he rose an eyebrow "Is this…?"

He scrutinized the page, before nodding to himself "Yes, just what I needed." However, at that moment, a knock on the door was heard. "Enter," he said without looking up from the book. The door opened, revealing DemiDevimon.

"Reporting in, Lord Myotismon," DemiDevimon said. "Potential soldiers are streaming in from everywhere."

"Will they be useful?" Myotismon asked immediately. Quantity was well and good, but without quality it was pointless, especially against the Chosen Children. His one battle against them told him enough of them to know they would only become stronger.

DemiDevimon gulped a little at that. "P-probably, my lord."

At that moment, a giggling laughter echoed through the room. "In other words, they're hopelessly useless and will never amount to anything beyond cannon fodder," came a new feminine voice.

"Who's there?!" DemiDevimon shouted.

The speaker came in through the door that DemiDevimon had left open, and her appearance was of the rare Digimon that could pass for a human, with blonde hair that reached her chin and blue eyes, and a rather… developed feminine figure. She wore a tight red dress, a few zippers part of the design, with detached sleeves covering her arms all the way to her hands, with her fingers looking more like large claws. She wore a black cape on her shoulders, and a classical red witch's hat on her head, holding a broom in one of her hands.

"Oh how far you've fallen, DemiDevimon. If you seriously think those hicks could possibly be of any use to Lord Myotismon beyond meat shields then the holder of Love must have punched you harder than I thought," she laughed.

"Nobody asked you, Witchmon!" DemiDevimon growled.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Witchmon_

 _Witchmon. Data Type. An Adult Level Demon Man Digimon. A powerful sorceress, she has mastery over wind and water, being able to cause storms with ease to help cover her more grand spells. She is cruel, and is well known to torture her enemies, and treat those she sees as beneath her like dirt. Her special attack is Baluluna Gale, creating a sharp wind to strike at her opponents._

"What's this? Is the wittle batty boo angwy? Careful, or you might hurt yourself," Witchmon chuckled, not the least bit concerned with DemiDevimon.

"Enough!" Myotismon boomed, wanting to end the argument before it began. "I sent you to gather troops as well, Witchmon. How did it go?"

"Splendidly, my lord. I found many valiant Mon who are willing to fight in your name, and I can guarantee they're not just here to mooch off of our food supplies," she added the last bit while giving DemiDevimon a snide look, much to the imp's ire.

Myotismon actually smirked at that. "Then I look forward to seeing what they can do. But until then, ready the troops. The time is soon approaching," Myotismon said. At that moment, a Bakemon phased through a nearby bookshelf.

"Lord Myotismon, sorry to intrude, but the stone room is ready for your inspection," the Bakemon reported.

"Splendid," Myotismon smirked, before turning to DemiDevimon and Witchmon. "You two can go."

"Sir!" the two of them nodded before turning to leave. Once they were gone, he went to fiddle with an apparatus, putting it into the combination required to open a passageway behind the bookshelf.

Silently, Myotismon descended down the long staircase, the Bakemon keeping a respectable distance behind him.

Eventually, they reached the end of the stairs, entering a large chamber where several Bakemon were polishing different parts of it, before the moved to the edges of the room when they noticed Myotismon. Myotismon went up and inspected a platform/pedestal of some kind with 9 spots on it and ahead of it was a massive stone doorway.

"Pardon me, my lord," one of the Bakemon started. "But what is this door?"

"This is the door of dimensions. With it we will invade the human world and take it over!" he declared, before pulling out what appeared to be cards from his cloak. "I've studied these cards well, and I've figured out the combination required to open the correct doorway. We will depart soon," he ordered.

"Understood, my lord," the Bakemon nodded, before phasing through another wall.

* * *

Back at the training area, the various new recruits were worn out, having performed...rather poorly earlier, to the point Nanimon had punished them with no dinner for the night, much to the dismay of the various Numemon who had flat out let spill that they were only in it for the part about the food.

As it was now, Nanimon was getting his shoulders massaged by a couple of Vegiemon, while the Numemon were in a pile. The only ones not looking completely worn out were Agumon, Palmon, and Gatomon, all of them silently thanking the times they'd either joined in or been roped in to a training session with their partners every now and then in the last couple of months. It made it possible for them to endure Nanimon's attempts to 'whip them into shape'. However…

"At this rate we won't have an opening to sneak everyone in…"Agumon frowned.

"And we can't exactly fight him either…" Gatomon frowned. Doing that would no doubt raise the alarms.

"But we can't play along like this forever either…" Palmon frowned.

"You guys trying to do something crazy?" One of the Numemon whispered to them.

"Something like that, but we can't do it with Nanimon around." Agumon said, not wanting to give too much away considering this Numemon was joining Myotismon, even if it was for the food.

"Leave it to us then, that jerk is gonna learn what happens when you deny a Numemon food." the Numemon growled.

"You evolve into another kind of Numemon?" Gatomon said with a raised eyebrow.

"Well that yes, but you also piss them off!" the Numemon whisper shouted, before clearing his throat "Anyway, we've heard about how he has a weakness to alcoholic drinks, so I'll slip off into the kitchen to grab some, he won't notice me missing anyway with how many of us Numemon are here."

"Well then, we're counting on you," Gatomon smirked. Seems their chance just fell into their lap. With that said, the Numemon soon snuck away...and crawled up the wall, using the slime that came from his body to get up the wall and into the kitchen. The rest of them all made sure Nanimon wasn't looking...and before long, a bunch of bottles flew out the window. Literally, as the Numemon had somehow found a way to make several makeshift parachutes for the bottles to fly out, and land near Nanimon.

"Hm? What's this?" Nanimon asked as he grabbed a bottle...and immediately brightened. "Is this...it is! Sake!" he grinned before he started drinking, and soon drained the bottle before grabbing another...and another...and soon he was even drinking multiple bottles at once.

"Wow...I've heard of heavy drinkers but this is ridiculous," Palmon blinked at how much the mon was drinking, but before long...they could see his face becoming flushed as the alcohol took effect. And what an effect it was as Nanimon was soon doing a weird drunken dance much to the amusement of the mon watching. Once they were sure all attention was on Nanimon, they snuck away from the group. It was time for the next phase of the plan.

* * *

"Looks like their in. Come on, let's go to the window." Gyro called to the others after he saw the trio enter the castle, as they made their way back to the decided on entry point, arriving just at the same time as Palmon dropped her vines.

"Normally I'd say ladies first… but too many skirts are present." Pierce said as he glanced at the girls, who all laughed a bit.

"Well, me and Yang are wearing pants at least." Blake said as she and the blonde went up first, getting pulled up by Palmon.

In short order everyone was soon inside the castle, the Digimon dropping their disguises as Gatomon got her Holy Ring back and reverted to Salamon. Not wasting any time they made their way into the castle. They had to stop Myotismon. However...that proved to be...easier said than done. Turns out the castle had some...strange physics.

"How did you guys get down there?" Weiss and Tentomon couldn't help but ask as they were looking at Ren and Wormmon who were upside down yet still standing somehow.

"No, you guys are the ones upside down!" Wormmon shot back.

"He's right, from where we're looking, you're the ones down," Ren nodded.

"Physics be damned!" Gyro could be heard from… somewhere else.

"Wait...how did we end up here when we went the other way?" Jaune asked as he'd gone through one door in a hall of doors...only to come out of a door on the opposite side of the same hall.

"You think that's weird?" Gabumon asked. "Try going back through a door and coming out a different a door than before…"

"Who the heck designed this place?" Blake groaned as she looked at the path she was on...and saw that it was winding, going up and down, and generally defying all rules of physics.

"Okay that's it! Everyone regroup!" Gyro shouted, having had quite enough.

A few moments later, everyone had gathered back up in a plain looking room.

"Ok, gravity seems normal here." Ruby said, remembering how she'd been walking on the ceiling only a few minutes ago.

"Does anybody have any objections to just making a hole and going deeper?" Gyro asked everyone.

"Nope." Yang said, popping the P.

"It'll piss off Myotismon." Nora agreed to the idea with a grin.

"Our turn then." Jaune said, grinning a bit while Gomamon cracked his neck.

"Gomamon, Evolution! Ikkakumon! Ikkakumon, Super Evolution! Zudomon!"

"Next stop, basement!" Zudomon smirked, before raising his hammer, and bringing it down, causing a large shockwave, and caving in the ground, to which he did again and again, slowly but surely drilling a hole through the ground.

* * *

Myotismon looked up when he felt the tremors, already the gate was open and most if not all his troops were already through. Now all that remained were the weaker members, nothing he really needed. It was time to make preparations to move himself too. "Hm...could that be...no, that's impossible. Someone would have reported something if they were here," he shook his head.

"Cowabunga!" and then Gyro's voice was heard shouting as he was on Greymon's head, who was running down the stairs, leading the pack of 9 Adult levels and a Perfect.

"Okay Bat-man, bring it!" Pierce added as the Digimon all landed at the bottom of the stairs, and the hunters all had their weapons out.

Myotismon narrowed his eyes at them "How did you get in?"

In response, Gyro lifted up… the recruitment sign.

Myotismon took one look at it, before turning to DemiDevimon with a glare that could have melted titanium "You advertised it?! Any idiot could have used this to their advantage!"

"B-But, my lo-!" DemiDevimon started, but didn't get to finish, as he found himself hit with a full on Night Raid, the bats mercilessly swarming him, and within seconds, nothing was left of the little imp.

"Silence. I have no need for fools who are only a liability," Myotismon said coldly at the spot where his moronic follower had once been.

As for the Chosen and their partners, they were all looking at the spot where DemiDevimon had been just a few short seconds ago with wide eyes "Well… that puts things into perspective." Pyrrha said slowly.

"Well, at least we won't have to worry about him anymore...even if that was pretty brutal..." Yang said awkwardly.

"Well...uh...we're here to stop you! You're not getting to Remnant!" Jaune said, trying to sound tough...not easy after they'd just seen that bit of stone cold murder. Zudomon offered his support by raising his hammer threateningly.

Myotismon however seemed to find the gesture amusing. "I commend you all for reaching this far, but I'm afraid you're too late. As much as I'd enjoy dealing with you now, I have a world to take over," he said, before entering the carriage next to him, which soon began rolling towards the gate.

"Hey! Don't just ignore us!" Gyro shouted, being slightly annoyed at getting brushed off like that.

"And don't turn your back on an opponent either! Mega Flame!" Greymon added as he launched his attack towards the carriage… only for the fireball to be stopped by a barrier.

"Now now, it's not nice to throw a tantrum." Witchmon chided, before laughing as she sat on her broom and floated upwards.

"Hey, that's the same broom we saw the other night!" Ruby said.

"So you're the one who made that barrier," Yang frowned. "Well, then you should know we can smash this easy."

"True, but can you smash it in time?" Witchmon asked with a smirk as the gate began to close.

"Damn! No time! Full power everyone!" Pyrrha said urgently.

 **(Play Brave Heart)**

"Greymon…"

"Garurumon…"

"Birdramon…"

"Kabuterimon…"

"Gatomon…"

"Togemon…"

"Stingmon…"

"Veedramon…"

"Angemon…"

" **Super Evolution!** " all of them called out at the same time.

"MetalGreymon!"

"WereGarurumon!"

"Garudamon!"

"AtlurKabuterimon!"

"Angewomon!"

"Lillymon!"

"JewelBeemon!"

"AeroVeedramon!"

"HolyAngemon!"

When the light subsided, all 10 Perfects stood together. "Time for this barrier to go down!" MetalGreymon growled as they all readied their attacks.

"Not so fast!" Witchmon smirked as she snapped her fingers, before several statues of Devidramon in the room suddenly came to life and began attacking.

"Tch! Out of our way!" Gyro growled as the hunters all pulled out their weapons, and opened fire or lunged for the animated statues.

"Bring the barrier down first! We'll keep these guys busy!" Nora told the Digimon, earning a few reluctant nods, before they opened fire with their attacks.

Witchmon grunted as she felt a notable strain trying to maintain the barrier. Realizing it wouldn't hold for long at this rate, she sent a mental command to the Devidramon, causing them to become more frenzied. As expected, the Digimon all turned their attention to the humans at the frenzied roars...however, they weren't gonna break off THAT easily.

"Tag team! We'll crack the barrier, you guys deal with these guys!" Pierce quickly said.

"Right!" The Digimon all nodded, and the two teams seamlessly switched places, the hunters now hammering away at the barrier, keeping the pressure, while the Digimon fought, and soon tossed around the Devidramon.

"Let's not prolong this more than necessary!" JewelBeemon said.

"Good idea," WereGarurumon nodded, before they all looked to HolyAngemon.

"Get ready, cause here they come!" Garudamon said, earning a nod from the angel, who soon raised Excalibur.

"Heaven's Gate!" he called out, forming the gate, just as his comrades threw their opponents his way, the Devidramon soon caught in the suction, and were promptly pulled in, the gate closing once they were all through and vanishing.

At the same time, Witchmon had reached her limit, and the barrier broke. However, she'd managed to buy time and quickly went for the gate, but not before turning around to smirk at them as it was closing. "See ya ar-" she didn't get to finish taunting, as at that moment, Ruby aimed her sniper rifle and fired, the bullet flying through the remaining gap, and grazed Witchmon's cheek, stopping her taunt dead, as for the first time her smirk was gone, and she looked at the bit of data leaking out of her wound in shock, right as the door closed.

 **(End song)**

"There's a time to talk, and this wasn't it." Ruby said with a firm nod as she returned Crescent Rose to it's compact state.

"Hopefully that'll shut her up for a while." Yang said, glaring at the closed gate.

"Let's just hurry back for now, we need to find a way to open it back up, and our best bet is Gennai." Gyro said, and while they were all reluctant, they had no choice but to turn back, despite the worry they all felt for Remnant at the moment.

"Wait, what's this thing?" Weiss stopped everyone when she saw some sort of pedestal rise up from the ground.

At that, everyone gave it a quick look, but they didn't want to stay too long and be caught, so Weiss took a few pictures to have a better look at it later once they were safe.

* * *

"I see...that is unfortunate, but it is what it is right now," Gennai frowned from the projector they were using.

"Maybe, but as it is our only chance is to go after him. Is there any way to open the gate again?" Blake asked.

"Yeah, there's gotta be a way to open it again. If we leave things as is, it'll be big trouble in Remnant!" Ruby added.

"Right, we need to get you all home quickly so he doesn't have a chance to try anything." Gennai said with a nod "I'm going to need you to come to my home, we'll make a plan of attack there, just look into the sky and follow the light." he said, before the projector turned off, and a second later, they all saw a light shining in the sky.

"Either that's a gigantic beam of light, or he's been living under Myotismon's nose all this time." Pierce noted.

"The second one would be pretty funny." Veemon said with a small laugh, before they all started following the light.

Roughly 10 minutes later, they reach a large lake, and the light seemed to be coming from inside of it.

"Does he expect us to swim?" Salamon asked as she looked at the water dryly.

"I don't think that would go well for quite a few of us." Tentomon added.

"It's probably deep underwater too, so we wouldn't be able to hold our breath that long." Biyomon noted.

"I'll check how deep it is." Gomamon said as he dived into the water… only to resurface a second later "Hey guys! There's some stairs here!"

"So we walk?" Jaune said in confusion… and then the water started to shine.

"I didn't do it!" Gomamon said quickly before, surprisingly, the water parted down the middle.

"Does he have Moses down there or something?" Pierce muttered, shaking his head.

"Now you've got me wondering if there are Digimon based on actual named biblical figures." Gyro added from next to him before they all started to walk down the exposed stairs.

"This is surreal, even beyond anything before," Pyrrha couldn't help but say in wonder as left and right they could see the fish swimming around like nothing was happening.

"You can say that again," Patamon agreed from on top of Blake's head.

"And now it feels like we're in the Dragon Palace," Gyro added as up ahead was a japanese style home, complete with a zen garden.

"The what now?" Nora asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Just an old tale from one of the countries back home, has to do with a turtle and a mermaid princess from what I remember." Pierce explained simply.

"Yeah, that's pretty much the gist of it for important characters at least." Gyro said with a small laugh as they stepped into the garden after walking through the front gate.

After a few moments of looking around, a door on the main house slid open, and out of it walked Gennai, though he was favoring his right leg and had to use a cane from the looks of it. Upon seeing them he smiled. "I see you've all arrived safely. Welcome, Chosen Children, to my humble home."

"Nice to finally meet you face to face." Gyro said as he went up to the man as they shook each other's hands.

"Indeed it is. Now, I know you're in a rush, but why don't you take a bit of time to relax a bit? You've been running around for quite some time now after all." Gennai said, before his gaze seemed to linger for a moment on Ruby and Yang. "And my associate even prepared something you might all enjoy. She's quite the baker," he added. "Also...you may want to be inside when the water goes back to normal. It's not exactly harsh, but not something you'd want to be outside when it happens."

At the last one, everyone soon got in, and closed the door, the sound of water moving reaching their ears once they were inside.

They all looked out the door, which had become see through after the water came rushing back "What happens if the door is open?" Ren asked.

"Honestly? Nothing, the water stays there, some nice bit of coding if I do say so myself." Gennai said proudly. "I even added a few robotic saltwater fish for extra scenery when the water comes back. Speaking of which..." Gennai went over to the table that had a food cover on it, and lifted it off, revealing a plate of freshly baked cookies, and ones that the smell soon permeated the room.

"Those smell delicious," the Digimon all said, soon salivating at the smell.

"They also LOOK pretty delicious." Jaune added with a small laugh, before taking one of the cookies and biting into it "Yeahp, really good."

Ruby and Yang had wide eyes when they took bites. "This is…!" Yang started.

"These taste just like…!" Ruby was also speechless.

"Is everything ok?" Palmon asked, pausing as she was about to take a bite.

"Oh, uh...no, the cookies are great," Ruby said.

"Why thank you, I had made them just for all of you," came a familiar voice, as the hooded figure walked into the room. "I'm happy to see you've all made it this far," she said, a smile in her voice.

"You made them?" Yang asked slowly.

"Yes I did, why?" the figure said.

"Because these taste just like…" that was when it hit the girls. So many clues, suddenly staring them in the face and it all came together. "Your voice felt so...familiar...we felt like we could trust you so quickly...and this...you...are you...our mom? Are you...Summer Rose?" Yang finally asked, while Ruby looked like she was at a complete loss of words at the realization.

In response, the figure laughed lightly, before pulling her hood down, and revealing a face that looked very much like an older Ruby "Well, it sure took you girls long e-" she didn't get to finish however as she was tackled to the ground by the two sisters.

"We thought you were dead!" Both of them shouted/cried at the same time.

Summer smiled gently, hugging them back. "There there...its alright now...I'm here…" she said soothingly. "And I'm sorry I disappeared for so long...I didn't have a choice in the matter and by the time I might have had a chance to come back...I was needed here too...it wasn't an easy decision…" she said, a few tears leaking out of her eyes too.

"Didn't help we got driven away from the one way home she had." Renamon said as she entered the room.

"Driven away?" Biyomon asked as Summer continued to console her daughters.

"Myotismon's castle? It actually used to belong to our group, but due to some annoying circumstances, we had to abandon it." Gennai said with a sigh.

"Seriously?" Jaune couldn't help but say.

"Seriously," Gennai nodded. "At any rate, while I don't mean to intrude on this reunion, I believe it would be prudent for us to make our preparations immediately."

"Unfortunately, he's right," Summer sighed, as the three got up, and soon the group was gathered at the table.

"Now, the way the gate works is a little...odd...but suffice to say, it follows a certain frequency that we were able to pinpoint where the latest use would lead," Gennai said, as a screen came down, and he revealed a map of Remnant, before it soon zoomed in on Vale. "Currently he should be in Vale."

"Well, that's craptastic." Gyro groaned out.

"How does the gate work exactly? I mean, what makes it open?" Weiss asked.

"Right, you're going to need those." Gennai said, before turning to Renamon "If you could? They're on the top row, 4th from the right."

"Right." Renamon nodded as she stood up and went up to a set of drawers that lined the wall, opening the indicated one and pulling out a small box from within it, placing it on the table in short order.

"Here we are." Gennai said as he opened the box, and pulled out a few cards from within "These are the keys to opening the door." he said, before laying them out on the table, letting everyone get a good look at them.

5 cards had a red background, 3 had green, and the last 3 had blue, and all of them depicted a digimon.

Kuwagamon, Agumon, Gazimon, Andromon, Elecmon, Unimon, Digitamamon, Drimogemon, ShogunGekomon, Gomamon and Veemon.

"Cards?" Nora blinked.

"Yes, these are cards. They're also the keys to opening the Gate," Gennai nodded.

"Wait...are these supposed to go on the pedestal we saw?" Weiss asked, before pulling out her scroll and opening the pictures for all of them to see.

"That is exactly correct. However, there is a certain combination required to open the correct gate," Gennai sighed.

"Not to mention I'm counting two extra here," Tentomon pointed out.

"Yes, unfortunately there were two extra cards added to the mix, which in turn mean that if they are not placed correctly, you may find yourself in the wrong world...assuming you get through without something horrific happening to your bodies…" Gennai said.

"You could word that better you know." Pierce said dryly as everyone had sadly pictured something horrible happening to them as they passed through.

"At any rate, its fortunate you had these pictures," Gennai said. "With these, its possible for us to decode the likely combination required for the gate."

"Hm…" Gyro mused, looking at the pictures...before noticing some carvings in the rock. "There! There are 3 carvings on top and 3 on the side. The top are a lion, and archer, and a monkey, while the sides are stars, going from one to three."

"Wonder what it's supposed to mean?" Agumon said as he looked at the image on the expanded scroll.

"That's what we're gonna need to figure out," Jaune said.

"Hm...while you're working on that, I just recalled," Summer suddenly said. "Keenan told me you'd gotten your hands on some Chrome Digizoid, and even hoped to use it on your weapons back in File, correct?" she checked.

"Yeah, we did. But Vermilimon said it wouldn't be a good idea to use that yet," Ruby nodded.

"Well then...I can upgrade your weapons if you want," she offered. "I haven't lived the last decade in this world without learning how to use metal like Chrome Digizoid. I needed to keep Sleeping Rose well maintained after all, and when I had to start fighting Perfects...well, it was time for an upgrade," she said.

"Well, if you're offering, we'd appreciate it." Gyro nodded gratefully as everyone took out the Chrome Digizoid they had.

"Oh! Can me and Yang help? I've already worked with everyone's weapons, and, well, it'd be fun to do a project with you." Ruby asked, looking at her mother hopefully, with Yang trying not to show it too much.

Summer laughed a bit in response "Of course you can. Come on! Let's do some upgrading!" she said as she stood up, the girls doing the same as they gathered everyone's weapons and the Chrome Digizoid before heading out of the room.

"I'm surprised you two aren't following." Gomamon said to Biyomon and Palmon.

"They looked like they really needed to spend some alone time with her." Biyomon shot back simply.

"They only just found out their mom was still alive after years of thinking she was dead. They deserve some quality time," Pyrrha said with a smile.

"Well, while they're busy with that, we should work on these cards," Ren said, though he also had a small smile.

"Right," the others nodded, looking at the cards.

"Well...I think the stars are pretty obvious," Pierce mused. "They remind of the stars in that card game, the one that used them to denote levels, and looking at the cards...I'm seeing Child, Adult, and Perfect levels, so I'm guessing that's where they go."

"You can say it's Yu-Gi-Oh, it's not like we'll get sued for saying it." Gyro muttered.

Ignoring the additional comment, Jaune thought about the idea...and nodded. "Huh...that sounds fair. So the row with one star are for Child levels, two stars for Adults, and three stars for Perfects. That narrows it down."

"Now how to determine which cards go where based on the columns…" Salamon mused.

The group looked at the symbols intently...before Veemon started glaring a bit at the monkey.

"What's up?" Wormmon asked.

"Huh? Oh nothing, just thought...the monkey kind of reminds me of Etemon's ugly mug," Veemon said.

Everyone nodded at that, seeing his point… and then Weiss's eyes went wide "That's it!"

They were all a bit startled at her sudden exclamation, but that passed relatively quickly "What's it?" Tentomon asked.

"The monkey! It represents Etemon!" Weiss said, and the others found that it could make sense.

"What about the lion and the archer then?" Gabumon asked.

"I think the lion's Leomon, he's the only lion Digimon we've met after all." Nora said with a shrug, and again, it lined up well.

"Then who would the archer be?" Blake wondered.

"It's not an archer, it's a centaur." Weiss said "Remember? Centarumon, we met him on File.

"Alright, so, Leomon, Centarumon and Etemon, what's the difference between the three of them?" Gyro said.

"I think you'll find the answer to this one in the Digimon Analyzer. It certainly helps that your scrolls are all connected, thanks to that you all have access to it and it has the information of every Digimon each of you have met." Gennai said.

Hearing that they all nodded, and looked them up. When they did… "This is what the symbols mean. Their attributes are Vaccine, Data, and Virus respectively," Weiss said.

"So if we go by that logic…" Nora started, arranging the cards accordingly. "Here we go!" she said, as now they'd arranged all the cards into their correct spots...save for one spot. The Child level Vaccine card, as the Agumon, Gomamon, and Veemon cards all fit that criteria.

"Okay, good news is we've cracked the code for 8 slots...bad news is we have no idea how to crack the last slot, seeing as all the excess cards have the same attribute…" Gyro frowned.

"Kinda funny how it's Agumon, Veemon and Gomamon considering I lived with the two of you for a few months." Jaune said as he looked at the twins in amusement.

"Yeah." Gyro said with a smile before shaking his head "Now we just have to figure out which card is the right one to get us to Remnant."

"It could be any of them." Pierce said with a sigh.

"And if we get the wrong one we might end up in a completely different world." Weiss added with a frown.

"Indeed, it's highly possible that one of these cards might end up taking you to Earth instead of Remnant." Gennai added.

"So for now...I think if push comes to shove...we should have Pierce decide which one we use," Blake said.

"Me?" Pierce blinked.

"Your Semblance is literally luck. Of all of us, you're the one with the best chance of picking the right card, but we should do that right when we're about to use the gate, if nothing else so the odds of your Semblance activating is at its peak," she explained.

Gyro suddenly gave her a thumbs up "Now you're talking!" he said before laughing.

"Well, glad to see that was taken care of," Gennai nodded.

"And now that that's done, aren't you forgetting something?" Gyro said.

"I am?" Gennai blinked.

"Oh yeah, you promised you'd explain everything to us when we meet face to face," Agumon said.

"And here we are," Biyomon added with a chuckle.

Gennai laughed "I did say that didn't I? Fine, a promise is a promise."

"Just a second." Weiss said before touching a few keys on her scroll and placing it back down "Recording it for Ruby and Yang."

Gennai nodded at that "Right. Now, I suppose the best place to start would be WHY the Digital world needed heroes. You see, it all started long ago, millenia ago at that. The great Server had seen the first signs of darkness to come, and as such had begun preparations to counter that. The first of which was the Digivice, or D-Core as it's known in its most basic form."

"We've heard about him a few times now, this Great Server. Is HE your boss?" Pierce asked with a raised eyebrow.

Gennai nodded "That's right. Though he prefers to remain semi-anonymous, I suppose you've earned this much. He is known as...Yggdrasil."

"Well… that definitely sounds like an important name." Jaune said after a moment.

Meanwhile, the twins blinked slowly, recognizing the name from several old myths from earth, most notably, one about a giant tree. "So...Yggdrasil, huh?" Gyro mused.

"That is correct. After foreseeing the great danger, he formulated the plan that would become legend. He has many abilities, and among them he was able to foresee the arrival of several humans who would bear the holy power that could save the world. He realized that the dangers that would come could not be conquered by Digimon alone, no only when a human and a digimon's hearts connected, could the power necessary to save the world be born."

"So… that's why the Digital World needed humans to help them at least… but why us specifically?" Blake asked.

"Because of one VERY specific event you all witnessed." Gennai answered easily.

It took a moment, before it all hit them "Greymon VS Parrotmon." they all breathed at the same time.

Gennai nodded "You all witnessed the battle, along with many others true, but the 10 of you were chosen specifically, because you had the best qualities that would help Digimon grow."

"The 10 Virtues?" Pyrrha checked.

"That was one thing. Another was you each as a person. You had your own challenges to deal with, some of you even going through a life that would normally stifle that which made you chosen...yet you still held onto it. There was nobody better suited than the 10 of you," Gennai smiled.

"Well… thanks for that." Gyro said with a small laugh.

"So, what exactly IS the 'Dark Force' that needed us here to help?" Ren asked.

"I can't give you an exact answer, as I hadn't been created back then, all I know is that Yggdrasil had been unable to defeat whatever it was and had to seal it beyond the firewall, though it's darkness has managed to spread beyond it and cause chaos in the Digital World." Gennai answered with a sigh.

"And no doubt Myotismon is just the tip of the iceberg…" Weiss sighed, already realizing where this was going.

"Sadly that is correct," Gennai sighed.

"Alright, what's next then?" Pyrrha asked.

"Honestly, I hope you won't have to fight them, they are beings born from the darkness that Yggdrasil sealed, and we ourselves had to seal them, though for how long that will hold, I can't tell." Gennai added seriously.

"Then hopefully they either stay stuck or we just have to get stronger to fight them," Blake frowned.

"You'll want to get stronger anyway, just as a precaution in case anything else comes up." Gennai admitted.

"We'll keep that in mind," Veemon nodded.

Gennai nodded. "Speaking of which…" he started, before looking at a nearby door. "How is the situation?" he asked.

In response, the door opened, and in stepped Keenan, Falcomon, and Wizardmon. "The situation is quiet. Seems he really did take most if not all his troops," Keenan reported.

"However, I wouldn't suggest trying to retake the castle. I sensed a strange magic when we surveyed the area. I think he might have set some kind of trap," Wizardmon cautioned...before turning to the group and well...they couldn't tell if he was smiling, but they assumed he was. "I'm glad to see you're all safe."

"Nice to see you as well." Weiss said with a nod.

"We were honestly worried about what happened to you since it was impossible to look for you, you know, since you don't have a human partner." Pierce added.

"I appreciate the concern, but don't worry about me. This is ultimately an...occupational hazard," Wizardmon reassured. "I'll be fine."

"And how've you been Keenan?" Gyro asked the younger boy.

"I've been well. Still training under my teacher." he said as he sat down.

"We know who she is now, so you can say Summer's name." Blake said, making him nod.

"We also know about something else." Pierce said, looking at Keenan seriously.

"What are you talking about?" the boy asked with a raised eyebrow.

"We know the reason you got angry when you saw Yang. She IS the spitting image of her mother…" Gyro sighed.

At that, Keenan snarled, anger spreading on his features. "I am well aware of who it is I'm looking for," he growled. "I am well aware that the one who destroyed my village, and murdered my parents, was Raven Branwen," he spat her name.

"Are you fine with explaining, or…?" Pierce asked, leaving the question hanging.

"It's fine. I'm angry and want revenge… but I'm not obsessed with it." Keenan said with a sigh. "I've had 10 years to work through it. Mo-er, I mean, Frigimon, helped me a lot through it at first, and Teacher helped me learn to temper my emotions on the matter."

"You know, we won't judge you for calling Frigimon your mom, she's the one who raised you after all." Gyro said in amusement.

"I can't do that...It would be...unfitting...for a warrior," the boy blushed. Though to them it honestly just looked like he was trying to act tough. It was almost adorable really.

Falcomon looked at him dryly, before flicking Keenan's ear as he turned to the others "You'll have to excuse my brother, he wants to grow up too fast if you ask me."

"Its cool, we've all been there," Jaune chuckled a little, much to the human boy's embarrassment.

"Ahem…" Keenan coughed, trying to regain his composure, and hopefully steer the conversation away. "At any rate, while I wouldn't advise retaking the castle, now is as good a time as any for an assault if you wish to use the Gate. As it is, it may be your only chance to return to Remnant."

"We would… but I think the upgrades for all our weapons is going to take a good while, I doubt it'll be done by nightfall." Ren said.

"And more importantly, you sound like its only us going through," Nora mused. "Aren't you gonna come along with us?"

"Well..I was planning to accompany you all, but actually using the gate…" Kennan seemed a little unsure.

"Look, it's clear that you NEED to take care of your unfinished business back on Remnant, besides, do you actually think Summer will stay here after reuniting with Ruby and Yang? She probably still has a lot more to teach you as well." Gyro reasoned.

"Well...if you put it that way...I guess you've got a point…" Keenan sighed, scratching the back of his head.

"And I intend to tag along as well," Wizardmon chuckled.

"Wait, what?" Falcomon blinked.

"Come now, aside from the fact Myotismon uses a number of mystic arts which I should be able to counter with how long I've been studying on the subject, this is also a chance to see the human world! How could I possibly pass up on that?" Wizardmon smiled, to which the others sweat dropped.

"...is he a resistance fighter or a tourist?" Blake whispered in a deadpan tone.

"Wizardmon aside, as Summer is no doubt coming with you, I will come along as well," Renamon said simply, though nobody was surprised. She IS Summer's partner of course. Speaking of which.

"Hey, I just had a thought," Palmon said. "If our partners are the chosen children, what's with the D-Arks?" she asked.

"Ah...that," Gennai nodded. "Its true that there are a limited number of Crests...but I never said there was a limit to the number of Digivices. The original function of the Digivice was to connect the heart of a human and a digimon. As such, should any human and digimon form a bond with one another, a Digivice Core may appear to them," he explained.

"So its less Chosen Children, and more anyone who can bond with a Digimon is destined to get a Digivice?" Pyrrha mused.

"Huh...that's actually not a bad term, seeing as it's not just kids who can have a Digimon Partner and Digivice. I guess something like… 'Digidestined' would better fit us as a whole," Gyro mused.

"That's not an incorrect term," Gennai nodded. "Chosen Children WAS intended to refer specifically to the ones who would be able to bear a Crest after all."

"Heh...so I guess that makes me, teacher, and anyone else who could connect with a Digimon a 'Digidestined' then," Keenan said in amusement.

A few nods of approval went through the group before… "So...now what?" Gomamon asked. As if to answer his question, a few growling stomachs were heard.

"Dinner?" Gennai offered in amusement.

* * *

A few hours later, the group had finished dinner (Summer, Ruby, and Yang joining them before going back to the forge when dinner was over to finish working on the weapons), and currently they were all relaxing around Gennai's home, taking the time to unwind before they returned to battle tomorrow morning. Everything was set and ready, with everyone memorising the combination they'd decoded so that everyone could easily set it up. All that was left was the weapons and they'd be set. Currently Gyro was sitting at the porch, looking at the fish swimming around.

"Yo," Pierce said from behind him, moving to sit next to him. "Nice night, huh?"

"Pretty much yeah," Gyro nodded.

"Big day tomorrow. Finally gonna get back to Remnant...man...Azure must be worried sick…" Pierce said.

"He would be. But man...it's been a crazy ride, hasn't it?" Gyro couldn't help but say.

"Two months of being constantly on the move, fighting evil Digimon, and trying to save the world… if I was told this before we ended up here, I'd call the other guy crazy." Pierce said with a dry laugh.

"And we have our clothes to show for it." Gyro added as he gestured to how dirtied, torn and patched their clothes were, the same was true for all the others.

"Thank Oum Azure stocks the pouches weirdly and we had needles and plenty of thread." Pierce said, shaking his head with a sigh.

"But hey, we got through it all...against all odds. We'll just have to try to salvage the situation as much as possible, and knowing Azure, he's probably done his best to keep the plan in play," Gyro said. "Now we just have to figure out how to keep the Digimon hidden from anyone we don't want to find out...like tin man," he sighed.

"I know what you mean. That guy is WAY too militaristic. I bet he'd take one look at Digimon and see a possible new weapon…" Pierce nodded in agreement.

"We're not even going to let him try." Gyro said seriously.

"I'd sooner rip that half metal body off myself than let him so much as touch one of Veemon's scales," Pierce growled in agreement.

"Easy there, he's STILL technically one of the good guys, but yeah. I'll dice him like an onion if he tries anything," Gyro agreed...before they both let out a yawn. "Well...I guess its time for bed. Wouldn't want to be too tired for the fireworks," he sighed.

"True. Night, bro," Pierce nodded as the two went in for bed.

* * *

The next day saw the group preparing themselves thoroughly. Weapons were checked and double checked, the cards were secure, and everyone was well fed and rested.

"Huh… the blade's a bit darker in color… kinda neat." Gyro said as he inspected Ascalon more closely before sheathing it.

"That's due to the Chrome Digizoid. The darker color is due to the denser metal. Ideally I'd have made the blades full Chrome Digizoid, but the amount you had was only good for a coating. They'll still do the job, but if they had to handle a full Chrome Digizoid weapon or armor from a high enough level, the weapons might be badly damaged," Summer explained.

"Right, so avoid attacking Digimon that have Chrome Digizoid somewhere on them." Jaune said with a nod.

"Overall, these weapons should cut through Adult level Digimon without issue, but Perfects are a toss up depending on the individual as some are stronger than others, and needless to say, most if not all Ultimates are out of the question. The most you can do against an Ultimate is distract it," Summer explained.

"Got it. These will still help a lot though," Blake nodded.

"We put a lot of work on these babies, so don't break them," Yang chuckled, testing out her new gauntlets, and was surprised by how light Chrome Digizoid was. There was barely any difference in the weight to her original gauntlets.

"Seeing as most of Myotismon's forces are already through the Gate, we should be able to cut through anything that gets in our way then," Weiss nodded.

"Alright everyone, let's go!" Gyro said, earning cheers of agreement from the others.

"Wait!" Gennai suddenly said, before walking up to Summer. "Before you go, I need to give you this," he said, before pulling out something and handing it to Summer, though they couldn't see what it is.

"This is…!" Summer's eyes widened when she saw the object in her hand.

"It's still a prototype, but it's finally at a working level," Gennai explained. "Be careful, we don't know what might happen if or while you're using this."

"Understood. But I'll have to test it out either way," Summer nodded, before storing the object away.

When she moved to rejoin the group, Ruby came up to her. "Mom? What was that?" she asked, a little worried at how Gennai was talking.

"It's...nothing you need to be worried about, dear," she reassured, though it was clear she didn't do too well a job, from Ruby's reluctant nod.

"Hey...don't do anything crazy okay, Mom…" Yang said. "We just got you back…"

"Don't worry. I didn't wait over a decade just to leave you again," Summer smiled at that.

"Right," Yang nodded, before the group was on its way. Making it to the castle was...easy...so was getting back to the room, seeing as the majority of the soldiers were gone, and the few that remained were basically cannon fodder.

And then they ran into a problem.

"So… we can all feel the hairs on the backs of our necks rising… yeah?" Nora asked, glancing at everyone.

"Yes." was the universal answer. They soon got their answer when several Devidramon suddenly manifested from the statues that were hidden through the castle.

"Not these guys again!" Blake growled.

"I'll handle them!" Tentomon said, as Weiss's D-Core glowed.

"Tentomon, Evolution! Kabuterimon! Super Evolution! AtlurKabuterimon!" the rapid evolution went through quickly, and the Devidramon was suddenly rammed by the large beetle.

"We'll handle these guys first. Get to the stone room! We'll catch up!" Weiss said, pulling out Myrtenaster, and spearing a Devidramon through with a burst of fire Dust.

"Not alone you're not!" Keenan said, before throwing his boomerang, hitting another Devidramon, and quickly raised his D-Ark. "Falcomon!"

"Right!" Falcomon nodded. "Falcomon, Evolution! Peckmon!"

A Devidramon trying to blindside them was promptly plowed into a nearby wall as Peckmon kicked it aside. "Go!" he shouted, to which they complied, knowing they'd catch up one way or another.

Eventually, they soon found their way into the stone room once more, the gate closed and pedestal still raised.

"Alright, time to use the cards," Pierce nodded, before they took out the cards and placed them in the code they'd uncovered, leaving only the Vaccine-Child slot open, Pierce looking at the three remaining cards. "Now...which one to use?" he frowned.

"Would it be in bad taste if I said 'pick me'?" Gomamon half-joked.

"Probably," Jaune sighed. "Sorry buddy, but we have no way of knowing if your card is the right one or not.

"Perhaps we should investigate this room...maybe there's some kind of clue Myotismon had…" Pyrrha suggested.

"That might be a pretty good idea," Gabumon agreed, as the Digimon soon went around the room, looking for clues. However…

"I'm getting that hair raising feeling again," Nora frowned...before Blake's ears perked up.

"Something's above us!" she shouted, causing them all to look up...and saw hundreds of eyes lighting up in the dark.

"So you saw us," a voice said, before the owners of the eyes stepped into the light, revealing an army of spider-like Digimon with golden masks on the upper halves of their faces and a skull on their abdomens.

"Watch out! That's Dokugumon!" Renamon warned. "They're highly venomous!"

 _Digimon Analyzer: Dokugumon_

 _Dokugumon. Virus Type. An Adult Level Insectoid Digimon. Originally a completely neutral Digimon before being infected by a powerful virus that took control of its body like a parasite. Due to its eight legs, it's a very fast Digimon that never stops chasing its prey. Its special attack is Stinger Poration, firing a poisonous gas from its mouth._

"The smaller ones are also Dokugumon?" Ren asked as he noticed that only one spider was huge, while the others were roughly the size of a small dog.

"Those are KoDokugumon, its children so to speak." Summer answered.

"Any who dare to invade Lord Myotismon's castle must pay a truly heavy price! Their lives!" Dokugumon declared as the KoDokugumon descended from the ceiling. However, before they could go far, Renamon suddenly jumped in the way, while Summer's D-Ark started to glow.

"Renamon, Evolution! Kyubimon!" in a flash the area was hit with a small torrent of flame, catching several KoDokugumon and burning them to data.

"You all take care of figuring out which card to use! We'll handle these guys!" Summer said. At the same time, an explosion occurred as Keenan, Weiss, and Tentomon came down, all riding on Peckmon, though the ostrich-like Digimon seemed to be having trouble supporting the weight.

"We took care of the Devidramon!" Weiss reported.

"But I think we might have taken out an important support beam," Tentomon said.

"The castle isn't stable anymore! Its starting to collapse!" Peckmon finished urgently before reverting to Falcomon.

"On it!" Pierce nodded as he pulled out the three remaining cards.

"Not happening!" the KoDokugumon screeched as they descended again, but were met with a variety of attacks, yet more kept coming.

"There's too many of them!" Jaune growled.

"Then we'll evolve!" Agumon said.

"No! You all need to be ready to go through the gate when it opens!" Summer said, stopping them.

"But-!" Ruby tried to argue.

"No, Kyubimon and I will handle this!" Summer said, before looking at her partner. "Well...looks like we'll have to give 'it' a test run after all."

"Are you certain?" Kyubimon frowned.

"Yes, I'm certain. It's time you got back your old powers," Summer nodded, before reaching for her card holder and pulled out a card...and not just any card. The card was completely blue, with a pixelated D visible on it.

 **(Play 'Slash!')**

The card spun in the air for a moment, before Summer grabbed hold of it. Readying her D-Ark, she soon scanned the magnetic strip, the card seemingly splitting open to reveal a massive amount of data and parameters that were off the charts. "Card Slash!" Summer declared as she felt arc of energy run through her as she scanned the card, before the card passed through, her putting so much force behind it that it almost flew out of her hand. "Matrix Evolution!"

 **(Song change: 'EVO')**

The screen of her D-Ark once more began spelling out a new declaration. "Matrix Evolution," the drone-like voice declared, before it zoomed out to show Summer holding the D-Ark to her chest, before the screen released a massive burst of energy, and from Summer's chest, something emerged and soon flew to the sky. As it slowed down, it revealed to be a silver crystal, shaped like an upside down triangular pyramid which spun in the air for a moment, an image of Summer's smiling face reflected on it, before it flew away, towards Kyubimon who was running towards it and soon entered her forehead. "Kyubimon, Matrix Evolution!" she declared before rearing up on her hind legs a little, the yin-yang symbol on her forehead glowing as her spectral flames ignited. She soon jumped upward, before pulling into a spin as her flames enveloped her like a cocoon. A flash occurred and when they dispersed, the flames revealed a new form that had taken her place, spinning in the air as behind her the image of a sun and moon began to overlap, before finally stopping once they formed an eclipse, the new form landing on her feet, and standing up. It was obviously bipedal, wearing onmyouji robes, with long sleeves that hid her hands, her face more stern than before, and somewhat more human like as well, looking honestly more like a mask now. "Taomon!"

"That's…!" Gyro gasped in surprise. There was no doubt about it, that was an evolution to Perfect.

"But how did she do that? She doesn't have a Crest!" Biyomon said in surprise, voicing their collective thoughts.

"It's the power of the Blue Card," Keenan said. "It was something Gennai was making to give us who hold the D-Arks a means to go beyond Adult to make up for our lack of Crests. He only just finished it."

"Well he sure picked a good time to finish it," Yang commented.

Back at the fight, Summer let out a sigh. The 'secret ingredient' to the process was more taxing than she'd thought, but she'd manage for now. "Let's finish this, Taomon!"

"Understood," Taomon nodded firmly.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Taomon_

 _Taomon. Data Type. A Perfect Level Demon Man Digimon. Her appearance isn't just for show, as she fights usings talismans and spells like a true Onmyouji. She is a master of hidden weaponry, concealing everything in her long sleeves, and is said to carry a small army of Shikigami with her everywhere she goes. Her special attacks are Bonhitsusen, chanting an incantation while writing a character in the air with a giant brush, hurling it at the opponent and catching them in a giant explosion, and Kofusatsu, trapping her enemy with a flurry of talismans like a mummy before blowing them up… she really likes explosions._

Taomon stood strong even as the army of KoDokugumon came rushing at her, before lifting her hands, revealing them from her sleeves and forming a hand seal. "Om!" she chanted, and suddenly the KoDokugumon ran head first into a barrier that now covered all of them, protecting them from any of the spiders.

"W-what?!" the spiders gasped, trying to break through but to no avail.

Taomon ignored them, before readying her sleeves. "Kofusatsu!" she declared, releasing a flurry of talismans which all attached to the many KoDokugumon...before they all went up in a blaze of glory, the swarm being destroyed in an instant.

"Holy shit…That's some serious power…" Nora whistled at the destruction.

"Y-you!" Dokugumon growled, before lunging forward. "I'll kill you!"

In response, Taomon drew from her sleeves a MASSIVE brush, which she soon traced a character in mid-air. "Bonhitsusen!" she declared, the character flying right into Dokugumon, before exploding the moment it hit him.

"Lord Myotismon!" Dokugumon managed to shout before he was deleted.

 **(Song end)**

"What is it with villains crying out the name of their leader when being defeated?" Ruby couldn't help but ask.

"It's a silly trope that makes things funny." Gyro said with a shrug.

And THEN the room started to shake.

"I think you put too much power into that last one Taomon." Wizardmon said with a wince.

"It doesn't help that we knocked a lot of pillars over earlier." Falcomon added.

"Pierce!" Yang said urgently.

"Working on it!" he shot back, still trying to figure out which card was the right one.

"Give me that!" Weiss said as she took the cards from his hands shuffled them in her hands, and then presented them to him with the back facing him "Now pick one! Leave it to your Semblance!"

"In that case… this one!" Pierce said, grabbing the middle card, and slamming it facing up on the pedestal, showing the Veemon card, his crest giving off a glow for a moment as he did, and just like that, the door started to open.

"Double time people!" Gyro shouted as they all picked up their partners, save of course for Summer as Taomon reverted to Renamon, everyone running towards the gate.

Quickly, they all ran into it, disappearing into the light beyond the gate, and when the last of them passed through, the door closed behind them, as what remained of the castle collapsed on itself.

As for what was happening on the other side of the gate…

"Not this thing again!" the 10 hunters in training all shouted together as once more, they fell through the middle of a rushing wave.

But even then, their faces remained determined, as they all had the same goal in mind.

Stop Myotismon, and Save Remnant.

* * *

 **Alright, done!**

 **And I'm not highlighting everything that happened this time, because I did it the first time I was touching up the edits, and I don,t feel like writing all of that again.**

 **I just hope you enjoyed this chapter, because...**

 **The Adventure Evolves.**


	35. 34: First Steps

**And there, next chapter!**

 **Don't really have anything to say right now.**

 **So let's get to it!**

* * *

 **First Steps  
**

* * *

Gyro groaned as he opened his eyes. The first thing he felt was cold, as he found himself lying in the snow. "This is…" he groaned as he got up, and realized where they were.

"D-Did we make it?" Ruby asked as she got up.

"I think we did," Weiss said as she looked around. "This is definitely the Emerald Forest."

"So we did it. We made it back," Blake said. "It...almost feels like a dream…though I know it isn't," she added, idly feeling her head, and realize she still wasn't wearing her bow.

"Though...where are the Digimon?" Yang asked. "And has anyone seen Pierce?" she added, realizing her boyfriend wasn't present.

"Down here…" came Pierce's voice as everyone present looked...and saw him buried in a pile of snow.

"...oh yeah, the side effect of his semblance," Jaune blinked, before they helped pull him out.

"But still...where are the Digimon?" Pyrrha asked still.

"We're over here!" came the familiar voices, as the Digimon were standing to the side, their arms full of berries they'd foraged from nearby.

"We went looking for food while we waited for you guys to wake up," Gabumon said with a smile.

"You should have woken us up!" Ren said with a smile.

"We almost thought you guys got left behind!" Nora said, running over and picking up Salamon who she hugged.

"It's nice to be back." Summer said with a relieved sigh as she stretched her arms. "Though...I didn't know the Emerald Forest got this much snow...ever…" she mused.

"That would be the bizarre weather that Remnant has been having," Gyro said. "No seriously, it's so bad Atlas has been having HEAT WAVES."

"...okay, that's not normal at all…" Summer blinked at the news.

"It helped in a weird way at least, I can stand heat better now." Weiss said with a shrug.

"You can't get a tan though." Yang said with a laugh, as Weiss looked down at how pale her skin was, despite having spent two months out in the wilderness, and a lot of time out in the desert at that.

"Everyone else can though!" Nora added with a laugh.

Weiss rolled her eyes at that, but decided not to dwell on it. "At any rate, we should make our way to Beacon Castle. No doubt we're gonna have a LOT of explaining to do when we get there…" she sighed.

"I don't think that's going to be necessary." Wizardmon said as he pointed in the distance, as a VTOL was making its way in their rough direction.

"Huh, good timing, think we should fire a flare?" Jaune asked.

"Well, yes, but this is also bad timing, how do we explain the Digimon?" Ren asked everyone, and they all came up blank.

"I can hide everyone in the shadows with my semblance, we'll meet up with you at Beacon, how does that sounds?" Keenan suggested.

"Best we got for now." Gyro said before turning to Agumon "Light up the sky buddy."

"Right." Agumon nodded before aiming skywards "Baby Flame!" and the fire travelled up high into the sky before fizzing out, the VTOL turning slightly and now heading directly for them.

"Everyone into the shadows of the ruin now." Falcomon said as all the Digimon went into the shade.

"I should probably hide as well, it would be better to explain only to Ozpin first instead of me being found by all the other faculty members." Summer said, about to head into the shadows, before Ruby and Yang gave her one last hug, making her laugh a bit as she returned it, before disappearing into the darkness with the others.

The VTOL came down, and the door opened to reveal Azure. "There you are! We've been looking all over for you guys!" he said, stepping out of it and coming up to them.

In response, Gyro and Pierce both went up to him and hugged him "Jesus christ we've missed you Azure." Pierce said, happy to see his older brother again.

"Um… why? It's only been a few hours..." Azure said, confusing everyone, as the twins let go of him and stepped back.

"Wait… what?" Gyro said in confusion.

"Did you two hit your head or something?" Azure asked.

"Mr. Vermilion, we've all been gone for two months." Weiss said, stepping closer and into Azure's earshot, but out of the pilot's earshot thankfully.

"What? Did you all hallucinate or something? It's still initiation day." Azure shot back.

Silence for several long moments, until "He's right." Pyrrha said with wide eyes, looking down at her scroll "The date is still the same, August 1st."

"... We never DID have the date and time on our scrolls, we just had the call function available…" Blake noted.

"Okay...either you all were hit with some kind of mass hallucination, or something's going on here…" Azure frowned.

"Would it help if we said we know about RWBY up to 'volume 3'?" Nora said.

Azure went absolutely still at that, before looking at his brothers "What… what the hell did I miss if they know about THAT?"

"A lot." was all Gyro said, before they dragged him back into the VTOL, the others boarding it as well, despite feeling a bit cramped, the doors closing as it took back off and made its way back towards Beacon.

"Alright, you've convinced me," Azure sighed. "We'll talk more later AFTER you're all assigned to your teams, though I'm pretty sure you eight already know where you're going...you two DID make sure they got the right ones, right?" Azure checked.

"Of course. We even kept them safe right here," Gyro said, pulling out the chess pieces he'd stored in his pouch the entire time, handing them back to the others.

"Wonder if the teams are going to be the same they were in the show?" Yang muttered as she rolled the chess piece around in her hand.

"You mean the same leaders right? Probably, I mean, you all said it's been long, but all we saw were your fights with those two large Grimm and then you heading into the ruins when the snowstorm hit." Azure answered, making sure the pilot wasn't hearing them.

"No comment on Blake's ears by the way?" Pierce asked curiously, with Azure looking at said Faunus, only to blink when he noticed the cat ears.

"I… I hadn't actually noticed, I thought that was still the bow." he said, once again surprised.

"Like Gyro said, a LOT happened." Blake answered with a shrug.

* * *

Later, they found themselves gathered in the auditorium with Ozpin now announcing the teams formed. First of course was team CRDL, which the brothers ignored, as they knew those four wouldn't amount to anything important or significant, so they were...negligible. The second however…

"Based on our observations during the initiation, we have come to a decision regarding the two additional students we will be having this year," Ozpin said, before listing out the names of the next team. "Jaune Arc, Nora Valkyrie, Pyrrha Nikos, Pierce Vermillion, and Lie Ren. The five of you obtained the white rook pieces. From this day forward, you will be working together as team JNPPR (Juniper)," he said as some clapping began. "Lead by…Jaune Arc!" he finished.

Normally Jaune would have been surprised by this, but thanks to what the brothers had told him, he managed to look respectful and a bit dignified when he heard the news...though hearing Pierce was part of his team was certainly a nice surprise. "T-thank you, sir," he managed to say, sounding a little nervous still.

"Congratulations, young man," Ozpin smiled as the newly formed team stepped down, before the last students stepped up, Gyro not even waiting to be announced with the girls. "And finally, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Gyro Vermillion, Blake Belladonna, and Yang Xiao Long. The five of you obtained the white knight pieces. From this day forward, you will be working together as team RWGBY (Rugby)," he said as the clapping began again. "Lead by...Ruby Rose!"

Gyro let out a small sigh of relief that Ruby was still the leader, glad that hasn't changed, as Yang pulled her sister into a tight hug, Weiss smiling in amusement at the sight of their leader struggling to break free from the tight embrace, while Blake was looking at the pictures on the large screen, finding it strange to see the old picture of herself with the bow still on. However, nobody was forgetting that they had something a lot more important to worry about soon.

* * *

"...huh, they're bigger than canon," Gyro mused as he saw the room team RWGBY had gotten. In retrospect it made sense, as with one extra member, it was necessary to have extra space to accommodate, hence why they'd gotten a larger room than what team RWBY got in canon. Fortunately the part about it being across from team JNPPR remained the same, making it easy for them all to meet up whenever needed.

"So...when is Azure coming again?" Jaune asked.

"He should be here soon. He just has to make sure Ozpin doesn't need him for anything after this," Pierce said.

"Considering he's going to be a bit out of it, I would understand why." Pyrrha said awkwardly.

"Anyway, for now, let's just get everyone here." Gyro said, before opening the window and turning to Ruby "Whistle please."

Ruby simply nodded before going up to the window and putting her whistle to her lips and blowing on it, the sound travelling outside as everyone in the room covered their ears.

A few seconds later, and the door to the closet burst open as everyone fell out in a pile.

"You still need to work on exit points." Summer said as she got up.

"I know." Keenan groaned into the floor as everyone else was on top of him.

Eventually the group disentangled and the Digimon were looking around the room. "Whoa...you guys are gonna live here?" Patamon asked in wonder, before idly flapping to the window, and looked outside to which they could see a LOT, as they were actually on a higher floor than the original room team RWBY got.

"It's bigger than the Gekomon's Castle!" Palmon couldn't help but say, while Agumon, Veemon, and Biyomon all gave their agreement, remembering that castle.

"Right, we never did tell you guys where we are," Summer chuckled.

"Well, you have told US," Renamon said in amusement, especially when Wizardmon pulled out a camera...and took a photo.

"So this is the famed Beacon Academy I've heard so much about," Wizardmon mused. "And where many of the next generation of hunters go to train. I finally get to see it."

The chosen children couldn't help but chuckle at the wizard-like Digimon. It seemed even with the threat of an evil Digimon looming, he was still taking the time to enjoy the sights...even if just their Dorm room for now.

"We're gonna have to deal with the luggage." Yang noted after a moment, glancing at several briefcases and the like piled in a corner of the room.

"Honestly, I think we have enough space for everything and the beds, so we MIGHT not have to do the bunk beds of doom idea." Gyro said as he took a long look around the room.

"Bunk beds of doom?" Weiss repeated with a raised eyebrow.

"Somehow I don't think we'll like the answer." Tentomon said.

"Just before you explain that Gyro." Pierce said suddenly, before looking at Summer "The girls explained the whole webshow thing to you, right?"

"Right, while we were upgrading all the weapons, pretty weird honestly, but at least it helps be prepared for some of the stuff to come… and I also want to punch Raven in the face even more now." Summer admitted.

"Right, well...anyway, the girls here built bunk beds to make up for the less than sufficient space in their original dorm...and well...the idea itself was good, but the execution...not so much. What basically happened was a pair of death traps which by some miracle never actually got anyone hurt, despite the fact the only things keeping Ruby and Yang's beds suspended were a bunch of rope and a pile of books between the legs...it's a miracle they didn't crush Weiss and/or Blake in the 3 semesters they were in Beacon…" Pierce explained.

Slowly, Weiss and Blake turned to the sisters, giving them dry stares that were making them uncomfortable.

"If we do make bunk beds this time, I promise to make sure they're structurally stable and not liable to kill either of you in your sleep someday," Gyro said, though stifling a small chuckle at their reactions to what Pierce said...and how he said it for that matter.

"I really hope we don't need to actually make them." Blake said dryly.

"We'll worry about that when the time comes," Gyro said. "And I'll make sure we're NOT stuck running to class 5 minutes before the bell."

"Oh yeah, almost forgot about that," Weiss sighed. Call it petty, but having future knowledge on these small things was a rather useful perk.

At that moment, they heard a knock on the door. "Guys? Its me," Azure said from the other side.

"Azure's here. Quick, you guys hide. We'll need to ease him into this...or blow his mind when we reveal you. Whichever comes first," Pierce said, to which Summer's group quickly hid in the closet, while their partner Digimon hid under the bed. Once that was done, they opened the door for Azure, letting him in.

"Alright, baring a Grimm attack, Oz won't need any of us teachers till morning. So we've got the night to talk," Azure said, before walking in. "...huh, bigger than canon," he mused.

"Yeah, we noticed that too. Anyway, you'll want to sit down because everything we have to tell you is…" Gyro trailed off, thinking of the right way to put it.

"So crazy your socks will rocket off!" Nora exclaimed with a laugh.

"Sounds about right." Yang agreed with a chuckle.

"We're in Remnant. How crazier can it possibly get?" Azure asked...right before he realized what he'd done. "...I'm gonna regret that, aren't I?"

The nods from all 10 of them made him sigh in resignation.

"Put VERY simply, we got sucked into ANOTHER world, where apparently time flows differently, seeing as two months for us was just a couple of hours here," Gyro started.

"And that world was full of monsters too!" Ruby chimed in.

"Right...world full of monsters...not seeing how that's different from here," Azure mused.

"Well...would it help if we told you we made friends with some and brought them along?" Jaune asked.

"...I'm sorry, what?" Azure said flatly.

"We brought our new friends along," Pyrrha said, before turning to the beds. "You can come out now."

At her words, 10 strange creatures crawled out from under the bed. Their appearances ranging from a walking plant, to a bipedal bird, to a giant worm, to….Azure's brain stopped short when he saw Agumon.

Azure to slowly turn to Gyro and Pierce. "Is that…?" he let the question hang.

"Hi Azure!" Agumon said with a wave, confirming that yes, yes it was.

Azure was silent for several seconds, unmoving, before blinking slowly "Koromon? Is that you?"

Agumon nodded "Yeah, well, sort of. I'm not Koromon anymore, it's Agumon now."

"Okay...please explain. In full detail. I can tell this is something I need to hear, no matter how mind blowing it is," Azure sighed.

And explain they did. Explaining how they reached the 'Digital World', to how they met their partners, discovered their apparent destiny regarding that world, and of course the evil Digimon they'd been fighting.

"Ok… the devil seems pretty standard for some reason, but, a singing monkey man, really?" Azure asked, bewildered.

"Don't forget about Myotismon." Ren reminded him.

"Yeah, about that, we have a vampire walking around in Vale right now?" Azure asked a bit more urgently.

"A vampire who wants to rule the world," Blake supplied 'helpfully'.

"Right…" Azure sighed. "And apparently its your jobs to find and defeat him."

"Not alone," Gyro said, before turning to the closet. "You guys can come out now."

At his words, the closet opened, and out tumbled the 'resistance' fighters. "Glad we're out. I was starting to lose feel in my legs," Falcomon groaned as they all got up.

"It was rather cramped in there…" Keenan groaned.

However, it was when Azure saw the woman in the group his brain stopped again...before he slowly turned to his brothers. "So Summer Rose wasn't so much dead as...trapped in another world?" he said.

"Pretty much, yes," Summer chuckled.

"Okay...since you know about the webshow, you know what's coming next...what does this mean now?" Azure sighed, feeling like the plan had hit with a hard spot…

"Well, for starters, we're going to have to deal with Myotismon, we can't just let him run around free, nor are we just going to stand by and let him take over our world." Jaune said, making Azure blink at him.

"Wow… Cardin is NEVER going to be able to bully you." he said.

"Um… thanks?" Jaune said awkwardly.

"Anyway." Weiss said, wanting to get this back on track "We need to focus on what's going in Vale most of all, I doubt he would attack the school directly, even HIS army can't handle this many hunters."

"Do you want to tell this to Ozpin?" Azure asked.

"Honestly? We're not sure." Pierce admitted.

"He'd probably be able to help us, but we're just a tiny bit afraid he won't let us since the guys told us he would prefer to not let kids fight a war." Ruby said with a shrug.

"So for now, we try to keep this war a secret...while living a double life as normal students...man, this feels like an anime," Pierce blinked.

"Well...as much as possible. From what you told me, your fights can be pretty...destructive…" Azure sighed.

"If push comes to shove, I'll handle things," Summer said. "I'm sure I can get Ozpin to understand our position."

"Honestly though, I think one of the thing that surprises me most is how… most of you are dating." Azure said, glancing at Blake and Weiss for a moment when he paused.

"It just turned out like that." Gyro said with a shrug, smiling a bit.

"At least I know my girls are in good hands." Summer said with a laugh.

"I just hope dad won't hurt Gyro and Pierce." Ruby said with a frown.

"He won't get the chance." Summer said simply.

"Now that I think about it...what are we gonna do about you five?" Azure said, looking at Summer's group. "It'd be a bit hard to explain an MIA Huntress, a kid who looks like a jungle boy, a ninja owl, a bipedal fox, and a guy who looks like he took cosplay too far…"

"What is cosplay?" Wizardmon asked.

"Nobody answer that!" Gyro said quickly, much to Wizardmon's disappointed sigh.

Gyro honestly did NOT want to see what would happen if Wizardmon discovered a whole other new thing if he acted like being on Remnant was part of a guided tour.

"Well...it should be easy enough. We'll just camp out in the Emerald Forest," Summer shrugged. "Don't worry about the Grimm. Wizardmon's wards will keep them off our tail easily enough, and even if they get through, there shouldn't be anything in the forest we can't handle."

"And if worse come to worse, we do have our secret weapon," Keenan nodded, looking at Summer's card holder.

"Well...alright...but we'll try to think of a more permanent lodging option as soon as we can," Azure sighed...before a few yawns were heard. "And I think you guys should get ready for bed. First class is at 9...then again, considering its Port...getting enough sleep may not make a difference…"

"I honestly thought that was an afternoon class since in the show the next scene was set at dusk." Gyro said, before yawning.

"Hey, Azure, what's the answer to the question all fans had in volume 1?" Pierce asked suddenly.

"You mean Professor Peach right?" Azure shrugged "She's pretty normal looking actually, she just happens to have pink hair."

"Huh… glad that mystery was finally put to rest." Gyro blinked. "At any rate, you're right...we probably should get ready for bed.

"Good idea," Pyrrha yawned. "We'll see you guys tomorrow morning in class…"

With that, the group turned in for bed, Azure going back to his quarters, while Summer and her group went out the window. Literally.

"Not even gonna comment on how readily they did that," Weiss deadpanned as her head hit the pillow, Tentomon getting on the bed next to her. She was too tired after today, a point the group as a whole shared as they and their partners were soon asleep.

* * *

The next morning started out peaceful...tranquil...not.

Everyone in the room was woken up by the sound of a whistle blowing, and when they got up, they weren't surprised to see Ruby with her whistle...and fully dressed in her school uniform.

"Oh yeah…" Gyro groaned as he got up. He wasn't much of a morning person. That was Pierce. "Ruby... I love you, I truly do… but did you REALLY have to?"

"Yes." was all Ruby said, grinning cutely at him, and he couldn't be mad at that face.

"Five more minutes…" the Digimon all groaned as they turned around in their half awake states.

"Lucky mon don't need to go to class…" Yang groaned.

"Well...we're already awake," Weiss sighed. "Might as well get ready."

"I need coffee when it's THIS early." Blake hissed as she crawled out from under her blankets.

"Live without it, we all did in the Digital World." Gyro told her dryly as he went into the bathroom.

With that in short order the five of them were soon ready for the day, while the Digimon were still asleep on the beds. "Think we should wake them?" Blake asked.

"Normally I'd say no, but we do have some time to unpack...plus I don't think we'd want someone walking in by accident and seeing them," Yang sighed.

"So...the whistle again or a bucket of water?" Weiss asked with a slight smirk.

"Option 3." was all Gyro said as he walked up to his bed and picked up the sleeping Agumon, before shaking him awake "Suffer with the rest of us!"

"I'm awake! I'm awake!" Agumon shouted, waking up the others as Gyro finally stopped shaking him. Once the rattling stopped he glared at his partner. "What was that for?"

"All the times you woke up me up in the night to go poop." was Gyro's answer, with Agumon blushing in embarrassment.

"Now then, I think that woke everyone else up too," Gyro chuckled as the little stint had shocked the other Digimon in the room awake too. "How long do we have before class?"

"Its...6:30 AM right now," Blake said.

"Right, so 2 and a half hours before class and...huh...I just realized something…" Gyro blinked.

"What?" Yang asked.

"...how are we supposed to feed the Digimon? We can't exactly bring them to the dining hall out in the open…"

"Uh...why are you worried, we DO have the pouches remember?" Weiss sighed. "Not to mention all the things we were carrying around in there we wanted to cultivate when we got back."

"...huh, you're right...I honestly forgot after the last month," Gyro admitted, blushing a bit. "And its not like we can't stuff some food in for later."

"Great, now that that's taken care of and we have some time...time to unpack and decorate!" Ruby cheered.

"You girls handle that, I'll find some pots to plant everything." Gyro said, heading for the door, before stopping, turning back to everyone "Please don't make a mess." he added, before walking out of the room.

When he returned 5 minutes later, he sighed… in relief "Oh thank Oum."

The beds were still in the same spots as before, and they seemed to have plenty of space, even for Weiss's large amount of luggage, speaking of her, she was having Patamon and Tentomon help with installing a painting she'd brought along.

"Found enough pots?" Yang asked as she was carrying… his stuff?

"Yeah… why do you have my books?" He asked in confusion.

"Just putting them in the bookshelf." She said with a shrug, which he returned after a moment, not having a problem with that.

"Anyway, I also picked up some pots for the others and handed them over, they're pretty much doing the same thing we are right now." he added as he put the pots down, thankfully, he'd already filled them with dirt.

Eventually, they'd finished with the decorating, the pots all sitting by the windowsill and overall, the room was now fully ready for them to treat it like home.

"Objective...complete!" Ruby grinned by the time they were done. "And it's still...8:00 too," she added.

"Great, we got an hour to get to class and maybe grab a bite," Yang nodded.

"Yeah… I don't think you guys had breakfast in the canon timeline." Gyro said, before his stomach growled "Guess the next stop is the cafeteria."

"Too bad we can't come." Biyomon sighed.

"Don't worry, I'll call Azure and have him bring up something for you guys too, best to hang on to some supplies for now as just emergency." Gyro reassured.

"Also, for now please wait here for the day. You can read any of the books or even try playing any of our games, but it'd be a problem if people saw you guys just yet," Blake said. "The last thing we want is for people to take you all away, okay?"

"Okay," the Digimon nodded.

With that done, the team soon left their dorm, but not before locking the door before they left (And leaving a key inside for the Digimon to use if necessary). Likewise from across the hall, team JNPPR were also leaving their dorm.

"Looks like its no running to class for either of us," Gyro said with a chuckle.

"Yeah...why the heck did our other selves wait till 8:55 in 'canon' again?" Jaune asked.

"Honestly...we have no idea, but with how the other you acted...I think you guys forgot about class," Pierce shrugged.

* * *

"Monsters, demons…" was the starting statement from one Professor Peter Port as he began his lesson, and already Gyro and Pierce were tuning it out, in favor of setting up a recording device. Along the way to class they'd met up with Azure, and came up with the idea to help the Digimon a bit by allowing them to watch the classes they were attending, if nothing else to see what was going on. As such, they were setting up devices while Azure would have given the Digimon the devices that would be receiving the feed.

"Ya know...now that we're doing it...do you really think we should? I mean...it IS Port's class," Pierce mused.

"Too late now, the feed is up," Gyro shrugged.

"I guess…" Pierce frowned a bit, he honestly didn't want to subject the Digimon to THIS.

"I can fix that." Yang said, before writing on a piece of paper and placing it in front of the recording device Gyro had.

* * *

Back in the dorm, where all 10 Digimon had decided to gather in the RWGBY dorm, they saw the paper obscuring the view, and on it could be read 'This class is boring, play video games instead.'

"Well… if they say so." Veemon said with a shrug.

"Where did Gyro put the gamecube?" Agumon could be heard as he looked through Gyro's bag, before bringing out a purple cube shaped console "Found it!"

"What are we going to play?" Gabumon asked.

In response, Agumon held up quite a few games… before noticing one of them and putting it back in the bag, earning questioning looks from the others "Gyro said Mario Party destroys friendships."

"Huh...okay then..how about this one?" Gabumon said, picking a different one.

"Oooh! I remember that one! It was fun!" Agumon said as Gabumon had picked out the latest Super Smash Brothers game. "Although… I think you don't have the right one." he added.

"What do you mean?" Gomamon asked, looking at the case curiously.

"Well, gamecube games are all in these things." Agumon said as he held up Mario Kart Double Dash "But that case is a lot smaller."

"And this one says Switch on it, while the bigger ones say Gamecube." Tentomon pointed out, noticing another difference.

"Oh… my mistake then." Gabumon said as he put it back in the bag.

"Why don't we play the latest one though?" Wormmon asked.

"Um… the gamecube is the only console I know how to setup from watching the guys do it the first time I hatched." Agumon admitted sheepishly.

* * *

Back at the class it was...boring. There really wasn't any other way to describe it as Port's lecture had quickly degraded to 'bla bla bla blablabla bla' as far as the brothers were concerned.

Even Weiss seemed to be nodding off at times, before someone poked her to make her snap back up. The fact she didn't even get annoyed at Ruby for her rather...childish...drawing of the portly Professor...spoke volumes.

And Yang was completely asleep at this point.

"Think we could weaponize this?" Jaune muttered sleepily.

"Boring Grimm to death… sounds fun." Nora said with a snort.

"Suddenly fighting for our lives everyday seems so much better than having to deal with this…" Gyro groaned.

"Kill me...please…" Pierce let out a long suffering sigh as the boisterous professor went on and on and on and…

Oh god this is too much! Fast forwarding!

"The moral of this story?" Port said, putting a close to his story...which probably the entire class didn't hear by now. "A true huntsman must be honorable. A true huntsman must be dependable. A true huntsman must be strategic, well educated, and wise," Port said. "So, who among you believes themselves to be the embodiment of those traits?"

Weiss...had a flat look by the end of that line. Partly cause out of sheer boredom she'd taken to watching whatever Ruby seemed to be doing to keep herself...awake...and well...she sure didn't seem to be looking the part of a huntress right now (though she had to admit, Ruby's little balancing act with her book, pencil, and a random apple was a decent distraction from the boring story). Listening to the line though...she idly mused how once upon a time she'd have probably jumped and claimed she was the embodiment of those kinds of virtues. Suffice to say, her two months in the Digital World had done much to make her take an introspective look. With that in mind…

"Nobody is all of these traits, at least not yet," Weiss said, drawing attention to herself. "If anybody actually believes they are, then they have an ego problem, because I believe a true huntsman should also be humble."

"Huh...guess the time spent had more of an impact then we thought," Gyro couldn't help but blink at her statement. He was surprised, but in a very pleasant way.

Likewise, Professor Port seemed pleased by her answer. "That's absolutely correct, Miss Schnee," he nodded. "Right now none of you are quite the embodiments of these traits, but that is exactly why you're here. To learn and grow so that one day you may become true hunters."

"Was he testing us?" Pyrrha wondered with a raised eyebrow.

"Possibly." was all Ren said in answer.

"Is it weird I'd forgotten about wanting to be a hunter at times?" Ruby whispered to Blake.

"Considering everything we've been through? Not really, I think it all slipped our minds at one point." the faunus girl shot back.

"It's a much better result than canon, that's for sure," Pierce nodded.

Once the murmurs died down, Professor Port proceeded to the next part of the lesson. "Now then, since you answered my question so well, how would you like to give the class a demonstration. You seem well on your way to being an accomplished hunter, so why not show the class what you can do?" he offered, gesturing to a metal cage...which was shaking rather violently, with a pair of red eyes peeking through the bars.

"Okay, this they'll want to see," Gyro smirked, before taking the paper blocking the feed away.

* * *

Back at the Dorm room, Tentomon had nodded in approval at hearing Weiss's response to the Professor's question, having taken a moment to listen. However, it was because of that he saw the paper being taken away. "Guys, something's happening," he said, drawing their attention as they paused their game and crowded around the screen...just in time to see the Professor ask if Weiss would like to fight...whatever was in the cage…

"Wonder what's in the cage?" Salamon said.

"It's too dark to see." Patamon added, squinting at the screen.

"Think it's one of those Grimm things they told us about?" Biyomon said.

"A teacher wouldn't actually bring one into a classroom if it was dangerous, right?" Palmon frowned.

"Well...we're gonna find out," Gomamon said, as on the feed, Weiss was back in her usual combat outfit, Myrtenaster at the ready. In response, the professor cut open the cage and out came a black boar-like creature with bone white armor, and the most hatefully red eyes they'd seen since Devimon.

"That thing sure does look evil." Gabumon said, honestly not liking the look of that thing.

"Kinda reminds me of Boarmon, just more angry and less fire." Agumon said, remembering having seen some Boarmon on the flying island.

"Well...I'm sure Weiss can handle it," Tentomon said.

* * *

Back in the class, the Boarbatusk charge forward, and Weiss got out of the way. Snorting in anger, it soon tried again, and again, till Weiss realized this Grimm was no doubt young and stupid if it didn't have any other strategy. With that in mind, right as she dodged again, she slashed at it...and the blade of Myrtenaster actually cut through the armor, causing some black smoke to seep out and a cry of pain.

"Huh…" Weiss mused, looking at her weapon...before her eyes widened as she remembered she'd had it upgraded with Chrome Digizoid. If this metal could fight Perfect level Digimon, then it made sense a Grimm like this would be easily cut by the metal. With that in mind, she knew she had the advantage...she just had to make full use of it. Creating a Glyph behind her, she waited till the Boarbatusk came charging again, and quickly flipping onto the Glyph, she used it to propel herself forward, and at the critical moment, thrust forward, her weapon piercing the armor and spearing it through, the Boartusk barely getting a moment to let out a dying scream as it was dead in an instant.

There was a long silence in the class as everyone was in shock at how fast the battle had gone by, and especially at how easy she had defeated the Boarbatusk.

"Well… that was… surprisingly efficient…" Port managed to say after a few moments.

"It was nothing, just...surprisingly weak armor is all," Weiss said, trying to play off her win. Sure she won, but the last thing they wanted was for anyone to ask too many questions. Hopefully with this they'd be able to avoid questioning and risk someone realizing her sword was coated with an 'alien metal'.

"Well… I suppose it WAS rather young for a Grimm… I guess it's armor hadn't developed enough yet then." Port said, shrugging it off, as the Digidestined all let out silent sighs of relief.

* * *

"Well, that was pretty fast." Veemon said plainly after seeing the fight.

"I guess Grimm aren't THAT strong then." Gomamon added.

"Well...that Professor guy DID say it was young so...maybe it was a 'child-level' Grimm?" Wormmon offered.

"That does make sense in a strange way." Tentomon mused, before everyone turned to the window opening, seeing Wizardmon climbing inside.

"What are you doing here?" Palmon asked in confusion.

"I wanted to come talk to the Chosen Children… but it seems I've missed them." Wizardmon said with a laugh as he looked around the room.

"They're in class right now," Gabumon said.

"Well then, I guess I'll have to wait till they get back," Wizardmon said, before sitting on the floor, deciding to watch the feed with the others.

* * *

"Okay...that was a bit close," Pierce commented. Currently the group was gathered for lunch in the dining hall...which was honestly really massive. "Good job on directing it away though."

"It was fortunate the Grimm was believably young," Weiss nodded. "But that confirms one thing. Our weapons will probably cut the average Grimm apart easily now, so we may need to be careful."

"Grimm are one thing, but another issue is well...the other students," Pyrrha frowned.

"What do you mean?" Nora asked.

"She means if our weapons can now cut through Grimm armor with little difficulty, what happens if they clashed against other weapons. While it's true many weapons are made to be very sturdy nowadays, it would still be bad if we ended up badly damaging or even breaking weapons in a spar," Blake clarified.

"We're going to have to avoid weapon clashes as much as possible… unless of course it's with Team CRDL." Gyro said, adding the last part with a slight grin.

"Speaking of those neanderthals," Pierce commented, before pointing at a table not too far away, where said team was harassing a rabbit faunus with brown hair. "Looks like they didn't waste time starting to pick on Velvet."

"So...what's the plan?" Jaune asked.

"Well, we stop them of course. But first…" Ruby said, before taking out her scroll and discreetly taking a photo. "Evidence."

"Nice, we can show that to Professor Goodwitch," Blake nodded in approval of that plan.

"Now for the next part. We'll start with doing it the way of the old white fang," Ruby said, giving Blake a meaningful look.

"Right...we can't exactly bash their skulls in...yet anyway," Yang mused. "And yes Nora, you'll get first dibs if/when they get to the point."

Nora grinned almost wickedly at that bit. "I'mma break their legs."

"Now then, I don't think ALL of us should go, or it'd look suspicious. So...who wants to help Blake use diplomacy?" Gyro offered.

"I'll go," Pyrrha said. "I might as well put my reputation to good use."

"I'll go as well," Jaune nodded.

"I'll help too," Weiss said.

"Okay then, go for it guys. Don't worry, we'll be right here if things get out of hand," Ren nodded.

"Somebody show this to the Digimon." Nora requested in a whisper, with Pierce grinning as he brought up the recording device.

Over at the other table, Velvet was trying to ignore the jeers as she focused on eating, they were being very obvious and loud about it, even though they were sitting at a different table.

Her will almost broke when she heard about how she must have nothing but the thought of going at it like a rabbit in heat.

Why did today of all days end up being the day her teammates got the flu?

Coco was right, she was really bad at standing up for herself.

"That's quite enough," came a stern voice, stopping them mid-jeer. Velvet likewise was surprised to turn to the source and saw a cat faunus and a few humans, all of them she'd recognized as part of the new first year batch. "Is this really how a huntsman should behave?" she said with a frown.

"Why do you care?" the leader of the bullies sneered.

"Because not only are you harassing a senior student, but you are being obnoxious to everyone in hearing range." the white haired girl, a Schnee Velvet quickly realised, added.

"So? What are you gonna do about it?" Cardin sneered again.

"Welll…" Jaune fought hard to keep the smirk off his face, as Ruby casually sent the picture of CRDL harassing Velvet to all their scrolls, to which Jaune showed his Scroll to Cardin. "Would be a real shame if say...one of the teachers saw this. And on the first day of the semester too…" he let the threat hang.

"Are you threatening us?" Cardin asked with a growl.

"Of course not," Pyrrha said. "We're just doing what any good and _decent_ person would do, and stopping a problem before it begins, right everyone?"

"Yep," the other three nodded.

Velvet had to work hard to hide her giggling as the bully started seething in place, but since even he could see the insult in the words, he got up in a huff and quickly left the cafeteria, his teammates following after him. Once they were gone, Velvet finally had enough and started giggling almost madly. The group let her have her mirth, before she finally calmed down. "Thanks," she said between giggles. "Nobody other than my team has ever really stood up for me before."

"Where's your team now?" Jaune asked curiously.

"They came down with the flu. I'm the only one who remembered to get vaccinated this year, so they're all still in bed." Velvet answered, sighing a bit.

"Would you like to come eat with us?" Weiss asked, surprising Velvet a little bit.

"I'd like that, but I'm done eating actually, probably another day though. I need to get some food to my teammates now." Velvet said as she stood up with her tray.

"You're always welcome to come sit with us when you see us." Blake told her with a smile.

"Thank you." Velvet said, smiling happily, before going to grab food for her friends as the others returned to their table.

"Nicely done," Pierce grinned.

"Thanks...but…" Jaune frowned.

"Something wrong?" Ruby asked.

"It...kinda feels like we're cheating here...since we have future knowledge and all that...it kinda feels like we were manipulating the whole thing…"

"Hm...that's true…it can feel that way," Gyro conceded. "But let me put it this way...it was still the right thing to do either way. If we didn't or don't do anything, Velvet's gonna have to deal with harassment like that...heck, I'm pretty sure it was implied they went and did that to every student, faunus or otherwise, who couldn't defend themselves. Does that make you feel any better?"

"Quite a bit, yeah…" Jaune admitted.

"As long as we don't start using this knowledge for personal gain...we should be alright," Blake said, realizing what he was getting at.

"Though on the concept of 'personal gain'..." Yang looked at the brothers half-jokingly.

"Nice try babe," Pierce laughed. "But no, we don't know any winning lottery numbers."

"Trust me, if we did, we'd abuse the hell out of it." Gyro said with a laugh.

* * *

It wasn't long before it was time for the next class, as everyone had 2 classes per day most of the week, save Fridays where the entire day was supposed to be Combat Class. As it so happened, the next class was Azure's class. Engineering Class.

"Good afternoon, everyone," Azure said as he addressed the entire class. "I'm Professor Azure Vermillion, and I'll be teaching you engineering through your time at Beacon. Now, to start, I'm sure you all know that while combat skills ARE very important, just as is knowledge in various different fields for a Hunter, in the end, one of the key parts you'll need for dealing with the dangers you'll face are your weapons. My job is to teach you how to either create weapons that would best suite you, or from there, how to improve and develop them to keep up with your growing skills."

While the class responded with varying degrees of interest, from notable boredom and disinterest from a certain group of neanderthals, to decent interest from the majority of the class. However, of them all, none were more focused than Ruby, who was wide awake, pencil and paper ready to jot down notes.

"She REALLY likes weapons, doesn't she?" Weiss asked rhetorically, seeing as Ruby's behavior was a complete 180 compared to when she was in Port's class.

"Yeah, I'm a little worried I might come in second place." Gyro said, feigning hurt, only for Ruby to turn to him with wide eyes before planting a kiss on his lips right in the middle of class, before pulling back and smiling at him and then concentrating back on the class itself.

Pierce poked his brother a few times, Gyro not responding at all "Welp… she broke him by trying to be nice."

"Class, please refrain from public shows of affection till after my lecture is over," Azure said in amusement. "Oh, and Mr. Vermillion, please get Mr. Vermillion back to his senses...that felt weird," Azure said before adding that at the end.

"Just call us by our first names Azure." Pierce said with a laugh as he shook his brother for a few moments, Gyro eventually snapping out of it and looking around in confusion.

"What happened?" he said.

"Best we don't tell you." Pyrrha said, hiding a laugh.

The class went by rather interestingly. Azure started by not just explaining the basics, he went into detail of a number of different weapon types and their advantages, as well as their disadvantages. From there he went into details on basic mechashift systems, as well as how to make a simple system and of course, maintenance.

However, it was midway through the lecture that trouble started happening again. Namely starting when Jaune felt something hitting him in the back of the head. Rubbing the back of his head a little, he didn't feel anything, so he shrugged and went back to note taking. Sure he'd had a bit of a 'preview' with the twins, but it was still good to pay attention. Azure knew his stuff. Heck, the brothers admitted he played a BIG role in building the gate that let them enter Remnant, so a guy who could build an interdimensional machine was definitely someone you'd want to get engineering tips from. Of course that was when he felt another hit, and this time turned around and wasn't surprised to notice a chuckling team CRDL. This naturally caught Azure's attention.

"Mr. Arc, is there something you'd like to say?" Azure said, though he was merely playing the part of an impartial teacher. He knew full well Jaune had been paying attention.

"Oh uh...no Professor Vermillion," Jaune said.

"Alright, in that case would you mind telling the class the key advantage of these three different types of blade weapons," he said, before showing the pictures of dual blades, a broadsword, and a greatsword.

"Oh right," Jaune nodded. "uh...Dual Swords have low damage, but they're lighter and somewhat easier to handle, so they're great for higher mobility. Broadswords are more in between, so they don't offer quite as much of a specific advantage, but they're well rounded and adaptable...and uh...Greatswords are slow, but they hit really hard, so they're great for heavily armored enemies. Is...that about right?"

"That is absolutely correct," Azure nodded. "Remember class, it is important to choose a weapon that best fits your prefered style. Choosing a weapon that is incompatible with you for the long term is only asking for trouble. Likewise, each weapon has its own advantage and disadvantages, so it's important to keep that in mind as well," Azure nodded...before noticing how Cardin was talking with his team...while his hand was mimicking talking, as if saying 'bla bla bla'. Honestly, if he didn't already know how much of a trouble maker Cardin would be, he'd probably have missed that one.

"Mr. Winchester, is there something you'd like to add to the class?" he said, eyes narrowing a little.

Cardin just smirked at the question. "Oh nothing, though I kinda wonder why bother with weak weapons like the first two," he said.

"Oh boy, here we go." Gyro muttered with a low groan.

"Pardon me, but taking one look at you, am I wrong to say that you're the type who has the 'bigger is better' mentality?" Azure said calmly.

"Well, it IS better. Why bother with all those weak ass approaches when you can just pummel a Grimm to death?" Cardin said cockly.

"I see…" Azure said calmly. "In that case, would you like to give a demonstration? Show the class 'what you can do'."

Cardin smirked at that. "Okay, I'm game. Who's gonna be my opponent?" He was eager to show the rest of these posers who the big man was here.

"Why...me of course. I'll be fighting you with these," Azure said, pulling out Umbrae.

Cardin looked the professor over. Despite him having a decent build he still looked more like someone who spent most of his time with his head in the books. Not to mention he was teaching how to make weapons and picked a weak weapon like dual knives...he was game. "Sure. Maybe I'll teach you a thing or two while I'm at it."

"Welp… Cardin's fucked." Pierce said simply.

"Going to get his ass booted down to hell." Gyro added.

"This is going to be a massacre." Jaune finished with a nervous laugh.

"Is Azure really that strong?" Nora asked. "Not to sound like Cardin, but he looks more like an office worker than a fighter."

"You'd think twice if you knew who he based his outfit off of…" Gyro mused.

* * *

"I wonder why Gyro said that," Agumon mused.

"Hey...doesn't he kind of look like this guy?" Tentomon mused, having been going through one of the scrolls the brothers left, which had some videos from various games they'd collected. He then showed it to the group. It was a vid regarding something called 'High Mystic Artes' from a game called 'Tales of Xillia 2'. After they watched the vid…

"...that Cardin jerk is toast," were the deadpan words from all the Digimon.

* * *

"Now then, whenever you're ready," Azure smiled, calmly yet firmly grasping Umbrae in a reverse grip.

"I'm ready right now!" Cardin all but roared as he ran forward, his mace raised high, ready to bash the older man on the head.

Azure didn't move, calmly waiting as Carding got closer, but right as the mace came down, Azure simply side stepped a little, then lashed out with Umbrae, catching the mace with one of his weapons, then move it to the edge and off the mace, robbing it of its momentum. As a result, Cardin stumbled forward, to which Azure simply put his foot forward, and tripped the young man up, causing him to fall flat on his face.

"I think we're going to like this class." Ren said with an amused smile.

"I'm so recording this." Nora said with a cackle as she held her scroll up and made sure to get a perfect shot of Carding getting his ass kicked.

Unsurprisingly, Cardin didn't take that lying down, and quickly got up, aiming to bash Azure's head in again, but every time he tried, Azure casually evaded with a few small movements, wasting nothing. "Class, as you can see, this is a key weakness of heavy weapons as Mr. Winchester is so generously demonstrating," Azure said simply. "I won't deny that if I were to get hit, this would probably hurt a lot. Fortunately, with a keen eye, it's easy enough to avoid that."

Now the class was actually taking notes, cause this just got interesting.

"Oh, and another thing. While a mace-type weapon IS ideal for countering heavy defenses or armor, there's one large weakness that is shared by many blunt weapons," Azure added, before blocking a strike using Umbrae...catching the shaft of the mace. "While the way Mr. Winchester is holding his mace DOES increase range, it also leaves the mace open to being stopped at its weak point," he said before kicking Cardin in the gut, pushing him back. "This would thus leave you open to counter attacks."

Now Cardin was angry. Roaring again he tried to smash Azure...he never learns does he? ANYway, he tried his tried and true strategy...with no results, yet one swing had Azure jump back a bit further than before. "What's the matter, Prof? Scared?" he said, trying to goad the older man.

"No, I just wanted to be out of the way for the final weakness your weapon sadly has," Azure said simply, before turning to the class. "Now, as you can clearly see, Mr. Winchester also has a fire dust crystal embedded in his mace, no doubt both to give it some ranged options, as well as improve its striking power. While clever, it unfortunately has a structural flaw."

"I'll show you flaw!" Cardin growled, rearing his mace back, ready to use his Dust function...and conveniently slipping the fact that he was about to attack a teacher. However, Azure simply flipped one of his kukri, turning it into a pistol, before in a single fluid motion, he aimed, fired, and hit the dust crystal right as it was about to activate. The result was an explosion that threw Cardin off his feet, and right into a (fortunately empty) set of seats, the large boy dizzy from the attack, while his Mace clattered to the floor, the Dust Crystal shattered.

"And THAT, is the unfortunate final weakness of Mr. Winchester's mace. While the Dust Crystal was a nice touch, it was sadly painfully open to attack, as I just demonstrated. Also, after Mr. Winchester wakes up, will someone please tell him I'll reimburse him for the destroyed Dust Crystal," Azure finished. "Any questions?"

There weren't any questions for him, and soon enough, the class let out, the students walking out and heading to do whatever they wanted for the rest of the day.

* * *

Wizardmon couldn't help but laugh after watching the beat down that Cardin had experienced "That was rather entertaining, I must admit."

"Yeah, plus Azure is REALLY smart from the way Gyro and Pierce talk about him." Agumon added.

"I'll have to find some time to speak with him then, I'm sure it would be an interesting conversation." Wizardmon said, and the Digimon got the sense he was smiling in amusement.

* * *

Now that classes were over, the group was once more gathered in their dorm rooms. "Hey guys," Gyro said as the Digimon came to greet them. "How was your day?"

"Other than the games, kinda boring," Veemon admitted. "Do we really have to stay here all the time?"

"Until we can find a way to avoid you guys being noticed...unfortunately yes…" Pierce sighed.

"I'm glad to see you're all back." Wizardmon said as he stood up "I had something I wanted to mention at Gennai's home, but never found the chance to talk about it."

"What is it?" Blake asked with a raised eyebrow.

"The thing I grabbed onto to avoid getting blown to the ends of the world? It was the RV. Right now it's hidden near Gennai's home." Wizardmon explained.

"Oh, well, that's actually pretty cool." Gyro said with a grin.

He liked that RV.

"We'll be sure to give it back to you the next time you end up in the Digital World. I'm sure it'll be just as useful," Wizardmon nodded.

"Now then...we should discuss the next issue we have," Ren said.

"Right. Myotismon," Blake nodded with a frown.

"First of all, we'd need to find his base or something. Maybe then we can plan an assault. Otherwise, we'd be stuck just doing counter attacks," Jaune mused.

"But how do we find his base?" Gomamon asked.

"By finding out more about him," Weiss said, pulling up the Analyzer regarding Myotismon. She carefully read the entry, before… "Here!" she said, pointing at a particular line.

"Huh...he really is a vampire," Pierce mused, as it turns out sunlight weakened him.

"So he'd definitely want a base somewhere where sunlight couldn't reach him," Yang nodded.

"But...there are a LOT of places like that in Vale…" Ruby frowned. Plenty of warehouses, empty buildings, and the like coming to mind when she said that.

"Then our next move may be to make use of his attacks," Pyrrha mused.

"Oh! I get it!" Nora grinned. "So when he sends out attacks, we can use those to try and figure out where the Digimon are coming from, right?"

"Hopefully he doesn't see it coming." Salamon said with an uncertain look.

"Well, he probably has one or two idiots working for him that won't notice us tailing them." Gabumon said with a shrug.

"So...I guess for now we just wait?" Palmon asked.

"Seems like it," Ruby nodded. "Oh, while we were on the way back though, we got you guys something," she added, before pulling out a bag, revealing it to be full of candy bars, drinks, and other snacks.

"We figured other than what the cafeteria has, you'd all like something sweet, so we raided a vending machine earlier," Yang said with a grin.

"Ooooh!" the Digimon all said as the bag was placed between them.

"Open the wrapper before eating," Ren quickly added, remembering there were things that didn't need to be opened to eat back in the Digital World.

"Okay!" they all said as they started digging in, and from the sounds that followed...they were definitely enjoying them.

* * *

 **And there's the chapter!**

 **Yeah, a pretty easy day for once, been a while since they had those.**

 **But yeah, we are back on Remnant now!**

 **You see, if they had picked the Gomamon card, they would have went to Earth, so we added the Veemon card in to act as the door to Remnant.**

 **As for where the Agumon card goes... some of you may already know the answer, the rest, you'll find out one day.**

 **Anyway, hope you enjoyed, because...**

 **The Adventure Evolves.**


	36. 35: Breaking News! Blazing DeathMeramon!

**Hello everyone and welcome to the next chapter!**

 **Now, big news today at the same time, Phoenix started up a RWBY side reading of this story over on his AO3 account.**

 **Thanks again for that buddy, seriously.**

 **Now we have both a RWBY side reading and a Digimon side reading (for those who don't remember, the digimon side reading is by Novice, you can find him in the reviews of this story if you want to get to his page)**

 **Hope you enjoy everything!**

* * *

 **Breaking News! Blazing DeathMeramon!  
**

* * *

The night was quiet in the city of Vale, a light fog having settled on the town that night. Among the streets, a lone woman walked. Some might call her foolhardy for going alone, but she wasn't afraid. She was a huntress after all. She'd handled Grimm before. How bad could a few thugs be?

Unfortunately for her, what was out that night wasn't thugs on the street. As she walked down the road, she heard the sound of wheels, before through the mist up ahead she saw a wooden carriage of all things...moving by itself. Blinking in surprise, she was understandably unsure what to do, especially when it came to a stop next to her, before the door opened. Peering inside, she saw only darkness for a moment, before a pair of piercing eyes appeared, and suddenly her head felt fuzzy. She only somewhat registered the tall figure that stepped out of the carriage, and the feeling of being pulled into an embrace, before she felt a sharp pain on the side of her neck, then darkness…

* * *

It was another day for the hunters in training of Beacon Academy, but not just any day, as it was the end of the first week of classes, thus many were looking forward to the weekend to come. However, for a certain pair of teams, the weekends were anything but enjoyable.

"...and in other news, several women were found collapsed on the streets of Vale, all of them having been rushed to the hospital due to a sudden bout of anemia. Doctors are still trying to figure out the cause of…" the newscaster said, before Gyro switched off the feed.

"Looks like our vampire isn't keeping still," Gyro frowned.

"Kinda scary that he can do that so easily." Ruby said uncomfortably as she rubbed her neck nervously.

"It's one more reason to stop him though, right?" Agumon said, looking up at his partner, receiving a nod.

"Unfortunately we can't do anything just yet," Weiss sighed. "We still have today's classes to worry about, and we can't exactly skip classes for no apparent reason."

"Haaah...how do superheroes make it look so easy?" Jaune sighed.

"Cause the plot is always on their side," Pierce shrugged.

"Let's just head to class for now, today's one of the more important ones." Ren advised.

"Right, combat class." Pyrrha said with a nod.

"Hopefully we can finally have that match." Gyro said with a grin as he looked at her.

"We'll see." Pyrrha shot back with an amused smile.

"Don't forget to show us," Veemon reminded with a grin. This was a class they'd been looking forward to.

"We will," Nora gave a thumbs up.

* * *

"Good morning students, and welcome to Combat Class. I'm Professor Glynda Goodwitch," Glynda said as the students were gathered for her class. "Before we begin, one key lesson I want you all to take to heart, especially for my class is this. Know. Your. Limits," she said firmly, punctuating each word for emphasis with a slap of her riding crop.

"Hope the Digimon will remember that line." Yang muttered, preferring if their friends didn't push themselves too hard.

"After what we've been through, those are words to live by," Blake said.

"You can say that again," Ruby nodded.

"Now, as most of you have no doubt already guessed, this class will pit you against other students. Hunters fight not only Grimm, but other living people as well, mostly criminals. Not only will my class help prepare you for that, but it will also help you deal with any flaws in your fighting style now rather than later." Glynda explained. "With that in mind, let us begin immediately. Any volunteers?'

"Well, now or never," Gyro smirked, before raising his arm.

"Alright, Mr. Vermillion, please come up to the ring," Glynda nodded, to which Gyro did so. "Now then, who do you wish to spar with?"

Gyro didn't even hesitate to point at Pyrrha. "I'll spar with Pyrrha if that's okay," he said.

"Any objections, Ms. Nikos?" Glynda checked.

"None," Pyrrha said as she got up to the ring as well.

Comments ranging from "Is he crazy?" to "He's gonna get his ass kicked." could be heard from the… less important people in the class.

Gyro naturally didn't pay them any mind as he drew Ascalon. "Looks like we finally get to have that match afterall," he chuckled.

"Well then, let's make it one to remember," Pyrrha nodded, readying Milo and Akuou.

"Very well then, if the both of you are ready…" Glynda began as the screen overhead came on, displaying both their aura levels. "Begin!"

Gyro wasted no time and used his semblance to cover the distance between the two of them, lashing out with his weapons before she had a chance to react. Pyrrha however was faster than he expected and managed to lean back to dodge the attack, before quickly regaining her balance and counter attacked. What soon followed was an intense clash of steel as the two of them fought to see who could strike the other first. Gyro had the advantage in terms of offense thanks to his dual swords allowing him to make rapid and continuous attacks, while Pyrrha had more defensive options thanks to her shield...not to mention her ability to dodge his strikes which he was positive was due to her semblance.

Forced to get a bit of range, Gyro knew he wasn't going to score a hit with her constantly using her semblance to subtly change movements in a way even he wouldn't really notice. "Okay...if that's how its gonna be…" he smirked as the wind started to wrap around him. If she was gonna use her semblance to mess up his moves, then he'd use his own to amp them up a little. Charging forward, he aimed to strike her again, this time using the wind to boost his attacks, making them move faster and with more force. As he anticipated, this boost caught Pyrrha off guard, forcing her to block his attack, the force and speed too much for her to safely divert discreetly. The force caused her to stumble a little, before Gyro spun around...and landed a kick to her gut, pushing her back.

Pyrrha blinked...before realizing that for the first time since she'd become champion...someone had managed to damage her aura in a tournament style fight.

She couldn't help but grin a bit, honestly, she was starting to have fun now.

"I feel like if I had seen this before the Digital World, I would be calling Gyro out or something." Weiss said, remembering how originally she had been hoping to be on the same team as Pyrrha.

"Well, even if you did, I don't think either of them would have noticed," Pierce mused. True enough, the two of them had resumed clashing, and what a clash it was. Pyrrha used a mix of offense and defense to defend against Gyro's fast blurry of blades, until she found a chance to strike back. As it was, it was a see saw battle as both used a mix of semblance and skill to keep their opponent from fully regaining balance and at the same time trying to boost their attacks.

Everyone in the room watched with rapt fascination as little by little both began whittling away at each other's aura. Eventually after one last clash, this one strong enough to kick up a small dust cloud. Once it was over, they were ready to resume clashing again until…

"That's quite enough," Gynda said, stopping the battle. "In a tournament style battle, this would have ended in a draw, as both Ms. Nikos and Mr. Vermillion's auras are in the red. As per tournament rules, they'd both be out of the fight."

Gyro and Pyrrha both blinked in confusion at that, before looking up at the screen, showing that both of their auras were indeed in the red, before looking back at each other.

"Guess we went all out huh?" Gyro said with a laugh.

"It looks like we did." Pyrrha agreed with her own laugh.

Meanwhile, most of the class was stunned at that. Pretty much everyone knew who Pyrrha was and her reputation, and here was some guy who came out of nowhere suddenly able to fight toe to toe and even bring her fight to a draw. Their shock was cut short of course when cheering was heard.

"Great work both of you!" Ruby cheered encouragingly, something their various teammates soon joined in on albeit in their own ways.

* * *

Back in the dorm the Digimon had also enjoyed the fight, most of all Agumon and Gabumon… who started wrestling a bit in the middle of it in a playful argument of who was gonna win.

"They're really good," Falcomon commented, as he and Keenan had decided to visit the dorms today. It had become something of a common occurrence for one of the group to visit that the brothers went and got a rope ladder for both of the dorms that could be unrolled and pulled back anytime.

"They knew how to use their weapons and abilities to the near fullest. That was why neither of them could really gain the upper hand," Keenan nodded as well.

"Should we stop THOSE two though?" Biyomon asked as she glanced at the other two Digimon who were still rolling around and trying to get the other in a headlock or something of the like.

"Let them get it out of their system, they'll sleep easier tonight." Tentomon said with a shrug.

With that in mind they all turned their attention to the rest of the class, as various students fought against each other, some better than others, and each time Glynda gave pointers on what they did wrong and how to improve. However, it wasn't long before they saw a very interesting match up.

"Oh this is gonna be good," Gomamon grinned as it turns out the next match was Jaune against...Cardin. He was very much looking forward to seeing his partner trounce that jock.

* * *

"Why the hell do I have to fight a weakling?" Cardin growled irritably as he stepped into the arena.

Jaune felt his eyebrow twitch, before deciding to piss off his would be bully "Funny, I was gonna say the same thing." he said with a wide grin.

"Oh you're gonna get it now, noodle," Cardin growled.

"Oh boy...he's toast…" Pyrrha sighed.

"Yeah...what are the odds Cardin called him THAT of all names," Pierce nodded in mild amusement. Ever since the incident with Digitamamon, the word 'noodle', especially if used to refer to someone, had become something of a mild 'berserk button' for Jaune. And Cardin just tap danced on it…

"Oh now it is on…" Jaune growled under his breath, drawing Crocea Mors and settling into a ready stance.

"Now then. Begin!" Glynda said, before the two charged forward.

Cardin roared as he swung his mace down, but Jaune was faster and moved to the side, avoiding the mace, before putting his shield in front of him, and dashing forward, causing the shield to smash right into Cardin, pushing the larger boy back. Cardin quickly regained his balance, and retaliated, but Jaune blocked with his shield, grunting a little under the pressure, but quickly redirected the force, throwing Cardin off balance, and allowing Jaune to hit him with his sword, the Chrome Digizoid enhanced blade cutting into the larger boy's aura, which was made visible by the sudden shaving of a decent chunk of his aura.

Cardin growled at that, before activating the Dust in his mace and throwing a few fireballs, forcing Jaune to jump back. Smirking a little, Cardin ran forward, intending to cave Jaune's head in, but Jaune had other ideas. Sheathing Crocea Mors, he triggered its Bastard Sword mode, and ran forward, before jumping up and bringing it down in an overhead slice. Cardin quickly moved to block the attack, but when the two weapons made contact...his mace was promptly cleaved in half, as the bastard sword made contact with his armor, cutting through what was left of his aura.

Cardin went tumbling back, his aura not just red, but utterly gone as it couldn't take the blow from a Chrome Digizoid blade, and would have fallen out of the ring had he not suddenly stopped thanks to Glynda's Semblance catching him. "That's quite enough," she said with a frown.

"Whoops, sorry about that mace of yours, guess my upgrade worked too well." Jaune said, and everybody could tell he wasn't sorry at all.

Glyda frowned at the response. "While I commend you for taking advantage of your opponent's fighting style to gain the advantage, I must ask you to refrain from destroying your opponent's weapons in the future, even if it is due to an unexpectedly strong upgrade," she said.

"Right, I won't do it again," Jaune nodded with a small sigh. He sort of knew this would happen...but it was sooo worth it.

* * *

"Yeah! Go Jaune!" Gomamon cheered as his partner had utterly dominated that fight.

"He's been getting really good these days." Wormmon said.

"Well, Pyrrha's been training him a bit on the side." Gabumon said as he and Agumon were collapsed on the floor, finally having tired out.

"It helps too his opponent...was ridiculously weak," Keenan said. "Not saying that that downplays his victory of course. But that Cardin person...he has a large ego for someone so weak."

"Yes, he's got all the skills of a feral Digimon," Falcomon agreed. "All he's got is power, but no real focus or direction. For his sake I hope he learns, or when a superior opponent appears before him, he will meet a premature end."

"It says a lot about us we've gotten used to people dying already." Palmon commented dryly as none of them had even flinched at the implication of someone dying.

"It is the unfortunate path of becoming a warrior," Keenan said as Falcomon nodded in agreement.

"You sound like that was something someone taught you. Was it Summer?" Patamon frowned.

"No, it was someone else. Someone who was and still is, like a father to us," Keenan said firmly, and somehow that tone told the Digimon to not pursue that topic.

* * *

"And that's all for today," Glynda said. "Be sure to practice regularly, and I'll see you all next week. Enjoy your weekends," she said as she dismissed the class.

With that everyone left the class, the Digidestined ignoring Cardin as he growled at their backs while they headed up to their dorms, all gathering in the team RWGBY dorm.

"I'll call Azure, think you can go get Summer and the others?" Pierce asked Keenan after they had gotten over their momentary surprise at seeing him there.

Keenan simply nodded before stepping into the shadows of the closet, coming back out a minute later with Summer, Renamon and Wizardmon.

"So, class is over huh?" Summer asked with a small smirk. "So...is Glynda still as much of a drill sergeant as ever?" she jokingly asked.

"Isn't she roughly your age though?" Ruby asked her mom with a raised eyebrow.

"A bit younger than me actually, but she was really harsh in helping her teammates train back when she was a student." Summer said with a laugh. "Not to mention the few extra years I got from being in the Digital World."

"About that...why is it when we came back, only a couple of hours passed? With how long you'd said you were in there, we thought time was possibly slightly faster in the Digital World," Gyro asked.

"That...I have no idea…" Summer sighed. "I may have been there for over a decade, but even now there are a LOT of things I don't fully understand about that world."

"It's doubtful anyone knows all the secrets and ways of the Digital World," Renamon mused. "Other than perhaps the Great Server himself…"

"Right...Yggdrasil…" Weiss frowned, all of them wondering about the supposed 'god' of the Digital World. "...at any rate, we should make preparations for the weekend. We only have so much time to freely search for Myotismon…"

"Here to help!" Azure said as he stepped into the room "Don't start without me!"

"You got here JUST as we were about to." Gyro said with a laugh.

"Right then, so what shall we do?" Azure asked.

"First of all? We need to gather information. As with the news, it's clear that he's not sitting still. Heck, he's pretty brazenly leaving evidence behind, since nobody would believe a vampire is responsible," Pierce frowned.

"In that case, how about we check the CCT? Information goes through there all the time, perhaps some strange sightings are in the records," Weiss suggested.

"Well, if we need info, I know somewhere we might get that," Yang said.

"You're gonna barge into Junior's bar, aren't you?" Ren deadpanned, remembering the info regarding that particular character Yang was...acquainted...with.

"Hey, he must have heard SOME rumors in the last few days." she said with a shrug.

"Makes sense, there's probably been a weird thing or two that's happened since we got back, we just haven't heard about it since were stuck in Beacon all week." Nora said with a nod.

"Anything else...I guess we'll just have to hope we get lucky," Blake frowned.

"Right...guess that's the best we got so far," Jaune sighed.

"We'll have to split up into small teams tomorrow though to cover more ground." Weiss suggested.

"Right, we'll decide on that when we wake up, we'll also have to think of ways to hide the Digimon in plain sight." Gyro said, looking at all the Digimon as he tried to think of a few ideas.

* * *

"...to quote Einstein...there are only two things that are infinite. The universe...and the human stupidity…" Gyro said flatly as he looked down at Agumon...who was dressed in only a raincoat...and nobody was batting an eye.

"It makes you worry." Blake added as Patamon was keeping his ears pressed against his body thanks to a tiny sweater and was wearing a fake muzzle, pretending to be a dog. "Still...I can't believe this is seriously working," she deadpanned as every now and then a kid or two would come over to pet Patamon then run off.

"Let's...just start asking around…" Gyro sighed. "Wonder how the others are doing…"

* * *

"Pretend you guys are plushies, they said. Nobody will notice, they said...I can't believe they were actually right," Jaune sighed as currently he and Pyrrha were carrying their partners as if they were large plushies...and somehow everyone who was walking by didn't bat an eye even once.

"It...certainly is jarring…" Pyrrha nodded in agreement. "But if nothing else, it also means nobody is bothering us," she sighed.

"Let's...start asking around…" Jaune said with a tired sigh.

* * *

Meanwhile, Ruby and Weiss were outside of the CCT Tower at the base of Beacon Castle. "Wow...its...big…" Palmon couldn't help but say. Currently she and Tentomon were dressed in hoodies which were carefully put on in a way that it properly obscured their faces and bodies while still allowing them to see out of the hoodie.

"Weiss told me about this. The Cross Continental Transmit System, or CCT for short, was first developed by Atlas following the Great War. It was the Kingdom's gift to the world, and one they use a LOT," Tentomon said, remembering the times he was talking to Weiss about things in Remnant, as well as the time it was covered in history class.

"Wow you're really getting into all that trivia stuff," Palmon joked. "Careful or you might turn into an encyclopedia," she chuckled.

"Hey," Tentomon shot back in amusement.

"That's quite enough you two," Weiss said, breaking up the little argument, though she had an amused look on her face, seeing as these kinds of little things were fairly common for them.

"Weiss is right guys, we'd better hurry," Ruby said as the four of them quickly went in.

"So...why are we here again? I thought it was possible to access this from somewhere like the library," Tentomon asked.

"Partly cause I wanted to see the Tower," Ruby admitted sheepishly.

"And partly because we're going to be going through a LOT of data. We'd want the strongest signal for this, and there's no place better than the Tower itself," Weiss finished.

* * *

A motorbike pulled up, as Yang got off and took her helmet off. "Hope he's around. First time I've come here in the daytime," Yang mused.

"If he's not, then we'll come again later," Pierce shrugged, before turning to the Digimon. "You two okay?" he asked.

"Wooo! That was fun!" the two of them cheered. Biyomon wasn't wearing anything additional, as they planned to pass her off as some kind of large exotic bird, while Veemon...was dressed up in a dog costume with a fake muzzle of his own just like Patamon.

"Shh! You guys need to keep quiet," Yang said, albeit gently. "We can't pass you off as a bird and a dog if you guys talk."

"Right, sorry," the two of them nodded quickly, before quickly getting into 'position', Veemon following Pierce via a leash, while Biyomon landed on Yang's shoulder.

With everything ready, Yang went over to the door, and promptly pushed it open...rather roughly. What they saw on the other side was...well...it wasn't exactly a wild party, but it seemed Junior still used it as a base of operation even in the day. As such, they were soon met with a number of guns to their faces.

"Nice welcome wagon," Pierce chuckled. "So...can anyone tell us where we can find one Hei Jiong?"

"The first one to actually shoot me loses the ability to makes kids by the way." Yang commented idly, and every gun was immediately removed from their faces.

"Alright, what's going o-?" came a rather gruff voice as a rather large man in a shirt, vest, and tie came through the crowd. The moment he saw Yang though, he stopped short. "Blondie...you're here…why?" he gulped slightly, clearly not expecting her to be here...and due to the LAST time she'd been here. Of course, another thing that caused him to stop short was the large pink bird that was standing on her shoulder. "Uh...we have a no pets policy by the way," he added.

"Oh don't mind her, she won't leave any messes," Yang chuckled as she and Pierce walked in, completely disregarding Junior's words much to the man's chagrin. "Anyway, you still owe me a drink, but I've got something more important to ask," she added, before grabbing his hand and dragging him to the bar.

"Tch. Alright, so let me get this straight, you two barge into my bar, bring in your pets too I might add, just to ask me if I've heard any strange rumors around town?" Junior asked incredulously by the time they were done explaining.

"Yeah, we knew it wasn't exactly something normal, but trust us. It's important," Pierce said. "And don't mind Vee and Biyo. They're well house trained."

Junior sighed in aggravation at that. "Well...fine. If it'll get you both to leave, I'm sure you've seen the news. About those anemia cases? One of my boys said he saw some kind of wooden carriage moving by itself. Of course, it was foggy and he'd been drinking, so we're all pretty sure it was just him being drunk, but I guess that counts as 'weird," he sighed. "Then there's been talks of some weird characters around town lately. Weird guy who wears an overcoat, and probably like 8 feet tall or something. Doesn't talk much, but people have seen him from time to time in the last week. And then there's the 'giant monsters'..."

"Wait, what was that last one?" Yang quickly homed in on that one.

"Giant monsters? Oh yeah, that one's a laugh. Some of my boys said they were out on a joyride when they saw this small parade of monsters through the street. Said they saw this vampire looking guy leading them. Heh, I dunno what they've been smoking, but I told them to stop or they're fired. I can't work with men who get THAT high," Junior chuckled in amusement.

"...where did they see that?" Pierce asked.

"You don't ACTUALLY believe they saw a parade of monsters, right?" Junior laughed, but Pierce maintained a straight face. "...you're serious aren't you?" he deadpanned. "Fine fine. Kids and their weird hobbies…" he sighed. "They saw the 'parade' near the pier. Heck, they even said they saw the Kraken or something," Junior shrugged.

"That works. Thanks for the info," Pierce nodded as they got up, before Pierce left some Lien too. "For your time and trouble," he said. No point unnecessarily antagonizing a potential source of info afterall.

"Heh, thanks," Junior said, taking the Lien, before adding, "You and her, eh? Well, good luck kid. You're gonna need it," he chuckled as they soon left the building.

Once they were outside, Yang pulled out her scroll and texted a message to everyone else. 'Got some info. Seems they were seen around the pier. We'll check it out.'

After a few moments they got a reply. 'We're not far from there. Meet you there.' That was from Ren and Nora.

'We'll keep investigating.' That was from Gyro, Blake, Jaune, and Pyrrha.

'We're still looking into the CCT Tower.' That one was from Ruby and Weiss.

"Okay, looks like we'll be meeting up with Nora and Ren then," Pierce nodded before they made their way to the pier.

* * *

Back at the CCT, Ruby, Weiss, Palmon, and Tentomon were...sifting through data. A LOT of data. "Anything?" Weiss asked, groaning in annoyance as an article she pulled up proved to be painfully fake.

"Nothing so far…" Ruby yawned.

"What about this one?" Palmon asked, clicking on an article about a 'bizarre incident'...only to give it a flat stare when it turned out it was some guy in a suit who clearly had too much time on his hands.

"This...is harder than we thought it would be…" Tentomon sweatdropped.

However, as they worked, neither of them noticed a large figure enter the CCT Tower, walking past them seemingly without noticing.

"...did it just get warmer in here…?" Ruby idly asked, tugging at her collar a little.

* * *

"Well...here we are…" Ren said as he and Nora met up with Yang and Pierce.

"So...how are we gonna find wherever Myotismon is hiding?" Nora asked.

"Honestly...I don't really expect us to find the hideout itself persay," Pierce frowned. "But at the very least we should be able to find some clues."

"Guess we'd better start combing the area…" Yang sighed.

The process was...slow...and not really enjoyable. The only nice thing that came out of it was due to how empty the area was, the Digimon could all move freely...though they could do without the unavoidable smell of fish.

"You sure Myotismon would hideout here? He seems like too much of a stuck up type to pick this place as a hideout," Veemon asked, pinching his nose when he accidentally found a pile of discarded fish parts.

"You might be right, but we can't overlook anywhere just because it might not be his style," Wormmon said.

"Well...nothing to do but keep at it I guess…" Salamon sighed.

* * *

"...I say we take a break…" Tentomon suggested. They'd been at this for a few hours now…

"That...might be a good idea," Ruby said, blinking a bit more than usual. She'd been staring at the screen too long…

"I think so too…" Weiss nodded, having the same issue.

"Let's take a few minutes then we can continue later," Palmon nodded, before they all went out of the room and dug into their pouches for a few energy bars. They'd planned to have to be here all day if needs be, so they came prepared.

"You know...all the work aside...hasn't it been getting hotter here?" Tentomon asked.

"So it wasn't just me?" Ruby blinked.

"Maybe the air conditioner is malfunctioning," Weiss mused...before the air soon got hotter. "...okay this doesn't seem right…"

"Yeah, now it feels like the air is getting hotter…" Palmon nodded. THEN the explosions happened.

"Okay, that's our cue to check it out I guess," Tentomon would have blinked if he could.

"It came from the upper floors!" Ruby said...to which they rushed for the elevator.

When they came to the higher floor they were met with several people running away, as a large figure in an overcoat and hat was smashing the consoles. "Hey! What do you think you're doing you brute?!" Weiss said angrily.

The figure turned to them...and they saw the face under the hat. It was metallic with red eyes. Clearly it wasn't human.

"You're a…!" Ruby started, but didn't get to finish as…

"Chosen Children...BURN!" the figure roared as he was covered in blue flames, turning his coat and hat into ashes. Underneath it was a large man with pale skin, a metal mask covering his face with only red eyes visible, chains wrapped around his torso and arms, black plants with a flame pattern on them with boots that had skulls on the tip of them, and blue hair on top of his head that looked like a flame, and of course, blue flames came off his body like steam.

"That's DeathMeramon. Careful, he's a strong one!" Weiss said as she did a quick check on the Analyzer.

 _Digimon Analyzer: DeathMeramon_

 _DeathMeramon. Data Type. A Perfect Level Flame Digimon. A dark evolution of Meramon, he is far more sinister than his previous form, with flames that burn brighter. Although flame Digimon tend to be weak against Digimon with water or ice powers, this doesn't matter to DeathMeramon, as it would be like pouring water on a hot stone. His special attacks are Heavy Metal Fire, melting down the metal in his mouth before firing it at his opponents mixed into his blue flames, and Heat Chain, using one of his blazing chains like a whip._

"Guys! We've got a problem! A Digimon is attacking the CCT, its DeathMeramon!" Ruby quickly said into her scroll.

"What?! Hang on, we'll be there as soon as we can!" Gyro said, followed by several more nods of agreement.

"Pierce, you guys better stay where you are. If you've got a lead, it'd be better if you take it. We can handle DeathMeramon!" Jaune said.

"...alright. We'll leave it to you," Pierce said, albeit reluctantly before the call was ended.

Just in time too, as they were forced to evade a blue fireball, which impacted the elevator, disabling it. "Well...there goes our escape route," Palmon chuckled weakly.

"Then nothing to do but beat him," Tentomon said firmly as the two ditched their disguises.

 **(Play Brave Heart)**

"Tentomon, Evolution! Kabuterimon!"

"Palmon, Evolution! Togemon!"

To anyone watching, a floor on the upper part of the CCT Tower suddenly exploded outward, as a trio of large monsters burst out, scaring the shit out of anyone who had been nearby, the three landing on top of a nearby building. Once the dust settled, the students and people visiting were met with the sight of what appeared to be a man covered in blue fire fighting off a giant cactus with boxing gloves, and a large blue insect.

"What the fucking hell ARE those?!" a random male student shouted.

"I don't know but I'm not sticking around to find out!" one of his friends added before running away."

"Is...is this some kind of movie none of us were told about?" a random student asked in utter bewilderment.

"Don't know, don't care, but I'm getting the hell out of here!" her friend said, grabbing her arm and pulling her away.

Back with the fight, Kabuterimon rammed into DeathMeramon, the smaller Digimon grunting against the force, but eventually managed to redirect the force, causing Kabuterimon to veer off course a little...but right as that happened, Togemon followed up with a strong punch to gut, causing DeathMeramon to be pushed back considerably. Growling, he opened his mouth. "Heavy Metal Fire!" he called out, shooting the fireball at Togemon who dodged...but at the cost of the fire hitting a section of the CCT Tower, damaging it further.

"Was it just me, or was that last one kinda...deliberate?" Ruby frowned.

"It's not just you...wait...he was smashing up consoles when we found him. That means…" Weiss's eyes widened in realization. "Kabuterimon, Togemon, don't let him attack the CCT! That's exactly what he's trying to do! Destroy the tower!" she called out. They'd long since realized in their various fights, that the Digimon seemed able to hear them in particular better than anyone else. Most likely it was due to the bond they shared.

"I get it!" Ruby blinked in realization as well. "Myotismon must be trying to cut Vale off from the other Kingdoms!"

"And with the entire network down, he'd be able to take over Vale without anyone knowing what happened, and even IF the other Kingdoms came to try and investigate...his forces would pick them off," Weiss nodded.

"That's...actually really clever…" Ruby admitted begrudgingly. "Let's make sure he can't do that."

"Then we'd better end this quickly," Weiss nodded as both of them went to grab their D-Cores and Tags...but just as they were about to, the situation became...a bit more complicated…

Ruby glanced at the sky when she heard some sort of rotor, before her eyes widened as she grabbed Weiss "Hide!"

"Wh-!" Weiss didn't have time to finish as Ruby dragged her behind cover, as she noticed the sound as well, peeking out of cover only to have her eyes widen in understanding.

A news chopper was circling the building, and might have caught sight of them if Ruby hadn't dragged her to cover. Further complicating things, their scrolls were soon receiving an emergency news broadcast, and thus came online, as all over Vale the people were shown the battle live and in color.

 **(Song paused)**

* * *

"Well… now I'm wondering if Qrow slipped me something the last time he visited." Ozpin said, blinking at the odd sight. Being that his office was on top of Beacon Tower...he felt the tremor. Then the large blue insect flew past his window. Now he was honestly starting to wonder if the years he'd been cursed to walk the land had finally started to take their toll on him.

Fortunately, a sudden news feed proved that he wasn't finally losing his mind. Unfortunately it also confirmed that yes, there WAS a giant monster fighting right in the grounds of Beacon. Three of them at that.

"Lisa Lavender here with breaking news! Just moments ago we received several amateur videos of what appeared to be monsters fighting on the CCT tower during our regular traffic report, as such, we just had to verify these claims due to the sheer number of videos we received. To everyone watching, I am both excited yet terrified to confirm that those videos are in fact real!" she said, before the camera panned to the sight of the large insect and cactus fighting against the man covered in fire. "From the looks of things, it seems two of the monsters are ganging up on the smaller monster...yet it seems the smaller one is fending them off well enough by itself!" she reported, as true enough, both the cactus and the insect were hit with a flaming chain, knocking them both back...right before the man on fire began shooting blue fire balls at the tower again. "It seems this one is intent on attacking the tower. Could this merely be a fight for some kind of territory, or are the other two actually defending the tower? Whatever the case, it seems they're at a...wait! Something's happening!" Lisa said, as once again the camera showed the fight, but now the Cactus and the Insect were glowing brightly, their forms shifting. "Something is happening to the opposing monsters…! It...it looks like the insect is growing larger, while the cactus is shrinking!"

When the light subsided, the two creatures were revealed in new forms, the cactus turning into a humanoid fairy-like creature, while the insect was now a large red beetle. "It...it seems as if they'd just undergone some kind of metamorphosis! To all viewers, do NOT change your channels! I have never in all my years seen anything like this!"

Ozpin blinked owlishly at the sight, especially when he saw the fairy quickly zoom past his window, and did she just wave at him? "I… I can't believe this is happening right now… WHAT is happening right now at that?" he said with a sigh as he pinched the bridge of his nose, because for once in his long life, he was utterly lost.

* * *

 **(Resume Brave Heart)**

Now that they'd evolved, the fight was turning in their favor, as DeathMeramon tried to strike them with his chains again, but they deftly dodged, before AtlurKabuterimon rammed into him, catching his torso with his horn and soon brought him flying, before stopping, sending DeathMeramon flying through the air. "Let's end this quick!" AtlurKabuterimon said.

"I agree!" Lillymon nodded as she zoomed past DeathMeramon and soon got a good distance behind him. "Flower Cannon!" she called out, forming her strongest move.

At the same time, AtlurKabuterimon charged his move as well. "Horn Buster!" His attack was launched, hitting DeathMeramon and pushing him back further...right into the shot from Lillymon's Flower Cannon. DeathMeramon soon found himself sandwiched between the two attacks, causing him to let out a roar of pain before both attacks exploded, and he was deleted.

 **(End Song)**

* * *

"And its over!" Lisa said to the camera. "In a sudden turnabout, the other two creatures have defeated the first...and from the looks of it, quite thoroughly," she said. "But now this reporter has only one question left: What now?"

As if to answer her question, when the camera panned to the two remaining creatures, they were both flying towards the tower...only to pass it, before they soon flew away into the sky, so fast that the camera soon lost track of them. "Well… it would appear we have our answer. These monsters just up and left after defeating the other one. It seems their intent had truly been to defend the CCT tower. My only question now is: Are there more of them? This has been Lisa Lavender, Vale News, signing off for now."

* * *

 **And done!**

 **Interesting chapter right?**

 **Yeah, we finally got that Gyro VS Pyrrha fight, and unlike the original THOR, the two are more evenly matched.**

 **Also, Cardin got his ass kicked~**

 **Yeah, that was a lot of fun, especially Jaune's comebacks.**

 **Anyway, hope you enjoyed this one, because...**

 **The Adventure Evolves.**


	37. 36: Clues and Danger! Battle at the Pier

**And the next one!**

 **Actually finished this one a few hours ago, but I was occupied for a little bit so didn't have the chance to post it yet.**

 **But now I do, so enjoy!**

* * *

 **Clues and Danger! Battle at the Pier!  
**

* * *

"Well...first day of our investigations and already things are getting out of hand," Gyro sighed as they were all now gathered at the same cafe that Blake would have chatted with Sun in the original timeline.

"It's...not THAT bad...right?" Jaune asked.

Gyro gave him a deadpan stare, before switching on his scroll. "Read the comments."

'Was that seriously real?!'

'As if the Grimm weren't enough!'

'I bet that was just some publicity stunt'

'Are we being invaded by aliens?'

And on and on the comments went. Suffice to say, they'd no doubt made tonight's headline news.

"Ok… that's pretty bad." Gomamon noted as he was looking from over Jaune's shoulder.

"At least they didn't see Weiss and Ruby." Tentomon said with some relief.

"That's something at least," Yang sighed. "Still...guess Azure was right...how long CAN we keep this a secret?"

"Myotismon tried to take out the CCT. The world is going to have its eyes on the Digimon soon. All we can do is keep the damage down to a minimum," Pierce said, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Other than that, we can just hope and pray this doesn't get more out of hand than it needs to…"

* * *

Unfortunately, it seemed the universe wasn't feeling so nice.

A lone man was looking at the TV in a bar with narrowed red eyes, scratching his stubble on his chin, before looking down at his flask "I'm… pretty sure I haven't drank yet today."

"And I'm pretty sure I'm seeing this too." the bartender said, staring at the TV as well.

"Right, so I'm not drunk for once." the man sighed, palming his face "Great, I wish I was… but, in literally 5 seconds…"

"What?" the bartender said in confusion.

In response, the man held up his hand, before counting down with his fingers, and when he reached zero, his scroll started to ring.

"Freaking called it." the man grumbled as he grabbed his scroll, not even bothering to check the caller ID as he accepted it "I just saw the news Oz, what the hell?"

"I'm as confused as you are Qrow, but I believe you should come back to Vale early." the voice of Ozpin could be heard from the other end.

Qrow groaned at that "You're lucky I didn't start that mission yet." Putting some Lien on the counter, he got up and was soon out of the bar. "Monsters, huh? Whatever happened to just Grimm," he sighed.

* * *

"What the fuck am I seeing right now?" a man with a bowler hat and a white coat asked as he looked at the rather small TV he had in a dark warehouse.

No sound met him, but a rapid series of hand movements were his answer.

"Yes, I know those are monsters, but why the FUCK are they in Vale? And what KIND of monsters?!" the man said angrily.

Again, a series of rapid hand movements answered him.

"Don't you sass me young lady! Or else no more ice cream for you!" the man said in irritation.

The hand movements didn't happen this time, before the young woman answering him was staring at him with wide, pleading eyes.

"Oh no. Those stopped working on me years ago and you know it." the man said, completely unphased by her puppy dog eyes. "More importantly, we'll need to act carefully from now on. Can't have our operations disrupted by random giant monsters," he said with a huff.

* * *

Ozpin frowned as he looked out the window, down at the sight of the battle. Fortunately despite the damages, it was nothing that couldn't be fixed over time. If anything, he was glad the battle happened here rather than near any of the student dorms or main facilities. Still, his mind was focused on the creatures, and how some so large could have gotten in undetected. Truth be told, if there was anything that could come even close to what he'd seen, it would be...his eyes widened in realization when he recalled the battle that had been shown 11 years ago, through screens all over the various Kingdoms. Certainly the creatures seemed different, but what if there was a connection.

Any further thoughts were interrupted though when he was notified of an incoming call. Unsurprisingly, the caller was one James Ironwood.

"I see James didn't waste anytime responding to this situation," came Glynda's voice as she'd just entered the room a moment or two before the call came in.

"It would seem so." Ozpin said with a sigh, before answering the call, the stern visage of James Ironwood appearing on his screen "I assume you also saw the news James?"

"I did, and I don't know what to think honestly. One of those creatures trying to destroy the CCT and the other two protecting it. I wish I knew what was going on." Ironwood answered with a sigh.

"As do I. I won't lie to you James, this is like nothing I have EVER encountered before," Ozpin admitted. "However…"

"Is something the matter?" Glynda asked.

"No, its just that...these creatures remind me of that incident...11 years ago," Ozpin said.

"You mean that bizarre transmission of two monsters fighting? Do you think these things may be related to that?" Ironwood asked.

"It's a possibility that we shouldn't rule out at the very least." Ozpin said with a sure nod.

"True." Ironwood admitted with a nod of his own, before glancing to the side for a second "Leo is late."

"You called him?" Ozpin asked with a raised eyebrow.

Ironwood nodded "I told him to call your office for a conference call."

Ozpin frowned at the news, but just as he was about to sit down, another screen came up, revealing Leo Lionheart, headmaster of Haven. "Ah, there you are, Leo," he nodded.

"You're late," Ironwood frowned.

"M-my apologies. I was...held up with something…" Lionheart said.

"Well, what matters is you're here," Ozpin said. "Now then, regarding the creatures that appeared at the CCT...my biggest concern is how they were able to enter unnoticed. Especially the larger ones."

"Well, about the man on fire, I've read some reports sent in to the Vale News, a lot of people had seen a tall man walking around the city in a trenchcoat apparently." Lionheart said, throwing in his own two cents.

"So it could have been that one had been pretending to be a large human to get inside the CCT undetected," Ironwood nodded. "But that doesn't answer the issue with the other two."

"Actually...I believe the answer may be staring us in the face," Ozpin said after a few moments.

"What do you mean?" Glynda asked.

In response, Ozpin played the part of the footage, showing the creatures going through a metamorphosis.

"So… they were even smaller before taking on those other larger forms." Lionheart realised.

"That is the possibility, yes," Ozpin nodded.

"Then this could very well be a problem beyond even the Grimm," Ironwood frowned. "If they really can take smaller forms, one could easily get behind our defenses, then suddenly grow into its larger form and begin rampaging right in the middle of a city!"

"True, but keep in mind, they weren't fighting like wild beasts, they appeared to be fully sentient." Ozpin said, remembering especially when the fairy waved at him.

"So...what are they anyway?" Lionheart asked.

"I do not know. I have never once seen anything even remotely like them...save for the incident 11 years ago. Perhaps we may just find the answer to that question many of us had back then…" Ozpin frowned.

"So what are we going to do about them?" Ironwood asked.

"For now? Nothing. We'll deal with them on a case by case basis. If any of them prove hostile we will fight. But until then...we wait and observe. It wouldn't do to make more enemies for ourselves at this critical point in time," Ozpin said with finality.

* * *

Meanwhile, on the island of Patch, a man was coming home from work, sighing as he entered his house and walked into his kitchen, his dog waking up and following him into the room. Yawning a little, he went to the fridge and fixed himself a quick sandwich and a glass of water. Setting them on the table, he switched on the television and lazily began switching the channels. At first it was just a few gameshows, the weather, the latest model of scrolls, a monster attack on Beacon, the newest in hunting gear…

Wait, what was that last one?!

The water he was drinking was promptly spat out when his brain made the connection, and quickly switched it back to the previous news channel. From there he saw a trio of monsters duking it out near the CCT Tower that was at the base of Beacon Tower, and had it not been for the fact this was CLEARLY the news channel...he'd probably have wondered if this wasn't just the shoot for some kind of movie.

The man had to blink a few times to make sure he wasn't seeing things, before looking down at his dog, a corgi "Zwei, bite my leg."

Zwei tilted his head in confusion up at him, before shrugging… somehow, and doing as told, biting down on his leg.

The man winced at that, Zwei letting go a few moments later, before looking back at the TV… and he could still see the monsters.

"We're going to Beacon!" the man shouted as he picked up his dog and ran out of his house as fast as he could. And by as fast as he could, we mean there was a literal dust cloud shaped like him and there was a notable trail of dust from where he was running.

* * *

"So...now what do we do?" Ruby asked.

"If I may suggest, you should continue on your lead for the pier," Renamon said...suddenly appearing next to them.

"How'd you get here?!" Pyrrha asked as they jumped in surprise.

"I walked," was Renamon's amused response. "At any rate, Azure is looking into seeing how best to do 'damage control', and Summer is thinking how best to approach this. If this is the scale Myotismon is going for, it will be inevitable that people will want to know of us," Renamon said. "However…"

"Something wrong?" Blake asked.

"Summer believes that if push comes to shove...you all should remain hidden," Renamon said. "At the very least, your connection to the Digimon should not be known."

"Ok, not gonna deny that would be for the best considering the attention it would get us." Gyro said with a sigh.

"Exactly, and Summer also worries about Ironwood." Renamon added with a nod.

"Why would she be worried about General Ironwood?" Weiss asked.

"Right...we didn't mention that," the brothers sighed. "It's not so much what he does but what he might do. You know how he ended up helping the plot for Beacon's downfall, even if unintentionally, right?" Gyro asked.

"...you're afraid if he learns about the Digimon...or more importantly, the Crests…" Blake's eyes widened.

"We fear they may TRY to harness the power in a way that it was not meant to be used," Renamon nodded with a sigh. "Summer told me that at the core he is a good man...but his ways are far too questionable. We cannot afford for the Crests to be misused."

"She's...got a point," Jaune frowned.

"I...can't deny it could be catastrophic if the Crests were to go out of control because they were misused…" Weiss admitted.

"Guess we've got no choice then," Salamon frowned. "We can't let them know about the Crests or us if we can help it."

"A little bit hard since me and Tentomon were seen earlier." Palmon commented.

"But me and Weiss weren't, so as far as everyone knows, there's no connection," Ruby said.

"And we'll have to try and keep it that way for as long as we can," Ren nodded.

"But for now, we'll continue the investigation," Pierce said.

"I'll return to Beacon. Keenan and Falcomon will meet you all at the pier. They're among our best trackers so they may find something," Renamon nodded before all but vanishing.

"What is it with everyone in Summer's group being a ninja," Gyro sighed.

"Even Wizardmon's a bit of a ninja with his invisibility spell." Pierce added, shaking his head in slight annoyance.

"But she's right," Biyomon said. "We should continue investigating the pier for clues. We might find something."

"Right, we'll get to that," Agumon nodded...before adding, "Right after we finish off THAT."

Right on cue a waiter placed what could only be described as an ice cream lover's wet dream, as the absolutely MASSIVE sundae topped with a number of different flavors, showered in chopped nuts, topped with a generous helping of chocolate and strawberry sauce, with freshly picked cherries.

"I dunno about you guys, but that thing is going down," Nora grinned as they all picked up their individual spoons.

"I'm surprised the waiter didn't hear us talk like at all." Yang noted.

"Or maybe he did, but decided it would be better to not get involved," Ren shrugged as the Digimon and Nora started digging in. "We should start before they finish," he added in amusement.

"A guy could lose a hand in there," Jaune said in wry amusement at the...feeding frenzy...this was becoming.

"Let's hope we don't." Blake said with an amused roll of her eyes as she grabbed a spoonful.

As expected, between the 20 of them, the sundae was gone in moments, so paying the cafe what they owed, the group soon made their way back to the pier, but not before meeting up with Keenan and Falcomon, and after a quick relay of information, the two went on ahead by themselves, saying they were more used to doing things on their own. A such, the 20 of them found themselves back at the pier...this time prepared.

"Great idea carrying the nose plugs," Salamon said, as currently they were all wearing nose plugs to defend against the stink.

"Still though...let's not stick around for too long," Gabumon said, earning sounds of agreement.

"We'll comb through the area, then meet back here. As usual, teams of four. Two Digimon and two hunters per group," Gyro said, earning nods from all of them.

This time around, Gyro and Agumon found themselves paired up with Ruby and Palmon as they investigated the docks."Find anything?" Gyro asked when Ruby came back after using her Semblance.

"Nope," Ruby shook her head. "So far nothing yet. What about you guys?"

"Nothing so far," Agumon shook his head. He and Palmon tried searching the roofs. Nothing. He even tried removing the nose plugs to see if he could smell anything. BIG mistake.

"Do you think we're going about this wrong?" Palmon asked.

"Like we're looking for things the wrong way?" Gyro asked, earning a nod. "Hm...you might be right. I mean...Myotismon is flashy, but he's not stupid. What are the odds he'd put his hideout somewhere someone could just stumble upon…"

"Pretty low if you ask me." Ruby admitted.

"For all we know it could even be underground." Agumon added.

"Exactly. There's no way of finding it easily." Gyro said, frowning a bit.

"But...what does that leave us?" Agumon frowned.

"For now? Let's regroup and rethink our plan," Gyro sighed, before the four of them made their way back, planning to call the others once they reached there. However, as they were about to pass a corner, Ruby suddenly grabbed the others and pulled them back.

"Ru-" Gyro didn't get to finish as she clamped his mouth shut, before shushing him, then pointing around the corner. Peeking out, they were met with a small group of Bakemon, seemingly discussing something.

"The boss has been a real slave driver since we got here, huh?" one of them said.

"Well, we are planning to take over this kingdom, so we got a lot of work to do," another said.

"Still...I wish the boss didn't have to set up the base out in the sea. It's such a hassle having to come back and forth…" another said with a sigh.

The four of them couldn't believe the jackpot they'd stumbled upon. What more the Bakemon were soon floating away, possibly toward wherever this 'off the coast' hideout was...or at least the general direction. With that in mind, they began tailing the Digimon.

Their luck seemed to have been good, as the Bakemon never once noticed them following. Heck, it wasn't long before they reached the area where the boats were kept, and saw the Bakemon going into a small boat...one that was designed akin to something in the age of exploration. In short, it was a wooden sailboat.

"Wow...they really like it old school," Ruby couldn't help but say.

"Let's see if we can get a closer look. Maybe even some kind of tracker," Gyro said, to which they slowly moved towards the ship. By now the ship had started to sail away, but if they timed it right….

However, before they COULD actually try anything, they were forced to dodge when a tentacle came out of the water and tried to squash them.

"What the heck was that?!" Agumon said in confusion as they got away from the edge of the water.

"We'll have the answer when whatever it is comes out of the water." Gyro said, grabbing his scroll and readying the analyzer. True enough, when the Digimon surfaced, they were met with the sight of what could only be described as a giant white squid with a mouth and black markings on its head.

Gyro looked at it for several moments, before sighing "I don't want to know how the anatomy works." he muttered, before looking at the analyzer "Ok, so that's Gesomon then, an Adult Level."

 _Digimon Analyzer: Gesomon_

 _Gesomon. Virus Type. An Adult Level Mollusk Digimon. Known as the White Demon of the Depths, grabbing at its prey before pulling them into the depths of the ocean. It prefers hit and run tactics while fighting. It's special attack is Devil Bashing, unleashing a trashing with it's many tentacles._

"Okay...its an aquatic Digimon, but its by itself. I think we can handle it," Agumon said.

"But just in case," Ruby added before pulling out her scroll and texting a message to the others, telling them where they are and that a Digimon is here. However, just as she finished, Gesomon took another swing at them, forcing them to dodge again. Acting quickly, they were about to go for their D-Cores...but stopped for a moment.

"What's wrong?" Palmon asked.

"Yeah, we should evolve!" Agumon agreed.

"But if we do that, we'll draw attention again," Ruby frowned.

"She's right, we need to minimize attention as much as we can, especially seeing as Gesomon is only at the Adult level," Gyro grit his teeth. "Ruby, I think Lillymon might be our best bet right now."

"Oh yeah, Lillymon is smaller than the other Perfects, so that means I can fight without drawing quite as much attention," Palmon nodded.

"And they've already seen you, so if anyone saw you they'd think you simply appeared again, not that there's more of us," Gyro added.

"Alright. Let's go, Palmon," Ruby said, grabbing her D-Core.

"Palmon, Evolution! Togemon! Super Evolution! Lillymon!"

"Vicious Vine!" Lillymon called out, meeting one of Gesomon's tentacles head on, and knocking it back as the monster roared in pain. Aside from the thorns, the power level difference was making itself known. Realizing that, it quickly submerged.

"Careful, he's gonna try to attack from the water where you can't see him!" Ruby warned.

"Got it!" Lillymon nodded, keeping her guard up as she carefully scanned the water. As expected, Gesomon tried to snap at her whenever she got close to the water, and in some cases MIGHT have landed a lucky hit...if those attempts at her blind spot didn't draw fire from Ruby who had Crescent Rose at the ready, shooting down any tentacles that got close to her partner, and also allowing Lillymon to make her move.

"Vicious Vine!" she called out, wrapping a vine around one of the tentacles, before grabbing hold. "Haaaaaa!" she shouted as with a strong pull, she drew the larger Digimon out of the water, and was about to throw him towards the land where he'd have been defenseless...if it weren't for a sudden arc of electricity that came out of the water and hit Lillymon in the back.

"Lillymon!" Ruby called out in alarm at seeing her partner literally shot in the back.

"Damn, they had reinforcements!" Gyro growled, before running to the edge of the water, and using his Semblance, propelled himself forward in a great leap, and managing to catch Lillymon just as she reverted to Tanemon due to being shocked out of her Perfect form, and landing on the other side of the pier before either of them touched the water. "You okay?" he asked her.

"I'm...ow...okay…" Tanemon said, still feeling a little tingly from the sudden shock.

Gyro nodded in relief before glaring at the water, just as the attacker rose out of it. It looked a LOT like Seadramon, with a maroon colored body, a black helmet over it's head that had a golden horn coming out of it, and dark blonde hair on the back of the helmet.

"Is that...MegaSeadramon?" Agumon asked, remembering it from a night he and the others had been browsing the Analyzer.

"No, its different," Ruby said as she checked. "Uh oh...its WaruSeadramon and he's even MORE vicious than MegaSeadramon!"

 _Digimon Analyzer: WaruSeadramon_

 _WaruSeadramon. Virus Type. A Perfect Level Aquatic Digimon. A Digimon that evolved from a truly wicked Seadramon, its thoughts are filled with nothing but destruction and cruelty. It can control the powers of darkness with the horn on its head. Its special attacks are Shadow Javelin, firing a bolt of black lightning from it's horn, and Darkstorm, engulfing the enemy in a whirlpool summoned with the powers of darkness._

"Guess we've got no choice. Let's go, buddy!" Gyro said, grabbing his D-Core.

 **(Play Brave Heart)**

Agumon, Evolution! Greymon! Super Evolution! MetalGreymon!"

The large form of MetalGreymon was soon flying over the water. "Giga Destroyer!" he called out, firing his missiles, causing a few explosions in the water and forcing the two aquatic Digimon to separate. However, while they couldn't directly help each other, they could still shoot attacks out from the water, forcing MetalGreymon to evade.

"Okay...this is getting us nowhere…" Gyro frowned. Fortunately…

"Hey!" came a pair of voices as Gyro turned to see Jaune and Pyrrha coming towards them.

"We came as soon as we could," Pyrrha said as Gomamon and Gabumon came up behind them.

"Well you guys came at a great time. Jaune, this one's on you and Gomamon," Gyro said.

"Leave it to us," Gomamon nodded.

"I'll help too," Gabumon said.

"Gomamon, Evolution! Ikkakumon! Super Evolution! Zudomon!"

"Gabumon, Evolution! Garurumon! Super Evolution! WereGarurumon!"

Gesomon shot his tentacles out of the water in an attempt to snare MetalGreymon, but once again, he found his tentacles caught when WereGarurumon grabbed hold of it. "We're having squid tonight!" WereGarurumon growled, before he pulled the Digimon out of the water, and slammed him into a section of the pier, causing him to roll on the ground painfully.

At the same time, Zudomon was already in the water, and when WaruSeadramon tried to stab him with his horn...well… "Fore!" Zudomon shouted, as he slammed his hammer into WaruSeadramon, launching him out of the water for a bit, before he landed back in section a bit further out.

"Go guys! Kick their butts!" Ruby cheered as the four of them had regrouped, Gyro giving Tanemon back to her.

"You can do it guys!" Jaune cheered as well.

"Don't give them a chance to retaliate!" Pyrrha added.

Gyro however… "Uh...I think we should run," he said, pointing upward, towards the approaching news chopper.

"They picked a 'great' time to show up…" Jaune groaned as the four of them and Tanemon ducked into a nearby warehouse, before opening their scrolls to watch the news while also watching the fight. At the same time they texted the others, warning them to stay away for now.

Up in the chopper, Lisa Lavender was once again getting ready for a scoop.

"Can't believe we have two in one day." she said with a frown as she looked out the door, before turning to the cameraman "I feel like this is bigger than we could ever think."

"Honestly? Wouldn't be surprised." the cameraman said with a shrug. "Well, get ready. We're rolling in 3...2...1…"

"This is Lisa Lavender, bringing you another special report. No more than just a few hours following the monster attack in Beacon, yet another sighting has arose. We are currently at the pier where what appear to be a large turtle like creature with a hammer, a cyborg flying reptile, and an honest to Oum werewolf seem to be fighting against a giant white squid with a grotesque looking mouth, and what appears to be a large sea serpent of some kind! So far it seems the squid and serpent are at a disadvantage, but that begs the question, what do either side want? Are the ones winning the ones defending, or the ones attacking? We will maintain a safe distance and continue...wait...something's happen! It seems the squid is undergoing a metamorphosis much like two of the previous creatures!"

True enough, Gesomon had been so angry, that in his anger, he'd triggered an evolution.

 **(Song paused)**

He'd gone from being a marine creature to humanoid, wearing a blue body suit with tears at the extremities for his hands and feet, as his hands seemed to be formed from Gesomon's tentacles, while having two more of them hanging off his back. He had a cape covering his back, and a long tail that seemed to be from an octopus tentacle. His eyes were red, and he sported a third one on his forehead.

"Oh… crap." Jaune winced from their hiding spot as he looked at the analyzer.

"What is it?" Pyrrha asked with a worried frown.

"MarineDevimon." Jaune answered.

"Great… another one." Gyro said with a growl. They REALLY didn't want to have to deal with another Devimon.

 _Digimon Analyzer: MarineDevimon_

 _MarineDevimon. Virus Type. A Perfect Level Aquatic Beast Man Digimon. A Digimon known to fight dirty and brutally, using every advantage it has to beat down its opponent. It is a Digimon filled with nothing but hatred for the world above the seas, and the two tentacles on its back have minds of their own. Its special attacks are Guilty Black, firing a venomous ink from its mouth which saps the strength of its opponents and Neck Hanging using its tail to hoist up opponents in an attempt to hang them._

Caught off guard by the evolution, WereGarurumon was unprepared when he was hit with a spray of ink, and when it hit, he felt his strength drain, leaving him open to a strong strike from the tentacles, knocking him back.

"Not good!" Zudomon said, noticing what happened...and getting a tail slap for his trouble. "Help WereGarurumon! I got this!"

"Got it!" MetalGreymon nodded, before turning his attention to the newly evolved Digimon and pointed his arm. "Trident Arm!" he called out, extending his arm and pushing MarineDevimon back, giving WereGarurumon time to get back on his feet. "You okay?'

"I'll be fine. Just let my guard down for a bit," WereGarurumon nodded, before letting himself fall into the water, getting the venomous ink off. He jumped out a moment later, still weakened but at least the effects were gone. "Careful, he fights dirty."

As if to confirm that, a pair of tentacles lashed out and wrapped around both of them, the two soon struggling against the surprisingly strong mon. At the same time, WaruSeadramon had managed to wrap around Zudomon, though he was making...questionable...progress, on account of Zudomon slamming his hammer into his face a few times. Overall the fight had become a stalemate.

"It appears that the fight has lost any signs of clear winners now, as both groups appear to be on equal footing. But yet, we still don't know which side is the one we'd want to see winning." Lisa commented back in the chopper.

"Hate to admit it, but she's right about no clear winner," Gyro growled in their hiding spot. They wanted to help, but they had to keep this secret for as long as possible. As it was, all they could do was trust in their partners and hope for the best.

"I've gotta help!" Tanemon said, but Ruby stopped her.

"No, Tanemon! You're still hurt from the fight!" Ruby said with worry.

"This...is going to be a problem…" Jaune groaned at their hands being proverbially tied. However… "Uh...does someone hear something?"

Back up in the chopper, he wasn't the only one.

"Uh...does anyone else hear that?" Lisa asked, to which the cameraman nodded, and started trying to find the source...and found what appeared to be a fast approaching dot.

"Uh...wha?" was all the five of them in the hiding spot could say at the sight of a fast approaching boat. Their eyes soon widened to the size of saucers when they realized it was a row boat...going fast enough to beat a speed boat.

"Well… this beats everything we've seen in the Digital World." Gyro said slowly.

"I'll say, whoever's rowing must have a lot of upper body strength." Pyrrha added with a nod.

"Hey, I think I can see who's rowing the boat," Ruby started, as the object came closer...then she had a blank look on her face.

"Something wrong?" Jaune asked.

Ruby wordlessly pointed to the additional passenger on the boat aside from the blonde man who was rowing while facing away from the camera. It was a corgi. A VERY familiar corgi.

"...isn't that your family dog?" was Pyrrha's flat question, to which Ruby nodded.

"...why do I suddenly wish I was fighting Devimon, Etemon, and Myotismon in one shot while buck naked?" Gyro asked, breaking into cold sweat at realizing who was rowing...and he didn't need to think too hard on WHY he was coming all the way here either.

"Call your mom, or Gyro might faint." Tanemon told Ruby, who nodded before texting her mother, who'd managed to get her hands on a scroll thanks to Azure.

"Well...not that it helps in a good way...but...he's kinda headed straight for WaruSeadramon...and I'm pretty sure he has no idea they're in front of him…" Jaune said, as true enough, the rowboat rammed right into WaruSeadramon, the force naturally destroying the boat, and throwing its occupants into the air and into the water a good distance away...while the force had actually been hard enough to cause the Digimon to roar in pain and let go of Zudomon.

"...well folks...I...honestly have no idea what just happened…" Lisa blinked as everyone in Vale just saw a rowboat ram into a giant sea serpent hard enough to cause it pain...after having been moving faster than a speed boat. "Whatever the case, it seems this has given the turtle an advantage," she said, as true enough, with the serpent no longer wrapping around it, the turtle-like creature grabbed hold of it, and slammed it's hammer into the serpent's face so hard, the horn actually broke.

"Well...that turned the tables in our favor," Pyrrha blinked.

"But dad and Zwei are in the water!" Ruby said in worry.

"We'll get them," Jaune reassured. "But we can't do that with WaruSeadramon still in the water."

As if in response to his words, Zudomon grabbed the dazed WaruSeadramon, and turned to his friends. "Hey guys, heads up!" he shouted, before throwing WaruSeadramon.

 **(Resume song)**

MetalGreymon and WereGarurumon heard that, and saw the incoming serpent. Blinking, they quickly threw themselves to the side, causing MarineDevimon to have all of 2 seconds to see his incoming comrade, before he was bowled over, letting go of his two opponents in the process as the two evil Digimon went rolling and smashed into a nearby warehouse, now in a tangle of limbs.

"We'd better wrap things up before we end up destroying more of the area," MetalGreymon frowned.

"I second that," WereGarurumon agreed.

"But we gotta get them away from the city too," Zudomon added, having taken a moment to find the two that had been in the rowboat, depositing an out cold Taiyang on the side of the pier, with Zwei licking his face to try and wake him.

"Then let's get them somewhere we can finish this without collateral damage. Think you can handle the fire power?" WereGarurumon asked MetalGreymon.

"Leave it to me," MetalGreymon nodded.

"I'll help you get the height," Zudomon added.

"Heh, well then, let's go guys!" WereGarurumon said as he jumped and got behind the still tangled Digimon. "Kaiser Nail!" he called out, striking them with as much force as he could, sending them flying towards Zudomon, while MetalGreymon took to the skies.

"Hammer Spark!" Zudomon called out, his hammer sparking with electricity before he swung it at the incoming fastball, sending the two hapless Digimon up into the sky.

"Game over. Giga Destroyer!" MetalGreymon called out, firing the two missiles, which hit the Digimon dead on, deleting them in a massive explosion.

 **(Song end)**

"Strike!" WereGarurumon shouted with a laugh.

"I might have a good career in baseball." Zudomon added, chuckling as he rotated his arm.

"You know, kind of surprised with how long we're able to hold these forms now." MetalGreymon added as he landed.

"Well, we can worry about that later. We should get out of here," WereGarurumon said, earning a nod from his teammates.

"Um… excuse me?" they all stopped when they heard the voice, turning slowly to the chopper which had landed on top of a crate, and Lisa Lavender was holding her mic out to them "Would any of you be interested in an interview?" she asked, some nervousness in her voice. She wouldn't deny this was probably one of her...less than smart ideas...but with Vale practically in an uproar with the strange creatures, and the fact that clearly they're intelligent if they were able to communicate with each other...in human language at that...this may be her one chance to give Vale and Remnant a clearer view of what is going on.

"Uh…" the three of them blinked, not expecting this. On one hand they should get going, but on the other hand, they didn't exactly want to do anything that would make THEM look suspicious so… "Uh...sure?" MetalGreymon said.

Meanwhile, their partners were looking on rather blankly. "...okay, this just got strange…" Gyro deadpanned.

"But not the worst we've seen…" Jaune sighed.

"...I don't know if that's a good or bad thing…" Pyrrha sighed.

"Okay, before you start, we're kinda in a hurry, so...5 Questions only, if that's okay," Zudomon said, scratching the back of his head awkwardly.

"Oh! Um, of course." Lisa said with a surprised nod, before clearing her throat "Now, I suppose my main question, and the one the whole world has, is, why are you here?"

"Chasing after a criminal is the best way of putting it. He took over part of one of the main continents of our world, securing a gate to this world, and now he's planning on invading your world, so we chased after him to stop him." WereGarurumon answered.

"So, the ones you beat were his soldiers then?" she asked again.

"Right, we were looking around the docks because we heard rumors about weird sightings around here, but then those two attacked us." Zudomon nodded.

"I see. What are your names?" she finally got around to asking.

"I'm MetalGreymon, these are WereGarurumon and Zudomon. The enemy we're chasing calls himself Myotismon, and he's basically a vampire." MetalGreymon answered this time.

"So he would be the one behind the sudden anemia cases then." Lisa gasped in realisation, connecting the dots, before moving to her next question "About the fairy and beetle that were seen earlier today, are they with you?"

"That's right, the fairy is Lillymon, and the beetle is AtlurKabuterimon." WereGarurumon explained simply.

Lisa nodded at the answer, making sure to remember it "And, lastly, what exactly are you?"

"We're Digital Monsters, Digimon for short." Zudomon fielded this one.

"Please leave the area now, we need to have a private discussion between ourselves." MetalGreymon asked politely.

"Uh, alright, thank you for your answers." Lisa said, a bit surprised, before getting back on the chopper along with her cameraman, turning to him with a large grin "You got all of that right?"

"Every single second of it." the cameraman nodded, flipping the small screen around to let her see he had indeed recorded it all.

"The scoop of the century… and it's ours!" Lisa cheered as the chopper took off.

* * *

 **I like giving Lisa a personality, it's fun.**

 **But, yeah, villains CAN evolve just straight up suddenly, as you all saw with Gesomon evolving into MarineDevimon right there.**

 **Also, Gyro is really close to pissing his pants because of Taiyang being there.**

 **But anyway, sorry for yet ANOTHER cliffhanger people, but that's just the way it goes, because...**

 **The Adventure Evolves.**


	38. 37: Bond of Brothers! Yatagaramon!

**We're back!**

 **And this time we have a bit more happening.**

 **I know the title says one thing, but trust me, there's more than just that.**

 **So let's get this rolling!**

* * *

 **Bond of Brothers! Yatagaramon!  
**

* * *

"Well...this is certainly an...unexpected development…" Ozpin sighed as once again he and his faction were having a conference meeting. However, this time there was another addition to the group. One Qrow Branwen.

After the recent news report that had hit Vale, well...there was a LOT to discuss.

"You're telling me," Qrow couldn't help but chuckle almost cynically. "Didn't know someone would be crazy enough to try and interview a bunch of monsters...and actually get it."

"For once, I find myself agreeing with you Qrow." Ironwood said with a sigh. "However...assuming these three can be trusted, the information they gave is anything but comforting."

Ozpin nodded at that. "It certainly is worrying. A criminal from another world intending to invade and subjugate Remnant…" he mused, thinking how best to respond to this…

"And a rather peculiar name for their kind. Digital Monsters…" Lionheart commented.

"Seems like their implying their not exactly organic, well, maybe to themselves they are, but if their name is literal…" Qrow trailed off.

"Then they would be living and breathing constructs of data." Ozpin concluded.

"That's… concerning." Lionheart admitted.

"But that shouldn't be possible," Glynda frowned. "Data can't suddenly materialize in the real world."

"Nor should it be able to suddenly take on the form of monsters that are fully sentient," Ironwood added.

"Do you think they are lying?" Ozpin quirked an eyebrow.

"Not so much lying as either not telling the whole truth, or they themselves aren't aware of it," Ironwood mused. The interview video showed the three as rather awkward and unsure, clearly not expecting to have the interview. They seemed genuine.

"Well, don't keep us waiting, Jimmy, what do you think is really going on with those things?" Qrow said in amusement. This he had to hear.

Ironwood rolled his eyes at the nickname, but chose to ignore it for now "I believe they were created by someone, but that they aren't aware of it. There's no way data can just take on a physical form in the real world, nor can a creature take on such a sudden metamorphosis, and especially not ones so drastic."

"A cactus turning into a fairy of sorts, a beetle suddenly growing a shell, and a squid becoming some kind of humanoid creature. For all we know, the others also underwent these kinds of metamorphosis." Ozpin listed off what they had seen so far.

"And I think you may have been right about a link existing to what happened all those years ago Ozpin, I did some comparisons, and the one that calls itself MetalGreymon looks extremely similar to the dinosaur from back then. I believe they may be one and the same." Ironwood added.

"I believe you may be right. Perhaps he'd also gone through one such metamorphosis," Ozpin nodded. "Though I must admit...these metamorphosis are quite astounding if they even include what appear to be cybernetics."

"If my theory is right, it's because they're artificial. They don't follow the same 'rules' we have to follow," Ironwood said. "At any rate, what are we going to do about them?"

"At the moment? Beyond mobilizing to counter this 'Myotismon', nothing," Ozpin sighed. "There is too much we don't know, and from what little we have seen, these creatures can be highly destructive. I would rather not risk the lives of good hunters more than necessary…"

"Then perhaps I could send a few squads of Atlesian Knights," Ironwood suggested.

"That...may be a good idea," Ozpin nodded. "While I admit I've always had my misgivings about that, this time I do believe it may be prudent to make use of them."

"Just don't mobilise the WHOLE fleet James." Lionheart added dryly.

"...of course," Ironwood nodded...to which the rest of the group gained a deadpan look, all of them realizing that yes, he WOULD have mobilized the whole fleet...not that they could really blame them. Grimm were one thing, which they were...familiar...with. These Digimon however were completely new and unknown.

"At any rate, for now we have no choice but to wait and see. Should any new information come up, we will discuss things further," Ozpin said and with that, the meeting was ended.

* * *

Once the meeting was ended, Qrow was making his way to his nieces' dorm room. Earlier he'd actually been at the pier shortly after the fight ended. Heck, he had been on his way to Vale on a speedboat when lo and behold, his brother-in-law and the family dog came zooming past him. In a rowboat. So fast apparently he rammed right into one of the Digimon hard enough to hurt it. By the time he DID get to the pier, the fight was over, and he'd ended up seeing his niece, Ruby, of all people, checking on an out cold Taiyang with what he had assumed to be her teammates. The scene itself, while odd, wasn't really strange. Maybe they'd just been in the area when the fight happened or something. No, what he REALLY found weird, especially now, was the small 'plush toy' Ruby had on her. He didn't know why, but something about that thing was bugging him. At any rate, since he was here, he might as well drop by, while seeing if Taiyang had woken up by now or not.

He eventually reached the door, but before touching the doorknob, he decided to listen in a bit, to see if he might hear something to help him understand why the plush toy was bugging him.

Lo and behold, he was pretty sure he just did.

"Is he gonna be ok Ruby?" a voice he didn't know asked.

"He should be fine Tanemon, he'll wake up soon enough." his youngest niece answered.

Qrow blinked at that, before quickly remembering how all the names of the Digimon they had heard from the news ended in 'mon' which he assumed was short for monster considering what that Zudomon had said.

"I don't know about Gyro and Pierce though." he heard Yang's voice this time, probably talking about friends they had made.

"Yes, well, considering the circumstances, I can't blame them for being so nervous." another voice he didn't recognised talked, this one sounding like someone who was good at a dry delivery.

"Can somebody get this dog to stop licking me?!" another voice pleaded, before a few moments later, whoever it was sighed in relief "Thanks Weiss."

Weiss...why did that name sound rather familiar?

"Summer can't get here fast enough." another voice added.

Qrow paused at that, it took him a few seconds, remembering that they were in fall, so it was unlikely they were talking about the season, which in his mind, meant only one thing…

"It can't be…" he blinked. Could it? With that in mind, he grabbed hold of the doorknob and twisted it open. When he got in, he was met with the sight of Ruby and Yang, along with a girl in white (a Schnee he realized when he noticed her resemblance to another such woman), a black cat faunus, two guys Yang's age who were...standing as far away from Taiyang as possible… a blonde kid who seemed to be trying to go for a knight look, Pyrrha Nikos herself (she was on cereal boxes, so he'd seen her face plenty of times by now) a tall boy who looked like he came from Mistral, a girl shorter than Ruby with orange hair,and most importantly, what appeared to be 10 plush toys, including the one from earlier sitting in a neat pile with each other. A small pink puffball, the plant from before, a child sized pink bird, a large ladybug of some kind, a small guinea pig with bat wings for ears, a small grey seal thing with a tuft of orange hair, a brown puffball with a large horn, a small dog, an overgrown caterpillar, and a blue reptile of some kind.

"Oh! Uncle Qrow," Ruby said in mild surprise. "We didn't hear you knock."

"I...figured I'd surprise you a little," he said, putting on a look of amusement. "So...how's Tai doing?"

"Dad's fine. He should be up soon, though honestly we think he's just...really tired," Yang said.

"Heh, no surprise there…" Qrow chuckled. "I honestly thought I'd been REALLY drunk when I saw him zoom by on a rowboat."

"I...can imagine that would be a shock," one of the two boys who were clearly twins said. The one with the goatee.

"Almost spilled my flask." Qrow admitted with a smirk, before looking more closely at the twins "So… why are you two so far away from Taiyang?"

"We don't want to get punched." they both answered together.

Qrow blinked at the answer "Why would he punch you?"

"Short answer, I'm dating Pierce, the one with the goatee, and Ruby is dating Gyro, the shorter one with the goggles." Yang answered for them.

Qrow blinked several times at that "Well… that was fast." he said, before looking back at the twins "You won't have any troubles with me as long as you don't force them to do something they don't want to, alright?"

"Yes sir." Gyro said with a nod, his body relaxing slightly.

Qrow nodded, he could tell the boys were honest at least, so he wouldn't hound them like Taiyang might, before he looked back at the girls "So, you gonna introduce me to your friends?"

"Oh! Right, almost forgot." Ruby said with a nervous laugh "So, this is Weiss Schnee, I don't think a full introduction is needed."

"I've met the oldest schnee kid already… I just hope you're not too much like her." Qrow commented idly.

"...I don't think I want to know what that means." Weiss said after a moment.

"Moving on," Ruby quickly said, hoping to steer this away. "This is Blake Belladonna. She's from Menagerie and she and Weiss are on our team," Ruby said, introducing said faunus.

"Nice to meet you. I heard you're the one who trained Ruby," Blake said with a small smile.

"I am." Qrow said with a nod, before glancing between Weiss and Blake "Never thought I'd see a Schnee get along with a faunus." he admitted.

"I like to make my own decisions." Weiss answered, crossing her arms.

Qrow smirked "Good on you for that then."

"Next up is our neighbours I guess." Yang said with a chuckle "First up is Jaune Arc, he's the leader of their team."

"Nice to meet you sir." Jaune said with a simple polite nod, which Qrow returned.

"Next up, Pyrrha Nikos, and she wishes she needed an introduction." Yang said with a laugh.

"Don't like the fame then?" Qrow commented.

"I really don't." Pyrrha admitted, earning an understanding nod from Qrow.

"Then you have Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie, they've been together for like years now." Yang continued.

"Only recently started dating though." Nora said with a small laugh.

Ren just nodded with a light chuckle.

"Heh, quite the group you got here," Qrow said as he looked them over...before turning his gaze to the pile of plushies. "And what's the story with these guys? Don't recall ever seeing you with them," he said.

The group glanced at each other for a split second, before Weiss decided to speak "Their mine. I just, uh, gave one to Ruby."

Qrow looked at them dryly "Is that so? Funny, they look pretty weird though, don't think I've seen these things in stores before."

"Custom made." Weiss said easily.

"Uh-huh." Qrow answered dryly "Then how come I heard Ruby talk to someone called Tanemon earlier, and there's no one else in this room. Plus, the way that name ends, sounds pretty similar to what the Digimon called themselves."

"Uh…" Ruby gulped.

"Okay girls I think that's enough. He's onto us, so no point hiding it I guess," Gyro sighed. He knew it would likely be a matter of time, but still...he hadn't expected it to be THIS fast…

"Does that mean I can complain about being Koromon again now?!" Koromon asked, some annoyance in his tone.

Seriously, they had mastered this, but the interview had forced them to stay in the Perfect Level a bit longer, so now he was back to Koromon.

"Please stop it with that." Tsunomon requested dryly.

"...okay...I knew I shouldn't be surprised, but this is still...quite something…" Qrow deadpanned.

"Your telling me." a voice said from behind him, one that made him freeze.

Qrow turned around so fast, it was a miracle his head remained screwed on. There, standing right in the doorway, was Summer Rose.

"Though I can't say I'm surprised you were the one to find out. It's been a long time, Qrow," Summer chuckled, amused at the rather...silly...expression on his face.

"Bu...wha...huh?" Qrow seemed to have a hard time finding his voice.

"He appears to be in shock," came a new voice, as a bipedal fox came in after Summer, followed by a kid who looked like he'd been living in the forest for years, a big owl wearing ninja gear, a short guy dressed like a wizard, and a guy who was clearly the older brother of the twins.

"Considering what he's just seen...it's really no surprise," the boy sighed.

"I'm surprised he's doing worse than me… then again, I DID have the suspicion Summer was alive." the older brother murmured to the wizard.

"That and you didn't personally know her. These things have an impact too," the wizard added.

"That's fair. So...how long do you think before he snaps out of it?" the young man asked.

"I got this," the small seal said, before floating over to Qrow's hand, and giving it a small bite.

"Gah!" Qrow snapped his hand back. "Did you HAVE to snap me back to reality THAT way?" he asked in annoyance.

"Yep," the seal said in amusement.

"Bukamon…" Jaune sighed at his partner's actions.

"Anyway, Bukamon's antics aside..." Summer started in amusement "How have you been Qrow?"

"I'm… good, I guess. I should be the one asking you that though, you've been gone for 11 years." Qrow said after a few moments.

"A little under 14 years actually," Summer mused.

"Huh?" Qrow blinked.

"Time moves a bit differently for some reason between worlds. It's been about 14 years for me," Summer explained.

"Wait...between worlds...so let me get this straight," Qrow sighed, putting the pieces together. "We couldn't find you cause you were actually in where the Digimon come from?"

"That is correct," the bipedal fox said.

"And you are?" Qrow decided to ask.

"Ah, allow me to introduce our little...rebellion group if you will," Summer said. "The fox here is my Digimon partner, Renamon. The boy is my student, Keenan, and the owl is his partner/adoptive brother, Falcomon. The wizard is our resident bookworm and ancient text specialist, Wizardmon, and the young man is Azure Vermillion. He's not part of our group per say, but he's been helping out a lot since we came here."

"I'm Ozpin's new teacher on the school, and the guy who got Summer a new scroll." Azure introduced himself with a laugh.

"He's also been really helpful in getting information to us." Wizardmon added, and the ones in the know were positive he meant more than just simple intel.

"Right…" Qrow mused. "Wait, what did you mean by 'Digimon Partner'? Judging by the way you said it, it's more than just a partner who's a Digimon," he said, noticing that detail.

"Well...you're not wrong," Summer admitted, but inwardly wincing at THAT misstep. Not that she didn't trust Qrow, but she really would rather if some of the finer details remained unknown. "It's a little something that happens if a Digimon and a human or faunus forms a strong bond. They become 'partners', and form a...I suppose a 'symbiotic relationship' would be a good way of describing it."

"And not the bad kind of symbiotes either, we sort of make each other better I guess, the humans helping the Digimon evolve into stronger forms, and the Digimon helping the humans understand themselves better." Gyro added his own explanation in as well.

Qrow would have asked more, but the sound of someone stirring on the bed got their attention. Hearing Taiyang start to wake up, the Digimon immediately went back to their 'just plushies act', while Summer pulled her hood on, before Renamon and Falcomon seemingly vanished, both of them pulling a 'ninja trick'.

"Dad? You okay?" Ruby asked worriedly as she and Yang went up to their father.

"I'm… I'm ok yeah." Taiyang said with a grown as he sat up, rubbing his head with a wince "What happened?"

"We were hoping you could tell us, you kind of rammed a rowboat into a monster at the pier and you and Zwei got sent flying off." Yang said, simplifying it for him.

"Did I at least hurt whatever I hit?" Taiyang couldn't help but ask.

"From what we heard, you distracted it at least." Ruby said, smiling a little.

"Better than nothing at least." Taiyang said with a laugh, before looking at both his daughters "I'm relieved to see you're alright though, I saw the news earlier and I kind of panicked before running off and commandeering a fisherman's boat."

"Did you use the 'official Hunter business' line?" Qrow asked with a snort of amusement, something Summer had to hold back so her husband wouldn't notice her too quickly.

"Of course I did, fastest way to get here." Taiyang said with a shrug.

"I rented a speed boat, and you somehow got here faster than me." Qrow shot back dryly.

"I did?" Taiyang blinked. He...really wasn't paying attention when he was rowing. "...though I'm sure I felt a few bumps along the way…" he mused.

"I'm sure it wasn't anything to worry about," Yang said reassuringly.

* * *

Meanwhile, out at sea, a pirate crew was futilely trying to save their ship which was taking in water from a gaping hole in the hull, shapes suspiciously like a rowboat, a man, and a dog.

Not too far away, a large rock formation, big enough to sink a ship that wasn't careful, had been split in two, and just after that, a sea serpent Grimm was slowly fading away...sporting a hole right through its back area, and its mouth agape, as it had been killed in that position.

* * *

"So...who are your friends?" Taiyang asked. "...and why are those two boys looking like they want to jump out the window at a moments notice?"

Speaking of Gyro and Pierce, the two of them were silently trying to work out an escape plan in case Taiyang tried to hurt them.

"Uh…" Ruby was at a loss for words as she looked at her boyfriend and his brother, before focusing back on her dad "Well, we already did introductions with uncle Qrow, but we have Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, and Gyro Vermillion, those three are on a team with me and Yang, and then you have Jaune Arc, Pyrrha Nikos, Nora Valkyrie, Lie Ren and Pierce Vermillion are team JNPPR, their our neighbours from across the hall and our friends." Ruby said, pointing to everyone as she presented them.

Meanwhile, Gyro and Pierce had moved into a corner of the room and were talking on a scroll with… someone.

"Wait… overprotective father in law is part of the life insurance package?" Gyro asked lowly.

"Yes sir, we get a lot of men who end up marrying women who have hunters for fathers, so threats happen often." the female clerk answered him.

"Huh… nice to know." Pierce said, blinking in surprise.

Back with Taiyang, he'd been introduced to all their friends, and then noticed the additions beyond his brother in law. "And these are?" he asked. He figured the woman in a hood and the young man were teachers...though the one with a wizard outfit and the young boy had him a little curious.

"Oh uh…" Yang started thinking best how to answer that.

"Who the woman in the hood is? Well...you're gonna have your mind blown," Qrow spoke up in amusement.

"Uh...why?" Taiyang asked.

In response, the woman chuckled...a VERY familiar chuckle, before she lowered her hood. "It's been a long time, dear. Sorry it took so long...but I'm finally back," Summer said with a warm smile.

A few seconds passed and…

"...I think you broke him, teacher," Keenan said as he waved a hand in front of Taiyang who had the look of 'Error 404' on his face.

"Mind explaining a certain detail while we go hide?" Gyro requested as he, Pierce and their partners were at the door.

Summer sighed a bit "Sure, I'll call you when I've confirmed he won't kill you." and they were gone in the blink of an eye.

"Wait for us, we're getting a cramp like this," Veemon said as he and Koromon went after them.

"I'd better go with them," Azure sighed.

"I'll come along," Keenan added.

"Mind if I join?" Wizardmon said as well, the two of them going after Azure, Falcomon joining shortly after.

"Keenan," Summer suddenly said, causing said boy to stop and turn...just in time to catch something. "The Blue Card?" he asked in surprise.

"I get the feeling you may need that," Summer said, earning a nod in response.

* * *

"...those two certainly ran away fast," Keenan mused as currently they were in Vale, looking for the two brothers.

"Considering how protective Taiyang can be...I don't blame them for wanting to be well away from the 'blast zone' when he finds out," Azure sighed.

"Well, I'm certainly not complaining. I've always wanted to see Vale as well," Wizardmon said, as he was once more taking pictures.

"Try to remember what we're here for, okay?" Falcomon sighed, currently dressed in a hoodie to hide his features.

"By the way, while we walk...what's with those cards?" Azure asked, looking at Keenan's card holder.

"Oh, these? They're cards our D-Arks made using data from Digimon we defeated in the past. It's a special feature from this type of Digivice that allows us to use their powers to strengthen our partners...temporarily at least," Keenan explained, pulling out the cards that were in his 'collection', and giving them to Azure who looked them over.

Azure hummed in interest as he looked through the cards, seeing that Keenan didn't have THAT many at the moment, the most notable ones were a card of a green dinosaur with gigantic horns coming out of its shoulders, apparently called Tuskmon, and a card of a large white bird called Kokatorimon.

"So, these cards give your partner abilities like the Digimon on the card have?" Azure asked, shifting through the remaining cards.

"Yeah, sometimes it equips them with new body parts, other times it let's them use an attack from that Digimon." Keenan explained a bit more clearly.

"It's even possible for some Digimon to willingly give up a small amount of data to create a card." Wizardmon said, just as Azure found a Wizardmon card and a Renamon card.

"So, it's like an extra line of coding being temporarily added to a Digimon's program then." Azure murmured.

"Precisely, an added function if you will." Wizardmon said with a nod.

"And what about the Blue Card?" Azure asked when he shifted to it.

"It lets a Digimon partner that is at the Adult Level evolve to the Perfect Level," Falcomon said.

"So it's like the Crests then?" Azure mused.

"Well...yes, the Crests WERE the base we used to create this," Wizardmon admitted. "But it's not quite the same. Suffice to say, there is nothing quite like the Crests, and there are only a few of them in existence, each with a predetermined holder to a degree."

"So wait, you're saying outside from the few who DO have Crests, anyone else wouldn't be able to reach beyond Adult?" Azure blinked.

"Precisely," Wizardmon nodded. "And while the Blue Card is modeled after a Crest, its still no substitute by itself."

"Then how does it work?" Azure asked, now very interested.

"With a secret ingredient," Wizardmon said. "The Blue Card works by essentially forcing open the link between the human and their Digimon partner, increasing the connection's strength. Essentially, the Human and the Blue Card come together to become an artificial Crest, which we've dubbed a 'Matrix'," Wizardmon explain.

"Hence why Evolution using the Blue Card is known as 'Matrix Evolution'," Keenan nodded.

"Interesting...very interesting," Azure mused.

"He kinda reminds me of Wizardmon when he really gets into a book." Falcomon whispered to Keenan, who nodded.

"Would you mind if I study these a bit when we get back to Beacon? This is actually all giving me some very interesting ideas, but I'd need more data first." Azure requested.

"Sure, I don't mind." Keenan agreed easily enough.

"Thanks… and… how are you handling the news?" Azure asked, remembering when Keenan had seen the current date.

Keenan frowned as he was reminded of that little detail "I'm concerned I guess. Anybody would be tough when they find out they went into a new world for 10 years, only to come back out and learn only 6 months passed since you fell in."

"Yeah...it's...surreal...finding out that an entire village was wiped out while we were here planning on how to save lives…" Azure sighed.

"Nobody is to blame but the Bandits," Keenan said simply and more than a little coldly.

"You… REALLY want to hurt Raven, huh?" Azure said a bit nervously.

"I'm going to tear her arms off if I get the chance, how's that for an answer?" Keenan said with a scowl. "I saw the whole thing happen you know. One moment our village was peaceful, next thing we know, we were under attack and not by Grimm. They did it on purpose you know. Destroyed the gates so when the Grimm DID come, they took full advantage of everything," Keenan growled. "I saw her kill them right before my eyes. I didn't even get a chance to even start to mourn when the Grimm came in not long after. I barely even remember HOW I ended up in the Digital World," Keenan said. "All I remember was how utterly helpless and afraid I felt, knowing I was going to die and everyone who cared was already gone. Then everything was cold. I don't even remember how long I was just lying there in the snow until Frigimon found me…"

Azure was just a bit apprehensive as he listened to Keenan explain his past in full detail, it reminded if of several things, notably some anime characters who were consumed by a thirst for vengeance "And what do you plan on doing when you do get your revenge? Or if you CAN'T get it?"

"Continue to defend the Digital World, like I have for the last 10 years of my life." Keenan answered simply. "I know what you're thinking. I'm not going to sacrifice everything I care for just to get my shot at Raven. I want her to be brought down so my family and everyone she's stepped on can rest in peace, but I will NOT do it at the cost of my new family."

Falcomon smiled when he heard that. "And I'll be here to give you a flick in the head if you ever get a bit too far," he added encouragingly.

"Like you've always been?" Keenan chuckled.

"You two really do act like brothers when you're not all serious." Azure said with a small laugh.

"We basically are," Falcomon chuckled.

* * *

Meanwhile, in another part of town not too far from them, something else was going on.

A pair of Digimon were lying down on top of a taxi, everyone walking by thinking they were just ornaments because of how still they were.

The first looked like his body was made from a sac, a green cape hanging off his back, with a jack-o-lantern acting as his head, an axe embedded into the top of it.

The second was literally just made from stones.

"Hey… Pumpmon?" the stone one muttered to his friend.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Pumpmon_

 _Pumpmon. Data Type. A Perfect Level Puppet Digimon. Pumpmon was apparently born from a bug in a computer network that happened on halloween, and likes to act like a trickster. Despite being a Perfect Level, it acts more like a child, preferring to enjoy life rather than fight. His special attacks are Trick or Treat, creating a giant pumpkin out of thin air and dropping it on his enemies, and Surprise, creating a jack in the box type of object that launches a random thing at his opponents, from pies to knives._

"What is it Gotsumon?" Pumpmon asked his friend.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Gotsumon_

 _Gotsumon. Data Type. A Child Level Ore Digimon. A Digimon made from data on different minerals, he has a cheerful personality with a mischievous side to him as well. The varying ores that make up its body can actually changed based on his location. His special attack is Angry Rock, shooting a stone from the top of his head._

"Humans aren't very smart are they?" Gotsumon said with a snicker, finding it funny how none of the humans were paying attention to them.

"They sure aren't. Bet they wouldn't notice until we do something," Pumpmon laughed.

"Well then, what do you want to do? Seems like there's a million things we can do for fun," Gotsumon grinned.

Pumpmon hummed in thought at his friend's question, looking around the current area, before his eyes landed on something "There!"

Gotsumon looked where his friend was pointing at, and grinned even wider "That's gonna be fun!"

With that in mind, the two ran across the street, causing a traffic jam when several cars had to stop in alarm. Their destination? A casino, one that was in for a night it wouldn't soon forget.

* * *

"What happened here?!" Azure said in alarm as they saw the traffic pileup, caused by a few cars that had ended up colliding with each other.

"A traffic accident? But there's no sign or traffic light. Why would they stop suddenly?" Keenan frowned, knowing a few basics about the world thanks to Summer, and what little he still remembered of his childhood.

"Well, there's an easy way to figure this out." Wizardmon said, before walking up to a woman who was making sure her car was alright "Excuse me miss, what happened here?"

The woman looked at him, some annoyance on her face, but clearly not directed at him "Some kids started running through traffic earlier, caused a traffic jam."

"Kids? What did they look like by any chance?" Azure asked, a sneaking suspicion in his gut.

"Well...they were both in these weird costumes. One of them was dressed like he was made out of rocks, and another had a pumpkin for a head," the woman said.

"Thanks," Azure nodded, before they moved away. "Does that description ring any bells?" he asked the Digimon.

"Sounds like a Gotsumon and a Pumpmon to me." Falcomon mused.

"Are they strong?" Azure wondered.

"Not particularly, which is surprising for Pumpmon since he's a Perfect Level." Wizardmon admitted.

"Well strong or not, they're causing a lot of trouble as is. We'd better find them before-" Keenan started.

"Hey! Get back here you little brats!"

"...nevermind…" the boy sighed.

Turning to the source of the shout, they saw the two small Digimon...running off with a bag full of casino chips...which they apparently didn't bother cashing in.

"...so many questions, not sure I want answers…" Azure sighed.

"Just go after them?" Wizardmon offered.

"Just go after them," Azure nodded, to which they all did.

"I guess we just follow the casino chips then?" Falcomon asked.

"Yeah, think you can get us a bird's eye view?" Azure requested.

Falcomon simply nodded, before moving fast enough he left the hoodie behind and took to the skies in a second.

"I don't know if I'll ever get used to ninjas." Azure said with a sigh.

"I know what you mean." Wizardmon agreed, shaking his head.

The group soon followed the trail, Falcomon searching from the air. "He's found them," Keenan reported, using his D-Ark, as on the screen, he saw Falcomon going to a store, one that had a broken door then… "ARGH! MY EYES!"

"Jesus christ!" Azure jumped at the sudden scream "What the hell happened?!"

"A horrible sight! I need brain bleach!" Keenan said as he was practically trying to claw his eyes out.

"That's...probably pretty bad…" Wizardmon gulped.

"But all the more reason we need to make sure everything is okay," Azure sighed, to which he picked up the boy and put him over his shoulder, the two running to the scene, revealing a clothing store...with a passed out Falcomon, complete with foam from his mouth, lying on the street. Turning to the store quickly….

"...that is just WRONG," Azure said with a twitching eyebrow, while Wizardmon looked like he wanted to hurl at the sight before them.

In the display glass of the shop was Pumpmon and Gotsumon….wearing a pair of bikinis for some reason...and not just that, they had on rather awful looking wigs, and seemed to have applied make up and various other beauty products in a way that less resembled a supermodel, and more….frankenstein's monster, giving the image that was basically quite disgusting.

"Okay...I'm afraid to ask...but what the FUCK are you two doing?!" Azure said, looking decidedly sick.

Gotsumon and Pumpmon looked at him, turning to each other, and then back to him, before grinning "Having fun!"

"...okay, you know what, I'm gonna assume there's a bigger story to that, but first...Wizardmon...PLEASE…" Azure groaned.

Wizardmon nodded, still looking more than a little green, before using his staff to make the horrendous costumes go away.

"Awww…." the two trouble makers said in disappointment.

"Now explain. The only Digimon that have gotten here other than the ones on our team all work for Myotismon. THAT ring any bells?" Azure asked (right after finding a convenient bucket of water, and dousing it on the two traumatized brothers, snapping them out of it).

"Well, I mean, we came here with him yeah." Pumpmon said as he and Gotsumon walked out of the display area.

"But he's boring, all he wants to do is make us work, work, work! WE just want to have fun!" Gotsumon added.

Azure blinked at the answer, not expecting it, before slowly getting an idea, making him grin a bit "Well… I could probably find some more fun things for you two to do if you agree to help out?"

"Really? Like what?" Pumpmon asked with a head tilt.

"Ever heard of video games?" Azure asked with a grin.

"No, what are they?" Gotsumon asked.

5 minutes later…

"This is awesome!" Pumpmon and Gotsumon cheered together as they were playing a fighting game in an arcade, Azure standing behind them.

"So here's the deal, if you both promise to not cause trouble for the people of Vale, and if you can, tell us any info on Myotismon, like say….his base or something...I'll show you guys more and more fun stuff to do," Azure says.

"Sure!" the two of them cheered...almost immediately at that.

"...that was easy…" Keenan and Falcomon sweatdropped at how easy it was to get these two to 'betray' Myotismon.

"Kids tend to be pretty easy to bribe, with some exceptions of course." Azure whispered to them.

"Now here's hoping we actually get something useful from those two," Wizardmon said. "You know, all things considered, this has been a pretty good night...even if we haven't found Gyro and Pierce yet."

"Oh you did NOT just say that." Azure groaned.

"What? He didn't say anything bad, I mean, really, what's the worst that could happen?" Keenan asked, and Azure gave him a look that could dry up an ocean.

"If I don't survive this night, I'm kicking your butts in the next life," Azure deadpanned, and as if on cue, the machines started to malfunction, as the sound of wings could be heard, a swarm of bats somehow entering the building. To finish it off, a familiar figure rose up from the shadows, the bats flying by his side.

"I had a feeling you two would be causing trouble again, but this is one I can't overlook," Myotismon frowned deeply.

"And THAT, is what happens when you tempt fate," Azure deadpanned to his companions, before turning to Myotismon. "So...what do we owe the 'pleasure' of meeting you tonight of all nights," he said, keeping a straight face.

"Well now, this is interesting," Myotismon mused. "The students of that blasted woman, their resident magic user...and you...I can tell you're connected to the holders of Courage and Miracles. To think coming to retrieve these two trouble makers...or should I say...traitors now...would yield an interesting encounter."

"You call it interesting, I say it's murphy being an asshole." Azure muttered, drawing his weapons, hoping they could at least do SOMETHING against the vampiric Digimon.

"Hmph, you've certainly got their spirit," Myotismon mused. "But it won't do you any good."

"We're not going down without a fight!" Keenan growled, pulling his boomerang out. Triggering a hidden switch, the Boomerang extended and unfolded, revealing what appeared to be a bow, but with no arrows. Pulling on the string, an arrow made of energy manifested on the bow, before he let go and it fired at Myotismon.

Myotismon frowned, and simply knocked the attack aside, barely even singeing his hand. "I will deal with you four shortly," he said coldly, before turning his gaze to Pumpmon and Gotsumon and frowning, much to their fear. "But AFTER I deal with these two traitors." However, before he could get far, a bullet impacted against his cloak, revealing it to be Azure.

"Sorry, but I can't let you do that," Azure frowned.

"Oh? And why is that?" Myotismon asked, raising a single eyebrow at him.

"What? Do you think I'm just going to let you kill a bunch of kids? I'm a hunter, it's my job to deal with people like you." Azure explained simply.

"Very well then, I'll deal with them after I've dealt with you! Bloody Stream!" he declared, swinging the whip of energy towards Azure.

"Thunder Cloud!" Wizardmon countered, hitting the whip with blasts of electricity from the literal cloud he'd summoned, knocking it off course. "I'm not letting you do as you please either!"

"And neither are we!" Falcomon and Keenan added, as Keenan grabbed his D-Ark.

"Falcomon, Evolution! Peckmon!"

"And more!" Keenan added before pulling out a card.

 **(Play 'Slash!')**

"Card Slash! Tuskmon!" Keenan called out as he scanned the card. Immediately a pair of large tusks appeared from Peckmon's back, and wasting no time, he charged forward, ramming into Myotismon, pushing him out of the arcade...and smashing the door too.

"You two run! We'll hold him off!" Azure shouted, before turning to Wizardmon. "Can you bring them back to Beacon?"

"What? But I can't just leave you three to fight HIM!" Wizardmon gasped.

"You can come back for us after this, but right now we need to get them to safety!" Azure said.

Wizardmon thought about it. He seriously thought about it. But as much as the logic was sound...every fibre of his being was screaming 'NO!' to him at the thought of abandoning his friends even if for just a while. Especially against that monster. With that in mind...he made his decision. Going to the two mon, he said, "I'm gonna cast an illusion spell to hide you both. Once I do, get to the big castle in the distance, and wait for us at the fountain. The spell will keep you both hidden for a day, as long as you don't bump into anyone. Do NOT lose the spell or you WILL die when Myotismon finds you," he said, dead serious.

"R-right!" the two nodded frantically as Wizardmon casted his spell. Once they were gone, he turned to the fight that was going on outside, and joined in.

Azure did a double take when he saw him join in "Why are you still here?!"

"I couldn't just abandon you all to him! It's not right!" Wizardmon said, casting a a few Thunder Clouds above Myotismon, who flew out of the way of the bolts of lightning.

"Are you sure? You said it yourself that you're more of a researcher than a fighter," Azure asked worriedly. He'd come to like the odd Digimon over the last week.

"Positive. I'm NOT abandoning my friends. Not now, not ever!" Wizardmon said in determination.

"Alright then...let's show him who's boss in that case!" Azure grinned, before renewing his attack on Myotismon.

"You fools are only running to your deaths!" Myotismon growled. "Night Raid!" he called out, sending out the swarm of bats, which soon engulfed them, leaving them covered in cuts after it was over.

"Okay...we might be in trouble…" Keenan admitted as Peckmon lost the upgrade from the Tuskmon card.

"Maybe, but doesn't mean we're going down without a fight!" Azure grunted, pushing himself to his feet.

"Keenan… I think now's the time for it…" Peckmon said, groaning as he got up.

"You might...be right…" Keenan groaned.

"If you're going to use the Blue Card, then do it. We'll keep him distracted," Wizardmon said.

"Right," Keenan nodded, drawing the Blue Card while Azure and Wizardmon continued to fight Myotismon.

"Card Slash! Matrix Evolution!" Keenan called out, though gritting his teeth as he felt the surge of energy run through him as it forced open the link between him and Falcomon to create his Matrix.

 **(Song Change: 'Evo')**

"Matrix Evolution," came the drone-like voice from the D-Ark as the energy was released, revealing Keenan holding it to his chest. From the D-Ark a powerful light shone, and out came a purple Matrix Crystal that flew into the sky, an image of Keenan's determined face reflected on the crystal, before it flew towards Peckmon.

"Peckmon, Matrix Evolution!" Peckmon called out as the Matrix entered his chest. He spread his wings as shadows began to cover him, his body shifting and changing as he took to the sky, before the sun emerged, washing the shadows away, revealing his new form. He had now become a crow, sporting golden armor on the upper wings with a sort of golden claw attached to each, the top of his head and his upper beak covered in the same type of armor, as two bells were attached to the white feathers around his neck, and unlike a normal crow, he had three feet rather than two "Yatagaramon!"

"Ok… that's pretty damn cool." Azure murmured when he saw the large black bird in the air.

"What?! Impossible! You don't have a Crest!" Myotismon gasped.

"Do you really think we'd have just stood by and take things as they were?" Keenan smirked from his partner's back. "Well, you thought wrong! Let's show him, Yatagaramon!"

"You got it!" Yatagaramon crowed.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Yatagaramon_

 _Yatagaramon. Vaccine Type. A Perfect Level Bewitching Bird Digimon. Although his jet black body may strike fear in some, Yatagaramon is said to guide those worthy to a mythical golden land. Should those he guides not pass his trials however, they will forever fall into the Dark Area. His special attacks are Mikafutsu-no-kami, concentrating the energy from the Dokkosho on his wings to his feet before firing it and disrupting the coding of any Digimon that comes in contact with it, and Gurendama, shooting fireballs from his Dokkosho._

"Do you really think this will change anything?!" Myotismon growled. "Night Raid!"

"Not this time! Mikafutsu-no-kami!" Yatagaramon called out, firing his best move, which hit the bats dead on, causing them to break apart into data as their code was disrupted. "Gurendama!" Yatagaramon followed up, hitting Myotismon with several fireballs.

"Gah!" Myotismon growled in pain as he was pushed back, but managed to block most of it with his cloak, but that soon came under assault from Wizardmon, Azure, and Keenan, causing him to growl in frustration. This was completely outside his calculations, so he needed to regroup and rethink some plans. "Fine, keep those two worthless fools. They don't know anything important anyway!" he spat. "But know this, I will have my revenge!" with that said, he fired another Night Raid, using the explosion that followed to cover his escape.

 **(Song End)**

With the battle over, Keenan jumped down as Yatagaramon glowed...and shrunk down till he was back to his Baby form.

The form looked like a hatchling, covered completely in feathers, it's small beak included, with two short legs and two red feathers hanging off his back.

"Pinamon? Why did you revert so far down?" Keenan asked in surprise as he picked up his partner.

"I think that took too much energy from me." Pinamon sighed "Renamon handles it better than me that much is for sure."

"But at least he's gone," Azure sighed, falling on his butt. "That...was really tiring…"

"Tell me about it…" Wizardmon agreed, falling on his butt as well. "But we did it eventually. I'm glad I could fight alongside you," he said with a smile.

"You me both, buddy," Azure grinned as they shook hands. However, when they did, a light shone from their joined hands, and when Azure pulled back in surprise, there in his hand, was a Digivice Core.

"Well… that's not how I pictured this day would end." Wizardmon said.

* * *

 **Well... that just happened.**

 **That's right people, Wizardmon is partnered to Azure, and we have changed the fates of Pumpmon and Gotsumon at the same time.**

 **Because Azure took a moment to be awesome and stupid at the same time.**

 **Best way to be awesome honestly.**

 **Anyway, hope you enjoyed, because...**

 **The Aventure Evolves.**


	39. 38: Foggy Days! Search through the City!

**Almost to the climax of the arc people!**

 **Hope you're ready for it!**

* * *

 **Foggy Days! Search through the City!  
**

* * *

Taiyang sighed as he sat on the bed in the small Motel around the outskirts of Vale he'd rented a room in. To say the day had been stressful...would be a colossal understatement. Heck, when he was on the way here, he saw a bunch of families going for the nearest airship or vessel out of Vale...and he honestly couldn't blame them. It didn't help he knew a bit more than them about the situation, thanks to his long lost wife who'd suddenly turned up again, and the story she told him...it was honestly...insanely hard to believe…

She'd been stuck in another world for 14 years when it was only 11 years out here, so now she was a bit older than him, she had a student who was stuck in there for 10 years but was somehow pulled into the world only 6 months ago, his own daughters were also pulled into said world just a week ago with their friends, and spent a whole 2 months there trying to survive, while only 2 hours had passed outside.

He wasn't too keen on the fact that both of them had boyfriends, but he supposed it made sense that feelings might start to grow when spending so much time with someone.

At least the boys didn't seem so bad once he'd been able to talk to them a bit… with their older brother and his wife standing very close in case he tried anything.

...now if only that was the worst of the information. No, the worst had to be the part where apparently a terrorist/conqueror from that world found a way to get into this world, and was intend on taking over...oh and apparently his wife, his daughters, and all their friends had made friends with some of the monsters living in that world and brought them over too…

At least the ones they had made friends with were nice. Yang's partner was even quite the hugger when she stopped pretending to be a plush toy. Still...it didn't change the fact that the world just got a lot more dangerous if what he'd heard was true. That was probably why he'd decided to stay here for the time being...though he was a little disappointed when Summer said she couldn't afford to be out in the open just yet. Turns out basically being the leader of a Rebellion Group painted quite a target on your back…

Sighing, he decided to just lie down for now. Maybe this would all be clearer once he'd had a good night's sleep. Heck, if anyone had it worse, it would be Qrow. He had to explain this to Ozpin, though Summer had insisted, and he'd seconded her insistence, that the part where the kids were also partnered with Digimon be kept a secret for now. Too many might want to take advantage of that…

* * *

Meanwhile, up in his office, Ozpin frowned as he went over the bit of information that he'd just received from Qrow. Honestly, while he did trust Qrow, some of what he'd said sounded...outlandish...especially the supposed source. Not saying he thought Qrow was lying, he did want to believe it too...but it seemed more than a little too…

"Good evening, Oz. I see you haven't changed a bit," came a new voice...one he hadn't heard in over a decade.

"I suppose that confirms that Qrow wasn't drunk when he told me what he did," Ozpin mused, earning a chuckle from the figure. "You'll excuse me for my skepticism, but for all its worth...its good to see you again, Summer," he said, turning around to see the long thought dead Huntress...and she wasn't alone. "And I see what he said about a 'Partner Digimon' was true as well."

"Good evening. It's nice to finally meet the great Professor Ozpin. Summer has told me much about you," Renamon said with a polite bow.

"It's nice to meet you as well, Renamon, I believe Qrow said?" he asked, receiving a nod from the fox Digimon.

"So, you have the gist of things understood, right?" Summer asked him.

"I'd like to think so, but it's still somewhat baffling. After all, I heard about this Myotismon on the news today, but hearing it from someone who's been fighting him for even longer, it really puts into perspective how dangerous he is." Ozpin admitted.

"Make no mistake, that vampire may have his sights set on domination rather than destruction, but he's just as dangerous as 'her'," Summer said.

"That is indeed worrying. But from what I heard, it seems like once he's been dealt with, it would be possible to restore peace to the….Digital World?" Ozpin said.

"I wish…" Summer snorted under her breath, but Ozpin noticed it.

"There's something else?" Ozpin asked.

"Myotismon is just the tip of the iceberg compared to THEM. Their not as sneaky as Salem is… but they don't need to be, with just the four of them, they can tear an entire kingdom apart in a few hours." Summer said seriously.

Ozpin's eyes actually widened in shock at that. Certainly...entire cities disappearing within a single night wasn't anything new...but the idea that just FOUR individuals could tear apart an entire kingdom in hours...that was worrying. "...should we be worried that they will be coming soon after?"

"...not for now...before I started the Rebellion, I was working with another group for a while...it costs most of them their lives, but they managed to seal them away for now...no idea how long the seal will last though…" she admitted.

"I see…" Ozpin mused. "Well...I certainly hope the seal on them stays shut...I'd rather not wish for something that powerful to be free to terrorize the people of any world."

"That makes three of us," Renamon said, remembering the last time she'd fought them...the end result was her degenerating to her current form.

"So what happens now?" Ozpin asked.

"For now? We'll keep trying to locate Myotismon and end this. But until then, all we can do is subvert his plans as much as we can," Summer sighed. "I've had Keenan and Falcomon scout out every now and then, but even they've been unable to find anything."

"Ah yes...your student. I must say I'm surprised that such incidents had happened more than once…" Ozpin mused. "I must admit though...the Digimon's ability to form a symbiotic relationship with a human or faunus is certainly intriguing."

"It has its benefits," Summer nodded. "At any rate, we'd better return to the others for now. We'll be formulating a new strategy soon enough."

"If you'll excuse us," Renamon nodded, before grabbing hold of Summer and the two of them vanished.

Ozpin blinked for a moment, before shaking his head in amusement "I feel this is going to be a recurring thing."

* * *

"Well...today's been...eventful…" Weiss sighed as once more the groups were gathered, discussing the day they'd had...and the plans for the next day…

"That's a very nice way of putting it," Gyro and Pierce deadpanned.

"I'm still impressed you two were so concentrated on that game you missed the fight with Myotismon… which was just a few blocks away." Azure deadpanned to his brothers, having clipped his D-Core to a pocket on the front of his shirt.

"Hey, we were focused on keeping each other alive against that horde of Grimm and Zombies," Veemon defended.

"Can't believe Remnant has its own version of Left 4 Dead," Pierce chuckled.

"But calling it 'Dust 4 Dead'...eh, still was really fun," Agumon shrugged.

"Well… that's a cheap pun." Wizardmon said dryly.

"So, hey, question, how does going from having no partner to suddenly having one feel with how long you've been solo?" Gomamon couldn't help but ask, and all the Digimon turned to Wizardmon, all very much curious as well.

"Well… it's different, that much is for sure, I can't describe it easily, but I CAN say however, that I actually feel stronger to a degree. I suppose that us partnered Digimon are somewhat stronger than others." Wizardmon explained with a small laugh.

"Huh, that's interesting," Weiss mused. "But more importantly, we should make plans on what to do next," she said.

"Pumpmon and Gotsumon are well hidden with Summer's group in the Emerald Forest, so they should be safe for now. They may act like kids but they get that if Myotismon finds them...they're toast," Azure said.

"Glad to hear that," Pyrrha sighed in relief. The last thing any of them wanted was for those two to meet their end at hands of the evil Digimon. They were still a little uncomfortable at the memory of what happened to DemiDevimon...and they all didn't like him one bit.

"So what should our next move be?" Blake asked.

"For now...I think we can only keep going with what we've been doing so far. From what we found out, Myotismon's base should be out at sea somewhere," Ruby mused.

"Doesn't that seem kinda...hard to search?" Nora pointed out.

"Not if we assume that they can't be too far out at sea. Not to mention transporting large forces would be hard to do if they were somewhere too far away," Ren said.

"Then...should we look for an island just off the coast or something?" Biyomon asked.

"That's a good as any place to start," Yang nodded, pulling out her scroll and with it, a map of Vale and the surrounding area.

"Well...we can probably rule out anywhere as far as Patch," Jaune mused as they looked over the map.

"And considering they can't be too far…" Tentomon mused...before pointing at a few small islands that would fall into the range. "Would these places be good possible hideouts?"

"Actually...can we get a map that includes Grimm infested areas too?" Gyro mused.

"Why Grimm infested areas?" Agumon asked.

"Because there's no way a few Grimm are gonna be able to do anything against Myotismon's army," Pierce nodded in agreement with his brother.

"Oh yeah, that's a good point." Veemon said in realisation as Yang updated the map, and there were now a few more island added, one being even closer than the rest.

"I think that's the most likely one." Ruby said as she pointed at said small island, probably big enough for a pack of Beowolves or two to make their home. "And the topology seems to be perfect for a hideout too...and it even says there was an attempt to set up an outpost on the island...too bad it didn't work out so well…"

"So its close, the threat can be neutralized easily, and it even has infrastructure...I think we found the perfect spot," Azure nodded.

"I'll be sure to inform Summer of this news immediately. Let's regroup and make our plans in the morning," Wizardmon nodded and suggested.

"Good call. It's been a LONG day," Gabumon agreed, yawning tiredly.

The sound of tired agreement rang through the room as the group went their separate ways for the night.

As Team JNPPR entered their dorm, Pyrrha stopped when her scroll started ringing, drawing it out and blinking in surprise at the number before she looked at her teammates "You can all head to bed, I need to take this. I shouldn't be too long." she said quickly as she walked away from the room and around a corner.

She stopped walking at that point and looked back at her scroll, the person still attempting to reach her, before she took a deep breath and accepted the call, the screen going to video, showing a young woman with short maroon hair and red eyes, having a similar face to Pyrrha, but a few years older.

"Hello Yoshino." Pyrrha greeted her politely.

"Hey lil sis." Yoshino said, sounding a bit awkward as she bit her lip and looked away "Hey, listen, I know we left each other on the wrong foot the other day, but, I have to know, are you ok? I saw the news, and Vale is looking pretty dangerous right now."

"I'm alright Yoshino, don't worry." Pyrrha reassured her older sister with a smile "And, about the other day…" she sighed then, still remembering the horrible things they'd said to one another "I'm sorry about everything I said, I had no right to say that."

Yoshino blinked in surprise, before smiling warmly "Thanks Pyrrha, and, I'm sorry too, I shouldn't have called you a glory hound and all of that."

Pyrrha chuckled a bit "It's fine Yoshino. And before you say it, don't worry, I'll be careful."

Yoshino laughed a bit "Yeah. Well, I'll talk to you again soon lil sis. Have to get up early tomorrow, rise and shine with the training and all that, makes me wonder why I chose to go to Atlas sometimes. See you another time." Yoshino said, before ending the call.

Pyrrha smiled, before sighing in relief as she pocketed her scroll, happy her relationship with her sister was just fine, before heading back to the dorm.

* * *

As all of this was happening however, something else was happening in Vale.

Myotismon stood on top of the Vale News Network (VNN) building, a pentagram underneath his feet, Witchmon standing a few feet behind him.

"Everything is ready?" he asked her.

"Yes, my lord. Your forces simply await your signal to begin." Witchmon said as she bowed.

"Excellent," Myotismon smirked, as he bit into his own wrist, and let a few drops of...blood? Data? It was hard to say WHAT the liquid was, but suffice to say, the moment it made contact with the pentagram, it began to light up. "Let us begin!" he declared, his cape spreading out. "The beginning of my Kingdom of Darkness!"

The moment he did, a mist began to descend on the city of Vale, barely noticeable at first, but as it spread, it became thicker and thicker till a fog covered the area. At first people didn't notice, but by the time they did, the city was now being covered in a thick fog.

"Weird weather tonight," a random security guard mused.

"Eh, compared to the snowfall this is nothing," his partner commented, taking a bite of his hot dog. Glancing out at the mist, he blinked when he noticed what looked like a bunch of monsters walking through the streets. Rubbing his eyes, when he looked again, they were gone. "Did you see that?" he asked his partner.

"Nope," the first security guard said...looking at his scroll.

The second then looked at him...then to the hot dog in his hand, before promptly throwing it away. "No more late night hot dogs for me…" he muttered. "Makes me see things."

* * *

Meanwhile, in the VNN building, a team of reporters was busy at work, going over some footage they'd happened to get earlier. It depicted another monster battle, but this time...it was different. Depicted on the footage was what appeared to be a human child riding the large black bird...and not some bystander, the child was clearly fighting alongside the bird.

"What does this mean? They're far too coordinated to be some random team up...but would a child really be able to work with a monster so well that they'd fight this well?" Lisa Lavender mused as she went over the footage again. Normally she'd have been elated that one of her off duty crew members happened to be close enough to get this sort of footage...but now she was...confused.

Suddenly she felt like things were MUCH deeper than she thought...and she thought they were deep to begin with...however, before she could ponder further, that's when she noticed the fog rolling in.

"Huh? Was there a fog warning in the weather forecast?" one of her crew members asked.

"No...no there wasn't," Lisa frowned as she tried to call the other division, but… "Huh?"

"What's wrong?"

"My scrolls getting a wonky signal...could the fog be getting in the way?" she frowned.

"Uh… how does that make sense?" another member of her crew asked.

"The signal was fine before the fog rolled in...so I guess it'd make sense…" she said, though not sounding very convinced herself. 'This fog...why does it feel...unnatural?' she mentally frowned as she looked out the window, at the city she could barely see now.

* * *

Gyro was starting to drift off, the exhaustion from the day melting away as he drifted off into dreamland. Then it was promptly shattered.

"WAKE UP!" came Pierce's loud voice, waking up the entirety of team RWGBY.

Gyro groaned as he looked at the clock. It was still 10 PM. "Pierce...I swear to god...you'd better have a good reason for this…" he growled.

"I think we're all in agreement of that," Weiss said as all the occupants of the room were glaring at him.

"Look out the window," Pierce said simply.

They looked at him in confusion for a moment, before doing as told, looking out the window and trying to see what was so important they had to wake up.

They didn't see anything though, they saw the courtyard, the emerald forest off to the far right, Vale covered in fog-

Wait what was that last one?

"That's… that can't be normal… right?" Ruby asked hesitantly.

"Probably not, the forecast didn't mention anything about fog today, even at night." Blake noted.

"And fog rarely just come by so suddenly, there's usually signs in the atmosphere that shows the temperature is right for it several minutes before it happens." Weiss added with a frown.

"Translation, something else is causing the fog," Veemon deadpanned.

"Well, get ready guys...we got another thing coming our way...was it too much to ask for a good night's sleep first?" Yang sighed as they all got out of bed.

Pulling on their normal clothes, they were soon out of the Dorms and headed towards the fog covered city.

* * *

Meanwhile, Ozpin frowned as he tried to patch in a call to the other members of his faction. What had started as another late night had become another incident when he saw the unnatural bank of fog roll in. However…

"Strange…"Ozpin frowned. So far all his attempts to contact his allies were met with static, as if something was blocking the signal. Looking out the window again, he noted how the fog seemed to be covering Vale and Vale alone, while not actually reaching Beacon.

He narrowed his eyes at that fog, it had rolled in far too quickly for his liking, and it was utterly impossible to make out Vale within, as even the tallest buildings were covered all the way to the top.

"This doesn't bode well." he said, knowing something BAD was going to happen. The worst part however...was that he had no idea how or WHAT to do in regards to this.

* * *

"Perfect timing," Summer said as the Chosen Children and their partners reached the outskirts of Vale, to find the Rebellion group waiting for them.

"So what are we dealing with here?" Jaune asked.

"While this appears to be an abnormally thick fog, it is in fact a barrier of some kind," Wizardmon said. "From what I can tell, while it doesn't stop anything from coming in...its intended to stop anything from getting out."

"So, once we're in, no coming out till we deal with Myotismon then." Gyro said with a frown.

"We're not getting any sleep tonight are we?" Nora asked tiredly.

Salamon yawned from atop her partner's head "Probably not."

Gyro moved his hand around a bit, everyone feeling the wind shift around "Well… guess we'll have to go in and hope for the best." he grumbled, annoyed they couldn't get an idea of what it was like on the inside.

"We'll want to be careful, Myotismon is at his strongest in the night, and the fog will help him once morning hits and protect him from the sun." Renamon advised.

"Then get ready everyone, we'll need to be on our toes," Agumon said.

"About that...Gennai sent over something earlier," Summer said, before transfering an app to all their scrolls.

"A Digital Barrier?" Pyrrha asked, looking at the title.

"It's a little something we can use to lighten the load for us," Summer explained. "If we apply this app in a building or room, that area gains what we like to call 'the wallflower effect'."

"Wait, so you mean they won't see us or that building?" Ruby asked.

"That's exactly correct," Summer nodded. "With this, we could probably set up a safe house inside enemy lines...but the thing is...it takes a few minutes to set up...so we'll need to find a secure location to use it."

"Well, hopefully we find a good place then." Yang said with a sigh, before they all started going through the thick fog, making sure they weren't too far apart and that they were all going in the same direction.

Eventually they got through the thick of the fog, and found that inside the barrier the city was covered in a mist that obscured vision, but not so much that seeing around was impossible.

"Well hello there Silent Hill." Azure said dryly.

"Oh dear god if I see some nightmare fuel, I'm hiding." Pierce said in response, shivering as he was reminded of the psychological horror series.

"So far it doesn't look like Myotismon's forces have hit this area," Blake mused.

"They're probably focusing on the inner parts of the city, where more people are around," Wormmon said.

"Not the most comforting of news, but useful for us," Falcomon sighed.

"Right, we'd better find somewhere to use as a base as soon as we can," Gabumon said, earning nods of agreement.

The ensuing journey was...tense...everyone was tired from the long day, and the eerie atmosphere wasn't helping at all. Honestly, Vale was quiet enough in these outskirts normally, but with the fog...it was practically dead. The only bits of life they sometimes noticed was the occasional shape of Bakemon floating about in the distance every now and then.

"Over there." Wormmon pointed out towards a motel, some lights on inside of it.

"Good find." Ren said with a nod as they headed towards it silently.

When they got there, they started discreetly checking every room, until eventually…

"Is that dad?" Yang blinked in surprise as she looked through a window, seeing her father asleep on the bed in the room.

"Wow, talk about sleeping through the apocalypse...or something like it," Pierce couldn't help but say in amusement.

"To be fair, I doubt the fog barrier was loud," Ren commented a little dryly.

"Wait, where's Zwei?" Ruby asked, to which a familiar corgi was suddenly at the window, barking excitedly at seeing them.

"There he is," Palmon said.

"I think it's safe to say we found our first potential base," Veemon chuckled.

"A motel's a pretty good base too. It's got rooms, can be hidden, and it even might have a kitchen if needs be," Gyro nodded in approval.

"Let's go then," Nora said.

"Yeah, let's not stay out here more than necessary," Biyomon nodded in agreement.

Quickly making their way to the motel...they found the door locked.

"I got this," Keenan sighed, before sinking into the shadows, and a few moments later, the door was opened, Keenan having unlocked it from inside. "Get in."

They did as they were told to which Keenan quickly locked the doors again. No point making it easier for any of Myotismon's forces to get in.

"Excuse us," Jaune said….but nobody responded.

"...aren't there usually supposed to be people in these places?" Gomamon asked.

Out of curiosity, Patamon flew over the counter and well… "I found someone," he said, to which they found who was no doubt the owner of the motel...curled up in a fetal position, wrapped in a blanket, and sucking his thumb in a fearful breakdown.

"...Okay, probably best if we leave him alone for now…" Wizardmon said, earning nods of agreement.

"Let's just grab some keys and check for empty rooms." Biyomon suggested, everyone doing just that.

They thankfully found plenty of empty rooms, but also rooms that had people sleeping in them… or doing other things.

"Oh jeez, uh, sorry, just, emergency problem, big monsters in Vale, we're setting up this motel as a safe house." Pierce said, covering his eyes when he walked in on a couple that quickly covered themselves with the blanket of the bed.

"Um… thanks for the warning." the first woman said awkwardly, before Pierce closed the door back up, making sure it was locked again.

Silence in the room for a few moments "That kind of killed the mood babe." the second woman said, making the first sigh, but agree with her.

"Okay...note to selves...knock on the doors before opening them," Pierce said to the others, who nodded in agreement. They may not have had THAT happen to them, but there was bound to be one or two more like that…

Fortunately the rest of the process went without issue, until they found the room they were looking for.

"...think he could sleep through an entire city wide battle?" Keenan deadpanned.

"...can't say Taiyang wasn't always a heavy sleeper," Summer admitted.

"We should probably wake him," Renamon said.

"I'll handle that," Yang said, as she walked over to him, clearing her throat, and then "Dad! Help!"

"Who's hurting my daughters?!" Taiyang shouted as he jumped out of bed.

"That was fast," Palmon blinked.

It took a few seconds of wildly looking around before Taiyang realised there was no actual danger, and that Yang had simply wanted him awake… and then a few more seconds to realise just how many people where in the room "Uh… what's going on?"

"The end of the world happened, we're one of the few survivors, and you slept through it," Gomamon snickered.

"Wait, what?!" Taiyang blinked.

"Gomamon…" Jaune sighed at his partner's antics. "Well...not really the end of the world, but the city's been attacked," he clarified.

"Myotismon has made his move," Summer said. "We came here aiming to set up a frontal base of sorts for now, and well...seeing as we saw you through the window, we decided here was a good a place as any," she chuckled at the end. Some things never changed it seems.

"Oh… that sounds bad yeah." Taiyang said after a moment.

"So far it's not too bad...yet…" Gyro sighed, before turning to Weiss. "How's the barrier coming along?"

"I managed to set it up to cover the entire building, so as long as we don't leave it, we SHOULD be safe," she answered. "I should get it up and running about...now," she said, as a hum filled the air, and a small gust blew through, probably the barrier expanding.

"So...did it work?" Nora asked.

"Seems like it," Veemon said...from the window...where he was making faces at a Bakemon who clearly didn't see them.

"Stop that." Pierce said in slight annoyance as he pulled his partner away from the window.

"At least we know it works," Agumon sighed.

"We should gather everyone and explain the situation," Pyrrha mused.

* * *

"Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!" the manager babbled as he was currently clinging on to Azure.

"You're welcome. Now off off off!" he grunted, pushing the overly happy man off of him. "Now then, as we explained, as long as you all stay in this building, you SHOULD be safe from the monsters outside. However, in the event for whatever reason the building is compromised, be ready to evacuate at a moment's notice," he said.

"But for now we're safe, right?" one of the people asked, earning a nod.

"I say we all get some rest then. We're gonna need all our energy to survive through this," Gyro added, gaining more sounds of approval.

"Right, but we should have some people stay as lookouts in case any of the monsters get in or the barrier fails," Ruby added.

"You can use the fire alarm to signal a building wide alert," the manager supplied helpfully.

"I'll stay up, I got plenty of sleep already honestly, went to bed early because of everything you all told me earlier." Taiyang told them, earning grateful nods.

"So we can finally sleep now, right?" Patamon asked, hiding a yawn behind his hand.

"Yes, yes we can." Blake said with a relieved sigh as everyone went off into rooms the manager had lent them for the night, though Summer stayed in Taiyang's room with Renamon deciding to stand outside of the room, deciding to give the two some alone time to talk.

* * *

The next morning saw everyone in the building seated at the dining room, as this motel was one of the types that served breakfast too. Despite the initial scare some guest had at the small monsters eating with them, they were assured that they were harmless...so they decided to just roll with it…

"So what do we do now?" Ren asked.

"For starters, we need to find out where the fog is coming from," Summer said. "It's a good bet Myotismon is there."

"So we'll need to be careful when moving through the city. No doubt the closer to the source we get, the more heavily guarded it will be," Renamon mused.

"In that case… moving as one large group would be a bad idea, we'd be easier to spot, it would be a whole lot better if we split into smaller groups to try to find what we're looking for." Gyro said.

"That can work, but we'd better not split into more than 2 or 3 groups," Jaune mused.

"I think we may want to stick to 2 groups. It may be easier to spot, but with Myotismon...we'd want to keep our fighting forces strong," Blake suggested.

"Well, we'll split into our teams then, simple as that." Nora said with a shrug.

"I'm going with the girls, and I don't care about me not having a Digimon partner, I'm going to help." Taiyang said, before a bark was heard from below the table "And so is Zwei."

"In that case, that's where I'm going as well, someone needs to stop you from being reckless." Summer said as shoved her husband's shoulder a bit.

"In that case I'll be going with Jaune's team then," Azure mused.

"I'll come along too. It should balance it out well enough," Keenan said.

"And of course we'll follow," Wizardmon chuckled while Falcomon simply nodded in agreement.

"So now that we're agree...when do we move out?" Wormmon asked.

"As soon as we're done eating seems like a good answer." Pyrrha said in amusement, before everyone returned to their breakfast.

* * *

"Okay, everyone ready?" Gyro said, taking a deep breath.

"Yes," came a chorus of responses.

"Okay, as agreed, we should go down two separate paths through the city. We'll meet up at the Vale City Mall. In the event of anything happening...send up some kind of signal. The fog is thick, but not so thick we can't see something like a flare or if needs be, one of our partners," Summer nodded.

"Then let's get going," Yang grinned.

"And don't worry about the barrier. Even without the scroll that started it, it'll last a few days," Weiss said to the people in the motel. "You should be safe here for long enough."

"But what if it doesn't last for that long?" one of the people asked.

"Then get ready to run," Ren said bluntly before they were out the doors. Fact were facts after all.

* * *

"Hm...so far it looks like the Bakemon are mainly focused on more crowded areas of the city," Jaune said from their current position.

"Not surprising. It's a pretty standard practice to try and keep the population in check as soon as possible," Azure mused.

"Why do you know that?" Wizardmon asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Lots of movies growing up." was the simple answer.

"Still...for now that means we have the element of surprise," Falcomon mused.

"The question is, how best to use it," Keenan frowned.

"For now, all we can do is get closer till we know what's going on," Pyrrha sighed.

"So we'd better stay out of sight then," Salamon nodded.

"Well, if the Bakemon DO spot us, at least they aren't very strong… or smart." Gabumon noted.

"So, sack of bricks for brains then, noted." Veemon said with a chuckle.

"I think we all know by now that the brunt of his army are idiots who are just cannon fodder to make way for the actual fighters," Wormmon deadpanned, getting a few laughs.

"Come on, let's get closer. We might as well get as much info as-" Pierce started, but didn't get to finish, as suddenly they heard the sound of the screeching of tires.

"Ok, who's got hell on their heels?" Gomamon asked with a raised eyebrow as they all peered around a corner.

"So… we're all seeing a news truck being chased by a black tyrannosaurus, right?" Nora asked, making sure the fog wasn't messing with her vision.

"That is exactly what we're seeing." Pierce answered.

"Who pissed off a DarkTyrannomon?" Salamon asked as she looked at the large Digimon.

 _Digimon Analyzer: DarkTyrannomon_

 _DarkTyrannomon. Virus Type. An Adult Level Dinosaur Digimon. A Tyrannomon that was infected by a vicious computer bug, turning it into a frenzied Digimon that acts completely on instinct. It identifies anything that moves within it's line of sight as an enemy and attacks it wildly. It's special attack is Fire Blast, launching a burst of flames from its mouth that can potentially turn the surrounding area into a sea of flames._

"Well, reasons aside, we need to help them," Wizardmon said.

"Right, first we need to get that DarkTyrannomon's attention," Veemon said. "But...which way do we want to do it?"

"The easy one." Pierce said as he held up his D-Core, which quickly glowed along with his Crest.

 **(Play Brave Heart)**

"Veemon, Evolution! Veedramon! Super Evolution! AeroVeedramon!"

"Hey sunburn!" Aeroveedramon shouted, catching the DarkTyrannomon's attention before ramming him into a nearby street. "Stay down if you know what's good for you!"

DarkTyrannomon roared in response, getting right back up and countering with his Fire Blast, only for AeroVeedramon to swat it aside.

"Hard way it is," AeroVeedramon nodded, before ramming into his opponent again, pushing him to somewhere that there were less buildings, knowing he should end it quickly.

DarkTyrannomon didn't feel like being cooperative and began thrashing around, firing his attacks wildly and generally being as frenzied as his kind usually is.

"Can't let you damage the city more than this," AeroVeedramon frowned, charging up his attack, before grabbing hold and taking DarkTyrannomon into the sky. "Dragon Impulse!" he called out, firing the attack point blank, sending DarkTyrannomon into the air where he was overwhelmed and deleted by the attack.

 **(Song end)**

Once the smoke cleared, AeroVeedramon flew back down, the fog helping to keep him hidden despite the explosion from his point blank attack, quickly landing down and reverting to Veemon.

"Good job." Pierce said as he came up to him and fist bumped his partner with a grin.

"Well, that's the Digimon taken care of, but what about the person driving?" Jaune wondered, not being able to see into the truck because of how dark the windows were.

After a few moments, the engine was cut off, as the driver side door was opened, and shakily stepping out of it was Lisa Lavender "Dear Monty in heaven that was terrifying!" she said nervously as she held onto the door.

"So, what's a reporter like you doing being chased by a huge dinosaur?" Azure asked as the Digimon were hiding on the other side of the van for the moment so she wouldn't over react.

Lisa looked at him "Well, when the fog rolled in last night, all communications were brought down, can't even call each other inside of it. I've been running all night, both surviving and trying to figure out what's going on."

"What about your crew?" Ren asked with a raised eyebrow.

"We split up a while back while we were being chased by these weird frog shaped things with iron fins on their backs, hopefully their fine." Lisa said, worried a bit for the members of her crew.

"Well, we're going to try and fix the problems going on as best we can, there's a motel not far from here we set up as a safe house that the bad Digimon can't get inside of, so you might want to get there." Keenan suggested, with Lisa blinking in surprise as she recognised him.

Despite her surprise though, she quickly shook her head "No, I can help. I've been trying to look into this myself while running all night, and I may have some leads. I'll be willing to give them to you if you let me come along so I can cover this."

Azure sighed at that "Just… alright, fine, but you have to do exactly what we say, ok?"

"Understood." Lisa nodded.

"Now then, hope you're awake and ready enough for this next bit." Pierce said, before motioning to the Digimon to come out from hiding on the other side of the van.

Lisa blinked, once, twice, and then rubbed her eyes before blinking again "Well… if they're with you, then it's fine with me."

"Don't worry, these ones are our friends." Pyrrha reassured the woman, who nodded, before everyone piled into the news truck, which soon drove off towards one of Lisa leads, the ones inside hoping it would help them.

* * *

 **And there's the chapter!**

 **That's right, Pyrrha's sister is Yoshino from Savers.**

 **And yes, she's a member of the Atlas military at the moment.**

 **Don't worry, we'll see more of her eventually.**

 **And yeah, Lisa Lavender is not only gaining more personality, but she's a supporting character rather than just a background character.**

 **Don't worry, we'll see even more of those two women, but for now...**

 **The Adventure Evolves.**


	40. 39: Great Ultimate Evolutions! Fall of t

**Jesus fuck...**

 **Yeah, this is definetly the biggest chapter of the story so far, since we now cover the end of the Myotismon Arc.**

 **This beast right here is a grand total of 52 pages.**

 **I think we've been working on it for about a week? Not sure, but that sounds about right.**

 **Oh, and there's going to be a joke in the chapter about Richard Epcar... yeah, I only realised afterwards that Richard Epcar was the english voice for Myotismon, because the joke was a reference to Ansem, the Seeker of Darkness from Kingdom Hearts.**

 **Anyway, that aside, let's get to it.**

* * *

 **Great Ultimate Evolutions! Fall of the Undead King!  
**

* * *

"Not to use the overused line but...its quiet. WAY too quiet," Gyro frowned as he surveyed the area using his goggles.

"Ironic considering the Bakemon we know are floating around," Blake mused. Currently they were standing on the roof of an apartment complex. High enough to hide them from the street level view, but not so high that an emergency escape would be dangerous.

"So, what should we be looking for?" Biyomon wondered as she looked over the edge of the building.

"At the moment? Not quite sure. But we should probably find out where the Bakemon are going or what happened to the people here," Weiss said.

"Yeah… this is almost like a ghost town, no pun intended for once." Yang said, not seeing anybody walking the streets except for the Bakemon searching.

"But we should probably not let them see us as much as possible. I don't think we'd be able to handle an entire city of Digimon attacking us…" Ruby said.

"Agreed," their partners all said.

"Still...it's really kinda scary to see how quickly he took over Vale…" Taiyang couldn't help but say, Zwei letting out a small whine in agreement.

"Myotismon isn't an easy opponent by any stretch of the word," Summer nodded with a frown. "But his biggest weakness is his overconfidence at times. If he feels like he's going to win, he starts to get...sloppy."

"How sloppy are we talking here?" Patamon asked, wondering if they might have found a way to win, after all, he knew he had a natural advantage against Myotismon thanks to his holy powers when he evolved.

"He seems to forget that there are other fighters in the area when he's focused on just one person and is about to beat them." Renamon said dryly.

Everyone was silent for a few moments "Well… that's stupid." Tentomon summed up everyone's thoughts.

"But super useful. Ruby, prepare to snipe a vampire," Gyro couldn't help but grin.

"Aye aye!" Ruby laughed a bit.

"But in all seriousness," Blake said, despite quirking a smile at that. "We should be ready to use that if we can."

"We could always try and throw him into the Heaven's Gate. That'd finish things," Patamon suggested.

"Good idea," the others nodded in agreement.

"Seeing you all so used to the idea of fighting these things...it's something that's going to need some getting used to…" Taiyang sighed.

"Sorry dad, a LOT happened while we were in the Digital World for two months," Yang said apologetically.

"Understatement of the century." Blake muttered lowly as she glanced at the blonde brawler.

"ANYway, let's keep our distance and follow them," Yang said quickly.

"Once we find where they're hiding or where they took everyone, then we can step in," Biyomon nodded.

With that in mind they continued forward, making their way down the building quickly. The trek through the city was a tense one. Every corner they took they made sure to keep an eye on every angle. They knew that if they were not careful it would bring the brunt of the forces down on them, so they were basically acting like they were in a zombie horror story. Doing everything they could to avoid attracting the horde to them.

The first place they reached that they decided to investigate was a supermarket… though sadly it came up as a dud, with no one inside, and absolutely everything being left unattended."Looks like they came in here so quickly the people barely had any time to even TRY to get away," Weiss frowned.

"But can Bakemon really work that fast?" Tentomon folded his arms.

"Doubt it. There aren't any signs of a struggle," Renamon reported.

"Myotismon himself was probably here then, he's got plenty of abilities that could make it quick." Summer said.

"How about Witchmon? Could she have done this as well?" Palmon asked.

"It's another possibility." Renamon nodded at the question.

"Whatever the case, nobody is here anymore," Palmon sighed. "We'd better move on."

After silently leaving the supermarket, they next found a hardware store, but, again, nobody was present "This is getting kind of unsettling." Taiyang admitted as they looked through the store.

"You should have seen that village where we came across Phantomon," Patamon said. "The place was completely deserted cause of the mist he controlled."

"Yeah...I'd rather not remember that, even if it did help in the long run," Blake sighed.

"...no offense to the Digimon in present company, but your kind are REALLY scary," Taiyang couldn't help but say.

"None taken," all the Digimon waved off. They all knew how dangerous the bad apples of their kind could be.

The hardware store was definitely completely empty, with nothing touched at all. This proved that for some reason, they were only interested in the people that had been here. For what...they didn't know. But whatever it was, they didn't plan on letting Myotismon have his way. With that in mind, they continued on through the city, finding more and more empty locations, and at the same time, noticing an increasing number of Bakemon, meaning they should be close soon. Funnily enough…

"...what are the odds?" Gyro sighed, as they had arrived at their agreed upon rendezvous point...and found a number of Bakemon guarding it.

As well as a sound being audible not far from them, like threads moving on the street.

"Well, that sounds suspicious." Ruby muttered as they listened to the sound slowly getting louder.

"Let's see what we're dealing with." Gyro said, before whatever was making that sound finally came into view.

Obviously, the bottom half of what was making the sound was very much a sort of tank, with a pair of gatling gun coming out of the sides of it, but instead of a turret sitting on it, it was a reptilian Digimon, his hands covered in gauntlets that had three large spikes on it, several small missile pods resting in front of him, his neck covered in heavy armor, a gold mask covering the top half of its head, while two large cannons rose out of the tank and over its shoulders.

"That's… a LOT of heavy artillery on that thing." Taiyang blinked in shock as he looked at the Digimon.

"Well, it's name is fitting at least. That's a Tankdramon, he's pretty strong." Weiss said as she checked the Analyzer.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Tankdramon_

 _Tankdramon. Virus Type. A Perfect Level Machine Digimon. A riot-suppressing and assault-extermination Digimon, part of a group known as the D-Brigade, a band of mercenary Digimon. It is efficient in hunting down it's targets, and can lock on to multiple enemies at once, and should multiple Tankdramon be present, there is a low chance of escape. Its special attacks are Striver Cannon, firing a miniature nuke from its weapon, reducing everything in a 30 km radius to scorched earth, and Blast Gatling, using the gatlings on its main body to unload as many of its 3600 bullets as possible._

A moment of stunned silence passed through the group when they pulled out the analyzers and read the description.

"Okay...that's...REALLY bad…" Ruby gulped at the bit about '30 km of scorched earth'.

"You don't know the half of it," Gyro whimpered.

"...I'm afraid to ask, but what has you so afraid?" Blake asked.

"That's a Nuke. It's a weapon from where we come from. The scorched earth is the LEAST of our worries. If he fires that off, he'll render Vale completely uninhabitable for years to come thanks to the radiation Nukes give off," Gyro explained. "I'm not kidding, there was this city back home where a nuclear power plant had a massive malfunction back in the 1980s...and its STILL unlivable even nearly a HUNDRED years later."

They all fell silent at that, the gravity of the situation settling on them as they realised that they COULDN'T let Tankdramon fire off his weapon at any cost.

"Who the hell came up with that kind of weapon?" Yang muttered a bit fearfully as she looked back at the Digimon.

"It was developed from the theories of the most brilliant scientist our world ever had, Albert Einstein." Gyro answered simply, before scowling "And then the largest amount of blame goes to a person who makes your dad look like a teddy bear Weiss."

Weiss shivered in disgust at the thought of someone being an even worse human being than her father.

"Okay everyone, first things first. We need to take out those cannons," Ruby said urgently.

"Right," everyone nodded in agreement.

"I suggest we aim to take out the cannons as soon as possible. Perhaps some of us should draw its attention, while others prepare to disable the cannons the first chance they get," Summer suggested.

"That works. We can get behind that plan," Blake nodded.

"So, who should do it then?" Yang asked.

"Probably the larger Digimon should be the ones playing distraction. The smaller ones can destroy the cannons when he's fully focused on them," Weiss suggested. "Just hope he's not too trigger happy on that nuke."

"Right, in that case...I think Palmon and Patamon should be the ones to take out the cannons. Their Perfect Level forms are the smallest here, and they both have some fast moves that can take the cannons out quickly," Gyro nodded. With that in mind, the chosen quickly pulled out their D-Cores and Crests.

"Uh… what are those supposed to do?" Taiyang asked, blinking in confusion at the matching necklaces that each had a different little piece of glass in them.

"You might want to stand back for what's about to happen, dear," Summer chuckled, pulling him back a little. That's when the D-Cores and Crests began to shine, and in response, so did the Digimon.

"Agumon, Evolution! Greymon! Super Evolution! MetalGreymon!"

"Palmon, Evolution! Togemon! Super Evolution! Lillymon!"

"Tentomon, Evolution! Kabuterimon! Super Evolution! AtlurKabuterimon!"

"Patamon, Evolution! Angemon! Super Evolution! HolyAngemon!"

"Biyomon, Evolution! Birdramon! Super Evolution! Garudamon!"

The group had evolved, and the three larger ones quickly taking to the sky to attract attention.

"And there's our cue to get into position," Ruby said. "Let's go!"

"Right!" the group aiming to destroy the cannons nodded, moving through the city.

At the same time, Summer had to pull Taiyang along, seeing as he was currently stuck with a permanent gobsmacked look on his face, even Zwei was doing a better job than him at holding in his surprise.

* * *

Tankdramon was surveying the area diligently. None would pass without his master's permission, and he would ensure it remained that way. Naturally, this was the part the universe decided to shit on his plans.

A bright light caught his attention and suddenly he saw three of the Digimon partnered to the Chosen Children coming right his way. "Enemies at 12 o'clock! All troops prepare for battle!" he shouted, sounding like a military general. Unfortunately all THAT managed to accomplish was the Bakemon running around like a bunch of chickens without heads. "...note to self, ask Lord Myotismon for proper troops next time," Tankdramon deadpanned, before turning to the incoming Digimon. "Battles Stations!" with that he leveled the gattlings on his body and opened fire.

The three incoming Digimon scattered, forcing him to divide his attention as he did his best to keep them all away. He would protect this outpost with his life, he would stake it all on his honor as a sol-

He didn't get to finish when he suddenly shouted in pain, as from two sides, another pair of attacks hit his shoulder cannons, the ones he used for his best move. As a result one had been destroyed, while the other was cut off.

* * *

"Operation successful!" Ruby grinned as she saw Lillymon and HolyAngemon destroy the nuke cannons. However…

"And now he's pissed," Yang added matter of factly, as now it seems Tankdramon did NOT take losing his cannons well and was now firing...rather wildly.

"Hit the deck!" Taiyang shouted, finally getting over his shock, to which they all did as they were told, while the Digimon tried to protect their partners as best as they could.

"I'm gonna turn you all into swiss cheese for what you did!" Tankdramon roared as he continued firing. However, seeing his attempts not yielding much if any results, he decided to go all out. "I don't care what happens to me! I will defeat you all! Striver Cannon!"

"Wait, what?!" Gyro shouted in worry.

A second later, a burst came from the cannon that was cut off, a shell being fired off, but unable to fly high.

"No!" HolyAngemon shouted out, before drawing a circle in the air with Excalibur "Heaven's Gate!" in seconds, the gate was open, as HolyAngemon directed it towards the nuke.

It was slowly falling towards the ground, even with the pull of the gate, but soon, it stopped, before gradually being pulled towards it.

"Heavier than it looks." HolyAngemon ground out as he maintained the gate for as long as he needed to.

"Not done yet! Blast Gatling!" Tankdramon roared, unloading EVERYTHING he had in an attempt to take SOMETHING with him.

For the most part, everyone was able to block or get out of the way thanks to their partners...however, Blake wasn't among those.

Blake's eyes widened at the spray of bullets heading towards her, Tankdramon's wild firing managing to cut off any escape route she had.

Just as she thought they were going to hit her, something shoved her out of the way, a slab of metal being held by whatever it was, and shielding her from the attack.

Shock ran through the group, but it was quickly replaced with relief when they saw Blake was safe, before focusing back on Tankdramon.

"End it quick, guys!" Weiss said, and they were all too happy to oblige.

"Giga Destroyer!"

"Horn Buster!"

"Shadow Wing!"

"Flower Cannon!"

The four attacks hit, causing a massive explosion, sending Tankdramon flying.

"Thank the Servers for my thick armor," Tankdramon managed to sigh in relief...until he realized WHERE he was going. "Nononononon-!" he didn't get to finish as he was soon sucked into the Heaven's Gate, which had just finished absorbing all of the explosion resulting from his best attack, and when it closed, he was gone.

Everyone sighed in relief when the gate disappeared, while the Digimon all reverted to their Child Levels.

"Nice initiative there Patamon." Gyro said with a thumbs up.

"Yeah, we'd be toast if you didn't use the Heaven's Gate." Yang said, before snickering a bit.

"Yang, not right now please." Biyomon asked, not in the mood for puns right now.

"Who saved Blake though?" Ruby asked after Yang got her amusement under control, everyone looking towards the slab of metal that had protected Blake and whoever protected her… which chose that moment to fall down, and…

"Oh my god this is gold right there." Gyro muttered, trying to hide his laugh while he took out his scroll and set it to record.

Blake's savior was quite obviously female, wearing a tight sleeveless outfit with the legs cutting off at her thighs, which honestly made her look like some kind of spy, while also wearing small boots and a glove on their right hand. Their hair was tied back into a ponytail, the tip of which curled on itself like a chameleon's tail, and they had several freckles on the exposed parts of their skin. Gyro knew normally her skin would be somewhat tan, and her hair a maroon color, with her eyes gray, but at the moment, her skin was pink, her freckles and hair a bright red, matching with her eyes.

The reason for this strange color scheme, was due to the fact her lips were in contact with Blake's own, the two girls frozen in place and staring at each other wide eyed.

"Uh...should we…?" Ruby started.

"Nope," Gyro and Yang snickered before fist bumping.

"If you say so…" Patamon sweat dropped at seeing his partner in her current state.

"Don't they need to breathe though?" Biyomon muttered… just as the girls separated, gasping for breath "Ah, there we go."

"Uh-I-tha-eh-mh-" the girl started, her skin going through a literal rainbow of changes, before Gyro shouted "Get on with it!" making her snap back into her normal colors as she looked at Blake "... Hi Blake."

Blake blinked slowly at her "Um… hi Ilia." she said, her cheeks red as she looked at the chameleon faunus before her. A VERY awkward pause happened...before Blake finally decided to ask an...important question, considering the current situation. "...not that it's not good to see you again but...why are you in Vale?"

"Um… the weather a week ago actually stopped me from heading on back to Menagerie, and no boats were leaving at all through the week, so when the fog rolled in last night, I was stuck here." Ilia admitted, blushing a bit in embarrassment.

"I see… well, since you're kinda stuck here...would you be willing to help us?" Blake asked tentatively.

Ilia looked at everyone else, looking at the Digimon assembled in confusion, especially when Patamon came and landed on Blake's head right between her ears, before she looked at Weiss in suspicion "Depends on why there's a Schnee here." she said, spitting the family name like it was venomous.

"Oh for the love of Oum." Weiss groaned as she palmed her face.

Blake sighed, before grabbing Ilia's face and making her look at her again "Weiss isn't racist alright? So don't hate her for no reason unless you want to be like the worst kind of humans."

Ilia flinched at that, but nodded in acceptance "So… this is still a bit awkward for me since you left the Fang recently and I'm still in it." Ilia admitted.

"Yes, well, I didn't want to be partnered with a psychopath who is fine with murdering innocents, even those of his own kind." Blake said, scowling as she thought about Adam.

Ilia looked at her with wide eyes "He… he killed other Faunus?" she gasped. She knew Adam was...strong on his views...but this didn't...

"Because they were married to humans." Blake explained simply.

Ah...there it was...

Silence passed through everyone "Jesus fuck… I had my suspicions… but still." Gyro muttered.

"Right from the horse's mouth." Weiss added.

"Cat in this case." Agumon said before Tentomon nudged him with a small "Not the time."

"So uh...are you planning on joining us? I mean...there's kinda an army of evil monsters around here, and the longer we wait…" Ruby started.

"No, I'll help," Ilia said quickly. "I'm still...I don't know what to think about what you just told me...but standing around is just going to make things worse for us," she sighed.

"Welcome aboard then, what kind of weapon to do you use?" Gyro asked, even though he already knew, he just used the standard act since he wasn't supposed to know her already.

In response, Ilia reached for the back of her waist, pulled off what looked like the grip of a gun with an oversized revolver barrel, before she pulled the large trigger and it extended into a rapier, and then extended a little further and went slack, becoming a whip, as she then retracted it back "I can also put a dust cartridge in if I want an element added to my attacks." she added as she got to her feet, Blake doing the same.

"Here." Weiss said as she tossed her a few cartridges of dust, surprising the chameleon faunus as she juggled them a bit before catching them, looking back and forth between Weiss and the cartridges in confusion.

"Um… thank you." she said, blinking from how weird it felt for her to be thanking a Schnee.

"I'm not going to act like I don't know why Faunus don't take kindly to me, and frankly, I can't blame them," Weiss said simply. "I can't say anything that will make what my father has done any better, but just know I fully intend to fix things once the SDC is in my hands."

"Uh… well, if that's truly the case… I'll look forward to seeing you in charge, and hope you do well." Ilia said with a nod, being a bit hopeful for the far future of the faunus.

After that, the group headed towards the mall, the Bakemon having all cleared away thanks to the fight against Tankdramon.

However, Blake did hold up Ilia slightly "About what happened earlier…" she started, her cheeks pink "We'll talk about it once the city is safe, alright?"

Ilia nodded after a few moments, her freckles turning pink "A-alright." she said, before following after Blake.

* * *

Getting into the mall was surprisingly easy, even with the Bakemon now on alert...they still weren't very smart.

"...are these things usually so…?" Ilia couldn't help but start to ask.

"Stupid? Yeahp," Gyro nodded, though he was snickering to himself that their plan was actually working.

"I honestly don't know how this is working," Weiss sighed, as currently they were all under a bunch of...cardboard boxes. That's all they were using, and the Bakemon didn't seem to find it suspicious at all.

"Let's just be glad the Bakemon are so stupid," Tentomon sighed.

"Still though...how did you know this would work, Gyro?" Agumon asked.

"...wait, I just realized...we're sneaking in with cardboard boxes…" Biyomon said. "...you're copying Metal Gear, aren't you?"

"Oh, you guys got around to playing that huh? Yeah, I always knew this tactic would work with idiots after playing through so many games and never being caught thanks to it." Gyro said with a snicker.

"...you seriously bet everything on how stupid the Bakemon were?" Blake deadpanned.

"Eeeyup," Gyro nodded.

"...so...anyone else feel like kicking Gyro's ass for that one?" Yang deadpanned.

"I actually don't, this is pretty fun." Ruby said with a small laugh.

"Sometimes I forget she's younger, and then she reminds me." Weiss sighed.

"Well, you know what they say, sometimes the simplest plans are the best ones." Summer said.

"Wasn't that your motto back when you lead the team?" Taiyang asked her.

"It still is." Renamon said dryly.

Taiyang sweatdropped at that one as an awkward silence descended on the group, but they continued on, easily getting past more patrols. Eventually they found themselves pretty deep in the mall.

"...damn, it's a shame the communications are being blocked...or we'd want to show the others this," Gyro couldn't help but say at the sight they found.

In one of the larger areas of the mall, they found several people, probably in the hundreds, all on the floor, seemingly unconscious, ranging from kids to adults.

"W-why are they all just… like that?" Ilia wondered in confusion.

"It probably has to do with Myotismon." Palmon said with a frown.

"Hmm…" Summer hummed as she looked around the area "It's pretty large… there are doors… and it feels cold… he may be trying to preserve them for meals."

"Wait, meals?!" Ilia asked in a panic.

"Right, we forgot to mention, our enemy is a vampire." Gyro said almost casually.

"How can you say that so casually?" Ilia asked in shocked awe.

"We've fought sea serpents, dinosaurs, dragons, devils, angels, monkeys, parasites and a VERY persistent giant beetle, trust me, a vampire is par the course." Blake told her in deadpan.

"...what the heck happened to you…?" was all Ilia could ask.

"A lot," the chosen children deadpanned.

* * *

Meanwhile, a van was riding through Vale...okay, riding was a nice way of putting it. What was REALLY happening was that it was quite literally tearing through the various Bakemon scattered through the city, and in some cases it was clear the driver was purposely hitting some of them, while other occupants were busy shooting from the windows at any Bakemon that tried to come at them from the air.

"Did not expect her to be able to road rage." Pierce muttered as he glanced at Lisa… who had a grin plastered on her face while ramming into the various Bakemon.

"I normally don't, but after having been running from these things for hours, this is sweet sweet payback," Lisa said, letting out a slightly maniacal laugh as a Bakemon was currently doing the impression of a fly on a windshield, to which Lisa engaged the wipers and wiped it off.

"...at least you're having fun," Keenan deadpanned.

"She's not the only one!" Nora laughed as several Bakemon were sent flying from a grenade she fired out the window.

"Normally I wouldn't condone this, but this time is an exception," Azure sighed.

"...so, about that lead you were talking about?" Jaune decided to ask to change the subject.

"Oh, right. Anyway, from what I can tell, the fog is thickest near the VNN building, cause I think that's where it all started," Lisa explained. "But thing is, when I tried sneaking back in, there was some kind of barrier blocking the building," she started.

Everyone else shared a look at that, all coming to the same conclusion "Myotismon."

"Wait, that terrorist those other Digimon were chasing?!" Lisa asked in surprise.

"Not other Digimon. Us, well, two of us, you talked to me and Gabumon the other day in our evolved forms, MetalGreymon is with another group right now." Gomamon said.

Lisa blinked slowly at that "You… wait… you turned into that giant turtle walrus thing?"

"That's right, and Gabumon was the werewolf." Gomamon added as he nudged his friend.

"So… when you Digimon undergo those weird transformations, anything can happen?" Lisa asked, understandably curious. She knew that those metamorphosis could be extreme, but the idea of something the size of a plush toy turning into a giant was...hard to swallow...

"Within reason… although I'm not one to talk, I'm a puppy, that turns into a cat, which then turns into an angel." Salamon said sheepishly.

"...I feel the need to ask, but I think I'm better off not knowing just yet," Lisa sighed. "Anyway, while the VNN is impenetrable, when I was going over it with my camera, I noticed these thin…threads...for lack of better words, extending from the building. I was able to follow them to a warehouse area before I was chased away by that dinosaur. From what I glimpsed, the place seemed heavily guarded for some reason," she explained.

"And that's where we're headed, right?" Pyrrha mused.

"Right," Lisa nodded. "Anyway, we should be arriving really-"

She didn't get to finish as suddenly the van went out of control as something hit the tires, bursting them, right before they saw a figure jump up high, looking like they were about to come down on them.

"ABANDON VAN!" Wormmon shouted, something none of them were arguing with as everyone exited through the nearest door.

"Evolution time! Right now!" Jaune said, each Digivice and Crest glowing, Keenan slashing the blue card as well, none of them wanting to waste time.

"Gomamon, Evolution! Ikkakumon! Super Evolution! Zudomon!"

"Gabumon, Evolution! Garurumon! Super Evolution! WereGarurumon!"

"Wormmon, Evolution! Stingmon! Super Evolution! JewelBeemon!"

"Veemon, Evolution! Veedramon! Super Evolution! AeroVeedramon!

"Salamon, Evolution! Gatomon! Super Evolution! Angewomon!"

"Falcomon, Evolution! Peckmon! Matrix Evolution! Yatagaramon!"

"I wish you had a D-Ark." Wizardmon said in deadpan as he looked at his partner.

"So do I, still haven't finished analyzing the data from Keenan's own though." Azure shot back.

"More importantly, who are we up against?" AeroVeedramon said, right as the Van hit a wall and exploded, the figure responsible landing on a lamp post, and folding their arms...in an almost superhero like pose.

Though of course, they didn't look all that heroic, they had a small black vest covering their extremely thin chest, with long pink sleeves that had plenty of extra material that fluttered in the wind, four small bat like wings coming out of their back and curving around to the front, the top 2 being red, while the lower ones were yellow. They wore large red pants with a strange eye-like pattern on them. Attached to their feet were large blades that actually completely went around the edge of their feet, and their head… it was rather far from looking humanoid. Honestly, it almost looked like it's face was made of a sword that seemed to be acting like a chin, two purple lens to act as the eyes, and everything else was just spiked orange hair that pointed backwards.

"Okay...who is this guy?" Jaune blinked. He'd read the Analyzer in his own time too, but he hadn't come across this particular Digimon before.

"Let's check," Pyrrha said, before bringing it up. "His name is...Matadormon."

 _Digimon Analyzer: Matadormon_

 _Matadormon. Virus Type. A Perfect Level Undead Digimon. An undead martial artist Digimon who, much like Myotismon, has vampiric tendencies, yet was said to be born from data related from folk dancing. It uses its colorful appearance to distract opponents, before striking at them with the rapiers sticking out of its sleeves. Its special attacks are the Butterfly-breaking Trumpet-kick, a flying kick with enough power to shatter the earth put into it, and Thousand Arrow, a series of several high speed jabs with its arms to try and skewer the opponent._

"A single warning. Leave," Matadormon stated. "Or suffer the consequences."

"Yeah, like that line hasn't been overused," Pierce deadpanned.

"Seriously, you think villains would try to be more original." AeroVeedramon said as he shook his head with a sigh.

"Well, no choice then, we'll just have to take him out," Angewomon said.

"Let's make this quick," Jewelbeemon nodded.

"Very well, if that is your decision," Matadormon said...before suddenly vanishing.

"Where'd he go?" Zudomon asked...right before he felt a sharp kick to the side of his head. "Nevermind!"

"Careful, looks like he's another fast one," Ren warned, before narrowly dodging an attack aimed for him, the ground cracking considerably when Matadormon kicked it.

"And he's got strong legs too. Break them!" Nora said in slight alarm.

"Gonna try!" AeroVeedramon growled as he tried to catch Matadormon. Unfortunately, due to the size difference, Matadormon had the advantage. It didn't help AeroVeedramon couldn't make use of his speed without risking demolishing a building or two. Even WereGarurumon was having a hard time keeping up...though it probably helped he WAS slower.

"Okay...maybe going Perfect was a questionable idea," Zudomon admitted as he felt another impact on his shell. Fortunately while he was fast, it seemed Matadormon wasn't a very heavy hitter.

"Starting to wonder if we should have stayed at Adult for this one," Keenan growled as he and Yatagaramon tried to hit the slippery target, but as it was, Yatagaramon wasn't as fast as his previous forms.

"Okay, we need a new plan," Pyrrha frowned.

"And fast," Azure nodded in agreement, as Wizardmon was busy trying to hit Matadormon with Thunder Cloud, but to no avail.

"We gotta stop his movements," Jaune frowned.

"Stop his movements? THAT I can do," Angewomon grinned, before getting airborne. "Saint Air!" she called out, the holy energy spreading through the area. The moment it washed over Matadormon, he suddenly felt like his body weighed a ton.

"Can't...move...much…" he choked out, as incredibly enough, he WAS still moving...albeit MUCH slower than before.

"Okay...that never happened before," JewelBeemon admitted. Normally when an evil Digimon was hit with Saint Air, they STOPPED moving altogether.

"But still really helpful," Zudomon chuckled, before hefting his hammer. "Fore!"

The next thing Matadormon knew he had a hammer smash into his chest, sending him flying RIGHT into the very warehouse he'd been protecting, and judging by the sound that followed, something heavy must have fallen on him.

"Ok… that sounds like a photo opportunity." Pierce said with a grin.

"And probably a good chance to break his legs." Nora added with her own grin.

"Are you ever going to tell me where you get that obsession from?" Angewomon asked in amusement.

"Maybe~" Nora sang out, before they headed into the warehouse, to find…

"Well… that's not good." Wizardmon summed up simply, as they saw Witchmon there, giving them an annoying glare.

"You humans are a lot more trouble than I thought you'd be." she said, shouldering her broom. Furthermore, she was standing in a magic circle, with a pitch black stone hovering in front of her, seemingly absorbing whatever the circle was giving off.

"Why thank you, we do a very good job at being trouble for villains like you," Jaune snarked. "Its over, Witchmon, surrender or face deletion."

"And while we're at it, we'll be taking that obviously evil looking stone you got there and put it somewhere safe...like on the moon," Pierce added.

At that Witchmon grabbed the stone and held it to herself in a show of abnormal protectiveness. "Not happening," she growled, before turning to Matadormon. "On your feet! You still have a job to do!" she barked, before casting a spell that hit the downed Digimon, before he got up, looking completely refreshed.

"Understood!" Matadormon nodded, before standing by her side.

"Guess it's the hard way as normal," Angewomon frowned. "But we're in a hurry. Saint Air!"

"Not this time," Witchmon smirked, before the magic circle let out a pulse of dark energy, which hit them all like a bucket of cold water and the Saint Air's effect was gone.

"Okay...home field advantage...we might have walked into this one," WereGarurumon admitted.

"Don't we always fight on their home field?" Nora pointed out.

"...good point," Pyrrha couldn't help but say with a small chuckle.

"Wow… I just realised never ONCE have we fought bad guys on our own playing field." AeroVeedramon muttered with a blink.

"Probably cause we never HAD our own playing field," Ren pointed out.

"Excuse me, are we going to fight or what?" Matadormon asked, cutting into the conversation.

"...you know we could have just attacked them while they were talking, right?" Witchmon deadpanned.

"I have standards," Matadormon shot back, causing Witchmon to facepalm and grumble something about 'chivalry not staying dead'.

"Well, that's honestly pretty refreshing," JewelBeemon couldn't help but say.

"Enough talk, let's settle this," Matadormon said, before he was suddenly zipping across the field.

"I'll handle him. You guys deal with Witchmon, JewelBeemon said, before he soon started to try and match Matadormon's speed. Sure it still wasn't easy, but with the area now being a large warehouse, there was less to keep track of.

"Hate to leave this to him, but looks like we have no choice," Wizardmon sighed, before they turned to Witchmon. "I suppose I've always wanted to see which of us was the better magic user."

"Bring it," Witchmon growled.

"...is anyone else suddenly worried?" WereGarurumon asked. Right as he said that, a stray spell hit a box nearby...and suddenly it was a chicken.

"...that's probably why," the others deadpanned, before everyone ducked for cover, the crates actually giving enough cover for AeroVeedramon and Zudomon.

Even the two mon fighting at high speed stopped when they saw that "...take this outside?" JewelBeemon suggested, even IF that might put him at a mild disadvantage.

"Take it outside," Matadormon nodded in a hurry. No way were they gonna keep zipping around when two magic users were having a magic duel.

Back with the two spell casters, spells, hexes, and jinxes were flying through the air, as they ran around the warehouse, trying to get a hit in to the other. Wizardmon was clearly the more skilled caster right now, but Witchmon had more mobility thanks to her broom. "Hm...I need to do something about that," Wizardmon frowned...before quickly casting a powerful spell at the same time, the two spells manifesting as beams that were now clashing against each other.

"Give up! You can't beat me!" Witchmon grunted.

"On the contrary," Wizardmon grunted back. "I'm confident I can win!" he said, and to emphasise the point, he pushed back against her spell, slowly but surely overpowering her. Eventually she broke off, and avoided the attack.

"Fine then, burn!" she growled, igniting the ground near him, forcing him to jump back a few times.

"No thanks, you need to cool off!" he countered with a cloud, which soon started to rain on her.

"How's this supposed to hurt?" she laughed...before the cloud disgorged its entire contents, leaving a rather drowned looking Digimon in its place.

"Okay...this is actually pretty funny," Nora couldn't help but say.

"Not gonna be so funny when she gets pissed," Azure frowned, as true enough, Witchmon was NOT happy about that.

"That does it!" she roared, before a magic circle appeared before her, one that was clearly that of dark magic if the upside down pentagram was any indication. True enough, a lot of dark energy started to gather, becoming stronger and stronger, and from the looks of it, she was ready to level a portion of the building if it meant winning...or she would have, if Wizardmon didn't think fast, and cast a hex onto her broom...which she was standing on...causing it to suddenly shrink.

Witchmon let out an undignified squawk, before her attack was sent skyward...and vaporized the entire roof.

"...glad she didn't get to use that…" AeroVeedramon couldn't help but say, his jaw hanging open.

"More importantly, she's down! Get her!" Azure shouted, everyone realizing that yes, that was the case, before springing into action.

"Finish her before she can try that again! Hammer Spark!" Zudomon called out.

"Dragon Impulse!"

"Thunder Cloud!"

"Holy Arrow!"

"Gurendama!"

The attacks raced towards her, but before they hit, Witchmon noticed Matadormon and JewelBeemon fighting outside, the two seemingly evenly matched...before she raised her hand and chanted a spell. A flash occurred, and the attacks suddenly hit...Matadormon?

"Darn...I was hoping to catch the other one," Witchmon frowned.

"What the hell?!" JewelBeemon shouted from outside, before running back in "What just happened?!"

"Witchmon grabbed herself a meat shield." Angewomon said in annoyance.

"Still… gotta be pretty damn evil to do that." Zudomon said with narrowed eyes.

"...is the stone safe?" was all Matadormon asked.

"Its right here," Witchmon nodded. "You did well. The master will be pleased."

"Good," Matadormon nodded. "Anything...for our master…" he choked out, having taken a LOT of damage.

"Anything indeed," Witchmon chuckled, before pushing him forward, his body suddenly glowing a bright angry red, before…

"Hit the deck!" Wizardmon called out, using a spell to pull everyone back, before Matadormon exploded.

When the smoke cleared, nothing was left, not even data, but from the light cackling they could still hear in the air...Witchmon had escaped...though the warehouse had been destroyed, and with it the magic circle.

"Dear Monty… she just turned him into a suicide bomber." Pyrrha said after a moment, her eyes wide with horror.

"Even though he was an enemy, nobody deserves that." Keenan said, hanging his head.

"Still… that stone must be pretty important to Myotismon if they were willing to do anything to keep it safe." Azure said with a frown.

"From what I can tell from the residual energy...this was a key point in whatever is helping some kind of magic in the main base. With this gone, I think we might be able to get into the VNN tower," Wizardmon said.

"Great, then we should hurry to the rendezvous point. We need to tell the others," Ren said, while the Digimon all reverted.

"...though the van is kinda...smashed…" Wormmon pointed out.

The next thing they heard was the sound of Pierce forcing open the door of an abandoned bus. "Think anyone would mind?" he asked, noticing the key was still in the bus.

"Can I drive again?" Lisa asked, having been hiding and keeping quiet for most of the battle.

"No." everyone said together, before everyone got onto the bus.

* * *

"Okay...so we know we need to get the people out...but how do we do that?" Gyro frowned. "There's too many things not exactly conducive for us if we get caught…"

"Why can't we just carry them out?" Agumon said.

"Cause there are way too many of them to carry," Tentomon deadpanned.

"...good point," Agumon sweatdropped.

"We probably could though if we had something like the GrandLocomon Ren's group met back when we were split on Server." Yang noted.

"Except that's not an available option right now." Biyomon said with a sigh.

"Well, we COULD cut a bloody swath, but that'd just attract the boss," Yang sighed.

"...I think that last part was just taken out of our hands," Blake sighed.

Yang was silent at that "... How many feet behind me?"

"I'd say about 15 feet." Ilia answered as she swallowed nervously.

Yang nodded slowly at that… before whirling around as Ember Celica activated and she punched forward, firing a concussive blast, which Myotismon leaned away from, the impact blasting against one of the walls.

"...wow...he is a vampire," Ilia couldn't help but say, seeing him for the first time.

"You didn't believe us the first time?" Blake deadpanned.

"Sorry," Ilia said sheepishly.

"Now then, seeing as you've all made it this far, I can't have you getting away again," Myotismon frowned.

"Isn't that what you told us the other times too? But we're still here," Ruby challenged.

"A fact I intend to rectify right now."

"And something you will certainly be able to do this time," came Witchmon's voice as she suddenly floated into the room, landing next to Myotismon, she soon presented him something. "The Abyssal Stone, my lord," she said, to which he took from her with a smirk.

"Excellent. Though I was expecting this sooner," he mused.

"It was finished several minutes ago, but the other Chosen Children got in my way, and even destroyed my broom," Witchmon growled.

"Ah, that makes sense," Myotismon nodded before turning to the group. "And now...your end is ensured!" he declared as the stone radiated an ominous dark energy. "But first...let us take this somewhere else, I do not wish to ruin my meal," he smirked, before the chosen and their Digimon (and Ilia, Summer, Renamon, Taiyang, and even Zwei...for some reason), before pulling them out...through the roof.

"Okay...this is weird…" Weiss admitted.

"You're telling us?" Taiyang grumbled as he tried to maintain his balance, Zwei running around in circles and barking inside the sphere.

"I swear, I can almost hear Richard Epcar's voice talking about Darkness within Darkness." Gyro said dryly.

"That… doesn't make sense." Agumon muttered, confused.

"That's what everybody who's played Dream Drop Distance says." Gyro sighed as he shook his head "Back to the matter at hand though..." he then turned to Myotismon. "Don't suppose you'd answer if I ask 'where are you taking us?'"

"A more fitting stage for a finale like this," was the reply he got.

"At least the people won't get hurt." Patamon muttered as he glared at the back of Myotismon's head.

"Thank the server for small mercies." Palmon agreed with him.

"And villains having egos the size of train cars," Yang added, earning a few snickers of amusement.

That didn't last long though, as the sphere suddenly vanished, depositing them on the hard surface of a rooftop.

"Okay, looks like we went from the mall to...the VNN building?" Taiyang noticed, seeing the large VNN logo on the ground.

"Convenient logos are convenient." Renamon said dryly.

"Now then," Myotismon said, the stone in his grasp as he was radiating dark energy. "It is time for the beginning...of your end," he smirked.

"Care to put your money where your mouth is?" Biyomon frowned, as the hunters grabbed their Digivices and Crests.

"Agumon, Evolution! Greymon! Super Evolution! MetalGreymon!"

"Biyomon, Evolution! Birdramon! Super Evolution! Garudamon!"

"Palmon, Evolution! Togemon! Super Evolution! Lillymon!"

"Tentomon, Evolution! Kabuterimon! Super Evolution! AtlurKabuterimon!"

"Patamon, Evolution! Angemon! Super Evolution! HolyAngemon!"

"Renamon, Evolution! Kyubimon!"

With that, the Digimon all readied their attacks, while the hunters leveled their weapons, and opened fire. The attacks flew through the air, to which Myotismon held the stone before him, a shield appearing and the attacks impacted, causing him to grunt as the force was considerable, and for a moment, it looked like they would overpower him...only for the stone to radiate energy, and the attacks were thrown to the side, fizzling out in the air.

Myotismon panted a little, but grinned. "Magnificent. This stone was truly worth the preparations. But perhaps a more...usable form is needed," he mused, before closing his hands over it, and when he revealed it, he had fashioned it into a circular amulet, the stone set in the center, before he placed it around his neck.

"Okay, now he's just ripping off Dr. Strange," Gyro commented.

"That's from a comic book right?" MetalGreymon asked while still keeping his focus on Myotismon.

"Yeah, and Myotismon basically looks like an evil version right now." Gyro said as he tried to think of a way to get through the barrier.

"You will never defeat me now! Night Raid!" Myotismon called out, launching his legion of bats.

"Koenryu!" Kyubimon countered, burning them down. "We'll see about that! Onibidama!" she called out, sending a number of blue fireballs at him, which impacted the barrier, before bursting into massive blue flames, covering him in it.

"Let's see how well he handles those flames," Summer frowned...before the flames were dispersed easily in a blast of energy. "Okay...so he can handle them well enough…"

"Our turn!" Weiss frowned, before making an array of glyphs. "AtlurKabuterimon!"

"Right!" AtlurKabuterimon nodded, before positioning himself before one of the glyphs, before charging up his horn. Then with a flick of her wrist, the glyphs turned black, and AtlurKabuterimon was launched forward, looking like he was just shot out of a cannon, aiming right for Myotismon. The horn impacted. Hard. So much so a shockwave occurred, nearly blowing them all off (and would have even blown Zwei off by accident if Yang hadn't thought quickly and grabbed the dog).

"Did that get him?" Ruby asked hopefully, but when the dust cleared, somehow, the barrier held up, Myotismon grunting in visible effort, before eventually repelling AtlurKabuterimon.

"Impossible! That was supposed to work like a railgun!" Weiss said in alarm.

"How strong IS that barrier?!" Blake growled.

"Well then, if we can't break it, how about moving it!" HolyAngemon frowned, before raising Excalibur. "Heaven's Gate!" with the gate formed, the suction began, but Myotismon remained grounded.

"Okay...I'm guessing we need to push him into that gate, right?" Taiyang guessed.

"Yes, but thing is, how do we do that? The barrier is blocking most of our moves," Ruby frowned.

"Let's hit it with all we got again. Maybe he'll get pushed to the gate!" Lillymon suggested.

"Probably the best chance we got," Garudamon nodded. With that in mind, they all tried again, peppering the barrier with their attacks. Myotismon grunted, getting pushed back...before one well placed Giga Destroyer managed to blow off a section of the ground, sending him into the air, and towards the gate. However, right as he was about to fly into the gate, the barrier appeared and expanded, stopping his entrance, the barrier strained against the gate, and just as it seemed like he was about be pulled in, the barrier expanded, hitting the gate and shattering it.

"I told you, it's impossible," Myotismon smirked as he idly did his hair that had gotten ruffled in the suction.

"Well… this is getting annoying." Blake said as she narrowed her eyes.

"At least you're helping in a way." Ilia said, a bit bitter about not being able to do anything.

"Where's the cavalry when you need it?" Garudamon said as she took a moment to look out into the city.

"Hopefully not far." Lillymon told her.

At that moment, everyone heard… an actual cavalry horn blaring out from the streets below, before WereGarurumon vaulted over the railing at the top of building, followed by Angewomon, JewelBeemon, AeroVeedramon and Yatagaramon who were lifting up Zudomon.

"Did somebody call for backup?" the large Digimon asked with a grin.

"We're here too!" Nora shouted from Zudomon's back, as all the humans in their group (minus Lisa, she had opted to stay away from this since she wasn't a fighter), plus Wizardmon, were holding onto his top most shell spike, before climbing off as Zudomon was deposited on the roof by his friends.

"Perfect timing!" Gyro grinned at seeing them all here.

"Hmph, isn't this just excellent," Myotismon smirked. "I get to kill all of you right here, right now."

"Not happening," Pierce said.

"Now that we're all together, we're gonna smash you into the ground!" Nora grinned.

"And there's nothing you can do to stop us!" Jaune nodded with a grin.

"Really now? Night Raid!" he called out, sending his bats out...only for them to be blasted apart, before the attacks hit him, but the barrier blocked them. "It's useless useless useless!" he laughed. "You can't break this defense!"

"He's right," Summer frowned. None of our attacks are getting through.

"What do we do then?" Pyrrha asked.

"There's gotta be some kind of weakness to the barrier. Even the strongest walls crumble eventually," Ren said.

"Even the strongest….that's it!" Gyro gasped.

"You got a plan?" MetalGreymon asked.

"Well, none of individual attacks are getting through, but what if we all attacked at one point at the same time?" Gyro suggested.

"That… could probably work." Pyrrha admitted.

"How are we gonna do that though? Not to be rude, but a lot of our attacks would probably end up clashing against one another and cancelling each other out before hitting the point we choose." WereGarurumon pointed out.

Gyro opened his mouth in response, before closing it again, trying to come up with an answer, until… "Yeah I got nothing."

"Actually, we might be able to make this work." Angewomon said as she floated over to Gyro and whispered something so that Myotismon wouldn't hear, the gogglehead slowly grinning as he looked back at the angel Digimon.

"Do it." was all he said.

"Hope you're ready Myotismon, cause you're about to be history," Angewomon said.

"How long will it be before you learn? You'll never defeat me!" he laughed.

"Well see about that! Saint Air!" Angewomon called out, spreading the holy energy.

"What's that going to do? My barrier protects me from even your precious holy power!" Myotismon laughed.

"Not what I was going for," she smirked. "Everyone feeling better?"

"Oh yeah, this is the boost we've all been needing!" the group agreed.

"Then let's do this together!" she called out, as a large holy ring appeared over her head.

"I understand! Everyone, fire your attacks at the holy ring!" HolyAngemon called out.

"You heard him, do it guys!" Gyro grinned, as EVERYONE present opened fire on the ring, the attacks all absorbing into the ring, causing it to glow brightly. So bright that despite the barrier, Myotismon had to shield his eyes.

"Wait! What is this?!" he gasped, as he soon realized that this...this was different.

"Myotismon, you have terrorized the Digital World, sought to turn the human world into your own kingdom, and trampled upon countless lives for your ambitions! For this, I bestow upon you, divine judgement!" Angewomon declared as the energy gathered into her hand, forming a single Holy Arrow, but one practically bursting with energy, which she soon loaded into her bow. "Holy Arrow!" she called out, pulling back and firing the arrow.

"Talk all you want, but nothing will stop me from achieving my goals!" Myotismon growled as he placed his arms forward, the barrier focusing on protecting him from the arrow. The arrow hit, and in a brilliant shower of light, the two energies clashed...before the arrow began to push through….and broke through completely. A massive burst of light blinded everyone, and when it was over, there was Myotismon, a stunned expression on his face as his arms were still facing forward...but now sprouting a MASSIVE hole through his torso. "I-Impossible!" he managed to choke out as he teetered back and fell of the edge, shattering into data in the air. The only things that remained were the Abyss Stone that had survived the amulet's destruction, and Myotismon's mask.

"Well...that's that I guess," Blake said as she looked over the edge.

"But...shouldn't this be the part where the barrier fades or something?" Ruby pointed out, while their partners all reverted back, though due to how much fighting they'd done so far, they were back in their baby forms.

"Okay...that's different," Ilia couldn't help but comment.

"Happens a lot these days." Weiss sighed as they all gathered their partners.

"I'm not even going to complain for once." Koromon sighed.

Gyro chuckled at that, before looking out into the city, seeing that the fog didn't seem to want to leave "If it's still present… we're probably not done, it's possible Myotismon may have had a contingency plan."

"That's not good." Pierce said with a grimace.

"I vote we take a few minutes to recover first, let the Digimon eat to get their strength back." Jaune said with a sigh, and the others nodded to the idea as they sat down on the roof and took out some of their supplies to recover their strength.

"So...does this happen often?" Taiyang couldn't help but ask.

"Very often." Yang said as she fed Yokomon some fruits.

"We usually just take the reprieves to gather our strength again, before the next monster that wants to kill us shows up," Pierce said with a shrug.

"We got used to it after the first 2 weeks," DemiVeemon commented as he ate his fill.

Taiyang stared at them all silently "Dear Oum… that almost sounds like hell."

"It'll be a lot better once we get rid of whatever else remains as a threat." Pyrrha said.

"I doubt we'll be lucky enough that whatever enemies Gennai's group sealed will REMAIN sealed." Tsunomon said with a sigh before continuing to eat.

"...you know I just had a thought...we should probably start investing in armor...or better armor in some cases, if we're gonna be fighting for our lives against REALLY dangerous Digimon again…" Gyro mused.

"That...might be a good idea," Ren agreed.

"And more Chrome Digizoid for our weapons too," Ruby added.

"If we do, I think we may need to build copies of our weapons from back when they were just Remnant brand steel," Jaune sighed. "Or we'd be breaking every other weapon we clash against…"

"That...might be something to consider, yeah," Azure admitted, before opening his scroll, glad he had the data analyzed from the D-Ark on this and not his computer at Beacon, and started taking some notes about things he might need.

"How's the analysis coming?" Keenan asked curiously.

"About 90% done, should be finished all the way in an hour or so." Azure said as he glanced on the corner of his screen which showed him the progress of the data he was analyzing and decrypting.

It wasn't long before their break was over, and the Digimon soon back to their Child Forms, the group immediately went to work on what to do next. First, Weiss went to the mall to see if she could find a way to wake the no doubt still unconscious people, seeing as the fog was still up. The rest were busy trying to cut through the fog.

"We're making holes at least." Gyro said as his D-Core was shining its light through the fog, cutting holes through it, but they had to be up close to the fog for this to even work as the burst of light was rather short distance.

"But I don't think we're making any sizeable damage," MetalGreymon frowned.

"How are you guys doing?" Gyro asked through his scroll, which thankfully had its connection back.

"Slow," was Blake's response.

"Other tricks aren't working either," HolyAngemon said, as from the scroll, Gyro could see that he had the Heaven's Gate open...zilch. The same could be said on another screen that showed Angewomon's Saint Air. Neither of the moves were doing anything notable if at all to the barrier.

"Well...we'll just have to keep trying for now," Jaune said, before they all hung up after a nod of agreement.

For a while things went on, the group trying their best to punch a hole through the barrier...but save for a few small ones...no dice.

"At least there's enough of a hole so that people can leave if Weiss found a way to wake them up." MetalGreymon said as Gyro had managed to make a hole big enough for several people to walk through at the same time.

"There's that at least yeah." Gyro said with a sigh, before he heard his scroll ring, bringing it back out to see Weiss was doing a mass call to everyone, which he quickly accepted "Something wrong?"

"Well for starters we haven't been able to wake anyone up, but there's something else, Gennai sent me a message, you'll all want to see this, come meet me at the mall." Weiss explained.

"Well… at least we aren't the only ones with news." Blake said, glancing to the side where Ilia was just barely visible.

"What happened?" Yang asked with a raised eyebrow.

"You'll see when we get there." was all Blake said.

"Similar here actually." Azure said dryly, he was glad he could do something thanks to his own D-Core "Lisa was with me and… well, like with Blake, best you see for yourselves."

"Okay, this I think we all want to see," Pierce couldn't help but say as everyone made their way back. Once they did...well…

"Oookay, that was really unexpected," Gomamon couldn't help but say at the two new Digimon among them.

The first of the two was a short green Digimon, wearing a ninja-style outfit with a utility belt and a large backpack… and it's head was a television.

The other was a Kotemon, not the same one the twins had met though, as they quickly confirmed this one was a girl, she was also a bit shy, and hiding behind Ilia's leg, while the other Digimon was standing next to Lisa.

And both of them had a D-Core in hand now.

"Ok… what happened?" Gyro asked.

"Well… I kind of just met Kotemon suddenly when she ran pass a hole Blake made in the fog barrier, and she had a Boarbatusk chasing after her, so I took care of it, and then the next thing I know, I have one of these." Ilia explained, shaking the D-Core a bit for emphasis.

"That thing was still really scary." Kotemon said, burying her face into Ilia's leg, the faunus girl awkwardly trying to comfort her.

"As for my case I met him while I was trying to record some footage of the city now that scroll signals were restored. We just started talking about recording equipment and things like that and then I have one of these as well." Lisa said, honestly a bit confused.

"As for my name, I'm Monitamon, nice to meet all of you." the small Digimon introduced himself.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Monitamon_

 _Monitamon. Data Type. A Child Level Cyborg Digimon. A small Digimon with a hobby of watching and recording every new thing it finds, having hundreds of different recordings saved up in his body. It's not that great of a fighter, but it excels at gathering information discreetly. It's special attack is Lightning Flash, discharging electricity from its body, mostly its screen though, to blind and paralyze its enemies in an effort to conceal itself once more._

"Okay...well...not what we expected, but new help is always appreciated," Gyro scratched the back of his head, before turning to Weiss. "Now, you said you had something important to tell us?" he checked.

"Right," Weiss nodded, before pulling out her Scroll. "Gennai sent me this," she said as she showed them a picture of an ancient carving...with subtitles.

 _The sky will be shadowed by wings of darkness. The fallen will chant the name of the undead digimon king. When the clock strikes the hour of the beast, the undead digimon king will rise anew as the beast of darkness. Only when Courage and Friendship rise above shall victory be found._

"...okay, aside from the blatant reference to Gyro and Pyrrha at the end, anyone understand this?" Jaune asked.

"Well, the undead digimon king is probably Myotismon, seeing as he IS listed as an 'undead type' in those Analyzers you have. As for the hour of the beast...that would be a reference to something from back home, the number 666." Azure said, being mindful of his words with Ilia and Lisa around.

"Why is it called the 'number of the beast'?" Lisa couldn't help but ask.

"Because it was from a VERY old text that spoke of a monster arising in the end of days, probably some kind of Grimm or whatever, the text was never clear. The gist of it was that it would give out its mark, that number, to anyone who pledged fealty to it," Pierce said, before shrugging. "No clue how true or not, but it's likely what we're looking for."

"So… 666 would probably be… 6 hours, 6 minutes, and 6 seconds." Ruby said with a nod.

"That gives us…" Blake started, looking at her scroll...and gasping. "30 minutes!"

"Okay, that's not a lot of time to do anything in this situation" Keenan frowned. "What should we do?"

"I think for now, we should assume that whatever happens in 30 minutes would be VERY destructive...so perhaps we should set up a defense around this mall. We need to protect the people inside," Summer suggested.

"We should also warn anyone so they don't come...but how?" Taiyang frowned.

"I can handle that," Lisa said. "Think you can help me make an emergency broadcast?" she asked to Monitamon.

"Of course! I just need a signal and we'll be on the air ma'am!" he answered professionally, treating her like his boss.

Moving into position, they agreed to keep all the chosen out of the picture, with Summer being the 'guest speaker' for this bit of breaking news. They also properly prepared the information, the prophecy, and even a view of the comatose people behind them, all with the intent of hammering in the severity of the situation.

Behind Monitamon, Gyro was checking on his scroll with a timer everyone had synced up, before raising his hand up to Lisa and counting from 5, while Monitamon stood on a box and his head was hooked up to a scroll to give him a worldwide signal to broadcast over all of the network, his screen facing Lisa with a small light slowly flashing, indicating it was about to go to live broadcast.

"This is Lisa Lavender, reporting live from the Viola Memorial mall. As many may have noticed earlier today, communications with the city of Vale have been cut off, only recently has a solution been found to restoring them. As covered in previous reports regarding the existence of an otherworldly terrorist seeking to subjugate Remnant, this was in fact another of his schemes. Even now, the fog that covers Vale hasn't dissipated, and the effects of his actions are here to be seen," she said, as the camera panned past her, to the hundreds of comatose citizens. "And while the situation appears bad, I am afraid to inform everyone that we have received word that the situation may become more dire," she continued, before panning the camera to Summer.

"People of Remnant," Summer started. "My name is Summer Rose, and while that may or may not mean something to you, I would like to confirm to those that do know, that this is not a hoax," she said, no doubt aiming that both at Ozpin's faction...and HER faction. "But in light of the situation, allow me to reintroduce myself as also the leader of the Rebellion force that chased after Myotismon into Remnant. After a hard battle, we were able to defeat him just an hour or so ago. However, it seems this is not the end. While we were uncertain as to his reasons for being fixated on Remnant, a new document we unearthed seems to have shed some light on this matter," Summer said, before holding up her scroll, with the prophecy on it.

"Understandably, I am certain most viewers will be...skeptical of what appears to be a prophecy," Lisa said. "However, after what I've witnessed today, I implore all viewers to take this as fact. As we speak, the prophecy is about to begin, for with some help, we have deciphered that the 'Hour of the Beast' begins…." she didn't get to finish as…

"Lord Myotismon! Lord Myotismon!" an almost brainwashed sounding chant filled the room as the camera panned to the people on the ground, all of them calling out the name of the evil Digimon.

"The prophecy is beginning as we speak!" Lisa said urgently, before Monitamon panned to the large window, and through the glass they saw a flurry of bats flying through the air, so many that they practically blanketed the sky in darkness.

Gulping thickly, Summer turned to someone outside of the screen. "How long do we have left?"

"4 minutes!" was the reply, as the live feed began moving, running up the stairs and soon they were on the roof, the feed seeing a legion of bats flying towards the VNN building not far away. No commentary was done. There was no need, as for the next few minutes, everyone in the world watched with bated breaths as the phenomenon played out on live television.

"10 seconds! 9! 8…!" someone counted down from off screen, as the bats began to stop gathering, and right when the time struck the fated hour….the VNN building exploded, something MASSIVE coming out from within it.

A titanic beast, his upper body red with long arms that nearly reached the ground with sharp, clawed fingers. Four torn, leathery wings on his back, one pair larger than the other. His lower body was covered in black fur, ending in large clawed feet, and an almost metallic tail came out of his back. Finally, his head, while humanoid, had eyes that seemed to hold nothing but the mind of a beast within, as his blonde hair fell about haphazardly and horns were sprouted on the side of his head. The creature seemed raise its head up, before letting out a bellowing roar, one that shook the entire city.

* * *

"This….is very concerning…" Ozpin could only say, trying hard to maintain calm in this situation. Perhaps it was a blessing in disguise that most of Vale was apparently...comatose...had they been awake to see this, the sheer amount of fear and terror would have attracted swarms of Grimm…

He'd seen the news report, and when he looked out his window, even through the thick fog he could see a silhouette of the monster that had just emerged. Truly...he may have underestimated just how big this really was….but he didn't regret holding Qrow back. He didn't want to risk losing any good men to something they had no idea of.

As if to further confirm things, he was receiving an emergency call, unsurprisingly from Ironwood.

He didn't even turn to the screen as he accepted the call, Ironwood's face appearing on the screen, half angry, half panicked.

"Ozpin what the hell is that thing?!" He asked, and in the background Ozpin could very well hear troops scrambling.

"I wish I could give you a proper answer James, but as it stands… the prophecy Summer showed already did it for me." Ozpin said, a strange tone Ironwood couldn't identify in his voice.

"What should we even do?" Ironwood asked, groaning into his hands as he tried to think of ANYTHING that could help them with that beast.

Ozpin turned to the screen, and it was then that Ironwood saw it in his fellow headmaster's eyes.

Fear.

"We pray."

* * *

"...anyone getting that feeling that's telling you just how FUCKED we are?" Gyro couldn't help but ask as they looked up at the towering new form of what was CLEARLY Myotismon.

"I think we're all right up there with you," Salamon deadpanned.

"Not that that's gonna stop us from trying," Agumon added.

"You know it, buddy," Gyro chuckled.

"Wait wait wait! You're all actually going to try to fight THAT?!" Lisa couldn't help but ask incredulously, Monitamon having long cut off the live feed out of fear.

"Not the first big ass monster we had to fight," Pierce shrugged… before tacking on "Though he does take the title of biggest, I'll give him that."

"And I've looked up this guy already," Weiss added, fiddling with her scroll, before bringing out the page for everyone to see. "He's VenomMyotismon now."

"And it gets worse when you see his level," Tentomon sighed.

 _Digimon Analyzer: VenomMyotismon_

 _VenomMyotismon. Virus Type. An Ultimate Level Demon Beast Digimon. The true form of Myotismon as the undead king, this Digimon is just a shell of his former self. Gone is his previous refined self, leaving behind nothing but a raging beast, hellbent on destruction. His special attacks are Venom Infuse, inject a virus into his enemies thanks to beams flying out of his eyes, that slowly weakens them before destroying them, and Chaos Flame, firing off a wave of purple flames from his body._

A moment of silence passed between everyone as they read the description.

"A… an Ultimate Level…" Gyro breathed, wide eyed.

"I'm going to take a guess and say that's VERY bad…" Lisa asked weakly.

"He's one level higher than what all of us can reach," Renamon said flatly. "And a single Ultimate is said to be worth AT LEAST 10 Perfect levels...unless its a Numemon-line evolution anyway."

"We have at most 12 Perfect Levels, that is if Summer and Keenan can use the Blue Card at the same time." Pyrrha said with a worried frown as she glanced at the two mentioned.

"We can, the card doesn't disappear after being used, so I can just pass it to Keenan after using it." Summer explained.

"Then we've got 12 Perfects on our side. Think that'll be enough?" Ruby asked.

"It has to be," Jaune frowned. "Or Vale is toast."

"Okay then…" Ren sighed.

"Looks like we're in for the fight of our lives...everyone ready?" Nora asked, her expression DEAD serious for a change.

"Now or never," Patamon nodded.

"We'll have to ask all of you to stand back. This...is going to get ugly," Blake frowned.

"Don't need to tell us twice," Azure nodded, even if Ilia seemed unsure, but she soon nodded as well. As it was, they would only be getting in they way.

The group soon stood at the edge, and readying their Digivices and 'extensions', initiated their strongest evolutions. A bright light covered the roof, before the 12 Perfect levels and their partners were soon flying towards the battle.

Back at the roof, Lisa stepped to the edge, before looking at Monitamon. "Can you censor what you record?"

"Huh? Well...yeah, I can choose to a degree…" Monitamon said.

"Good. Then can you make it so those 10 kids with those…Crests...can't be seen?" she asked.

"That I can do," Monitamon nodded.

"Good call. We wouldn't want anybody getting ideas about making use of the kids." Azure said, approving of her idea.

Lisa nodded in thanks, before turning back to Monitamon "Then start rolling. Whatever the outcome, this is something Remnant HAS to see," she said.

"You got it," Monitamon nodded, before he started filming, and once again Remnant got another breaking news report.

"This is Lisa Lavender, we apologize for the earlier cut off, but due to technical difficulties caused by the creature's roar, we have only just been able to return," she said quickly. "As of currently behind me, several more of the Digimon have appeared, all of them part of the 'Rebellion' group lead by Summer Rose. As it is, they are currently fighting against the creature which I have been informed is a more powerful form of the terrorist Myotismon, now VenomMyotismon," she said, as true enough, the various Perfect level Digimon were fighting tooth and nail against the colossal monster.

Shots were fired, holy attacks flew, and body parts impacted the gigantic monster, causing so many explosions, that before long, VenomMyotismon was covered in smoke.

"Did that do it?" Keenan asked...right as a strong wind blew by, dispelling the smoke...and revealing VenomMyotismon completely unharmed.

"Not nearly enough…" Taomon frowned.

"Then let's try that arrow again!" Nora suggested, before Angewomon and any of the smaller Perfects, deposited their partners on the back of AtlurKabuterimon.

"Saint Air!" Angewomon called out, sprinkling VenomMyotismon with the holy energy, seemingly stopping his movements, before everyone added their power to the holy ring, which was soon turned into the Holy Arrow. "Holy Arrow!" she called out as the arrow flew through the air, aimed for VenomMyotismon's forehead. For a moment it looked like it was going to work...before in a sudden movement that nearly blew them all away, VenomMyotismon's large arm moved and grabbed the arrow, seemingly straining against it for a moment...before promptly crushing it in his hand. For a second they could swear a cruel smirk appeared on the side of his face, before…

"Chaos Flame!" VenomMyotismon declared. Fire began to appear before his mouth, and it soon was unleashed in a raging torrent, hitting every Digimon present, but not before they could shield their partners from the brunt of the attack. Once it was over, everyone was sent crashing into the ground, all of them reverting to their Child forms.

"Okay...we're in trouble…" Yang groaned as they struggled to get up, before making sure their partners were okay, which thankfully they were, albeit badly weakened for most of them.

"What do we do now?" Weiss questioned, a hint of worry in her voice.

"We...have to keep...fighting…" Pierce groaned, he'd taken a bit more of the attack thanks to being near the side, though the fact he was okay was enough.

"But we can't exactly keep using the same strategy," Ren pointed out.

"Neither can we just sit here!" Keenan countered.

"Guys, enough!" Gyro said, stopping the growing argument. "We need to keep fighting yeah, but we also need a new plan…"

"Okay, so any ideas? Cause I'm having a hard time thinking of one," Jaune asked quickly.

"...I think Gyro and I should be the ones to fight," Pyrrha said.

"If this is about the prophecy then yes, that seems to be the case, but...are you sure that is a good idea?" Summer questioned, not happy with the idea of leaving the two to fight this battle alone.

"We'll have to," Gyro said, standing up. "Maybe this is bad, and yeah, I won't deny it...I'm probably this close from wetting myself really…" he admitted. "But you know what REALLY scares me? The idea of letting this guy hurt everyone, making everyone suffer just for HIS mad ambitions! So yeah, if the prophecy says we gotta do it, I'm game."

"And you won't be doing it alone," Pyrrha added. "This is going to be tough...but when we're all together, it's not so scary, and really...I also don't ever want to lose any of you!"

"And we'll be there, right by your sides!" Agumon and Gabumon grinned as they got up as well and stood alongside their partners.

The two of them smiled and nodded. "Ready guys?" Gyro grinned as the four of them turned to face VenomMyotismon.

"Always," Pyrrha, Gabumon, and Agumon all said as they stood tall, the fear they were feeling dying out in the face of the courage that was growing, supported by the fact that they had each other to fight alongside.

At that moment, a miracle occured, as Gyro and Pyrrha suddenly started glowing. Literally. The two of them were glowing with the same colors as their Crests as two pillars of light shot up into the sky, so much so that back in Beacon, Ozpin could clearly see the two pillars cutting through the fog. "What in the world…?" was all he could say with a gasp, his coffee mug clattering on the floor in shock.

"So… I'm not dreaming… right?" Ilia asked back from the roof of the mall, blinking several times as she saw the twin pillars of orange and blue light.

"Nope, I'm seeing it too." Kotemon said in awe.

"Nice to know we're not crazy then." Azure murmured, hoping this was something good.

"To all viewers...DO NOT adjust your screens! I am seeing this and while I'm having a hard time believing it, I can confirm that it is 100% real!" Lisa said frantically. This was officially the biggest story she'd ever covered in her entire career, possibly the biggest one ever, and the fact she was able to do it live...words didn't even begin to describe the emotions running through her. She didn't know what was going on. Heck, she wasn't sure she COULD understand...but whatever it was, she prayed it would be what would save Vale.

Back in the fight, Gyro and Pyrrha stared at themselves in awe, before their Tags floated out of their clothes, the Crests shining brighter than ever before...then a cracking sound was heard. Immediately looking at the Tags, they saw the glass start to crack, which was spreading to the entire Tag, before they shattered, leaving the Crests floating in the air.

"Uh...is that supposed to happen?" Gabumon couldn't help but ask. They soon got their answer, as the Crest suddenly shot into Gyro and Pyrrha's chests, going into their bodies. At that moment, their Digivices came floating out, the entirety of the light suddenly absorbing into their right hands, which were now glowing white. Looking at them in surprise, the two soon looked at each other, and nodded, before grabbing hold of their D-Cores. The moment they did, the light entered the Digivices, and in a flash, they transformed. Gone was the simple pager-like design and in its place was a more phone like design with a colored crip on each side, orange for Gyro and blue for Pyrrha, a small antenna came out the top near the edge, and next to it was a silver mesh area, like those seen on a microphone, finally, over the screen on the new Digivice was a smaller piece of glass in a ring shape. (quick note to help readers, the base design is that of the D-3, but with the microphone on the top of the Xros Loader, and the glass ring that can be seen on an Applidrive)

"These are...our D-Cores?" Pyrrha gasped, before they saw their Crests appear on the glass covering.

"No. These aren't Digivice Cores," Gyro said, before a wide grin spread on his face. "They're Digivice Crests!" he said, before looking at their partners. "Wanna see what they can do?" he asked, and he had a VERY good feeling he knew just what they could do.

"You know it!" Agumon and Gabumon grinned, before Gyro and Pyrrha pointed their new Digivices at their respective partners.

 **(Play Brave Heart)**

The image of the Crests of Courage and Friendship appeared on the respective glass coverings of the D-Crests, before a massive burst of light shot through them, sending the Crests flying forward, before they entered Agumon and Gabumon respectively, their bodies turning the color of the respective Crests.

"Agumon, Warp Evolution!" Agumon called out, doing a backflip before a beam of light shot out of him, before revealing Greymon, who turned and fired another beam, revealing MetalGreymon who did the process one last time, and this time, the beam revealed a new form. This form, while still clearly reptilian, was much more humanoid compared to his previous forms, and notably smaller, standing just a foot or two taller than the average human adult. He was clad in sturdy shoulder, and torso armor with a waist guard. On his head was a metal helmet that had three horns on it, much like MetalGreymon, while on his arms were a set of three of belts on each forearm. Additional armor began to form in the form of a pair of clawed arm guards which he gripped firmly, followed by a pair of shin guards on his lower legs. On his back the Crest of Courage appeared, before a shield of sorts formed, before it split in two, forming almost wing-like armor on his back, as the orange shade of color faded, revealing most of his armor to be a yellowish shade of gold, while his chest armor, front waist guard, and shin guards were silver in color, followed by a bit of spiky orange hair emerging from the back of his helmet, as his eyes opened, revealing Agumon's green eyes within the helmet. "WarGreymon!" he called out his new form as he slashed the air a couple of times with his new weapons, a torrent of flame coming from the motion, before he crossed his arms and spread them out, the image of a sun appearing behind him at the release of energy from the transformation.

"Gabumon, Warp Evolution!" Gabumon called out, backflipping as well as he released the beam of light from his body, revealing Garurumon, followed by WereGarurumon, and finally also revealing a brand new form. This one was back to being a quadruped, but was notably shorter than Garurumon, his body covered in metallic armor as the blue faded away into his real colors, reaching the metallic armor to be dark blue on his legs and back half of his body, and yellow on his torso, his head looking like Garurumon's, but with the fur replaced completely with metal as Gabumon's red eyes could be seen, the Crest of Friendship visible on his right shoulder just below a missile pod. As he ran forward, he jumped, robotic wings appearing on his back, before a bladed tail appeared on his backside. He did a short aerial flip before landing on a mound of raised earth, as he called out his new form "MetalGarurumon!" and then several ports and plates on his body open, revealing an arsenal of hidden weaponry, which all flew out and struck the area around him, turning it into a frozen wasteland as the moon could be seen behind him while he howled.

When the light subsided, the two new Digimon stood tall and proud before the colossal demon.

"Looks like the tables just turned," Gyro grinned, already knowing just how far up on the scale their partners had jumped.

"Get ready VenomMyotismon! This is your end!" Pyrrha added as they climbed on their respective partner's backs and soon took to the sky.

Back below, the rest of the team was looking up in awe. "This is...it's a new evolution!" Ruby couldn't suppress the glee in her voice.

"And not just any evolutions too!" Weiss added as she brought up the data on the new forms.

 _Digimon Analyzer: WarGreymon_

 _WarGreymon. Vaccine Type. An Ultimate Level Dragon Man Digimon. One of the strongest dragon warriors, with armor made out of Chrome Digizoid, it serves as one of the strongest of the Greymon species. He wields the Dramon Killers on his arms, capable of easily killing any Digimon of the dramon subtype, and the wings on his back double as the Brave Shield, capable of stopping almost any attack. His special attacks are Gaia Force, gathering the energy of the atmosphere and turning it into a giant ball of fire, which he then throws at his enemies, and Brave Tornado, spinning on himself like a drill to the point he turns into a tornado that can tear through anything._

 _Digimon Analyzer: MetalGarurumon_

 _MetalGarurumon. Data Type. An Ultimate Level Cyborg Digimon. A Garurumon with it's body modified into that of a cyborg, and unlike some other Digimon who undergo this process, MetalGarurumon has kept all his intelligence. Within his body are hundreds of concealed weapons, rivalled by very few Digimon, though his own brand freezes the enemies he attacks. His special attacks are Cocytus Breath, firing a cold wave at absolute zero from his mouth, freezing the enemy solid, and Grace Cross Freezer, unleashing his full arsenal on his enemies all in one burst._

"They're both Ultimate level!" Veemon cheered, before an excited grin crossed his face. "They're SOOO gonna kick his butt now!"

"Go WarGreymon! Go MetalGarurumon!" Patamon and Salamon cheered as well. Now, now they had a chance to win.

Back to the fight…

"Careful, we're still getting used to these new forms!" WarGreymon cautioned as they evaded a few strikes from VenomMyotismon's arms.

"Heh, don't worry about us buddy, just do what comes naturally!" Gyro grinned.

"That so? Alright then!" WarGreymon nodded before he rocketed forward, his body gaining a bright orange light, before he rammed into VenomMyotismon's chest, the light turning into a large sphere, as VenomMyotismon roared in surprise as he was pushed backwards, the force pulling him along for a good several blocks before he fell on his back.

"And not done yet!" MetalGarurumon added as his eyes glowed blue and his armaments revealed themselves. "Grace Cross Freezer!" he called out as he fired everything, VenomMyotismon roaring in pain as the missiles hit, his body freezing till he was soon covered in ice.

Back on the rooftop…

"D-Damn…" Azure could only say as his jaw was hanging open.

"I-I knew the power jump to the Ultimate level was supposed to be strong, but this is beyond anything I imagined," Wizardmon gasped, while Lisa was completely unable to comment at the sudden reversal of the flow of battle.

* * *

Likewise, a LOT of people watching were completely jaw dropped at the sight.

"...what are we seeing here?" was all Ironwood could say as their faction was holding another conference, as he had managed to dispatch a fleet to try and contain the situation.

"This...this can't be real…" Lionheart almost whimpered. "Are we all in some kind of nightmare?"

"Wish I could say I was drunk right now, but nope. I'm stone cold sober," Qrow sighed, inwardly having a VERY good idea what was going on right now.

"As much as I can't deny that would be easy, this is very much real," Ozpin frowned deeply. He himself was still reeling from what he'd seen. "But suffice to say I think Summer's little 'rebellion group', is likely behind this."

"Yes…" Ironwood frowned at the reminder. "It's still hard to believe she'd been alive this whole time, albeit trapped in whatever world these Digimon came from."

"And for that reason, I believe the best we can do is trust in whatever her group is doing. They clearly know how to handle this better," Ozpin said as they continued to watch the live broadcast.

* * *

"Did that get him?" MetalGarurumon asked.

"Don't count on it," WarGreymon frowned.

"Good point. I say we hammer him more," MetalGarurumon suggested. Nothing like making sure the enemy was data dust to make sure they were dead.

"Sounds like a plan," Gyro nodded almost sagely.

"Is it bad that I'm not the least bit put off by what would normally be overkill?" Pyrrha asked.

"Less talking, more killing." Gyro said with an almost shark like grin.

"...right, cause we all went insane somewhere down the line," Pyrrha said flatly before turning to the frozen and shaking form of VenomMyotismon...wait, what was that last one?

At that moment, VenomMyotismon broke free from his icy prison, getting up quickly and boy was he angry. "You little brats!" he roared. "Venom Infuse!" he called out as he fired beams from his eyes, the ground where the shots missed rotting away.

"...okay, do NOT get hit by those…" WarGreymon said, sweat dropping a little.

"No need to tell me twice," MetalGarurumon agreed before they were soon dodging. Even with their new power boost, VenomMyotismon wasn't going down without a fight.

"Okay...even with those new forms he's not going down easily," Blake frowned, before everyone looked at each other.

"...anyone up for being annoying flies?" Ren suggested with a rare smirk.

"Oooh yeah," everyone nodded in agreement.

Back in the fight, the two Ultimates were evading the large arms, while trying to find a good shot...easier said than done. However, right as they were avoiding, a flurry of missiles hit VenomMyotismon in the chest, followed by several powerful shots, and a beam of holy energy.

"Hey ugly!" Veedramon grinned, catching VenomMyotismon's attention. "Your furry ass can't even hit the broad side of a barn!"

Unsurprisingly, that managed to piss VenomMyotismon off, as he proceeded to stomp towards them, no doubt wanting to make pancakes out of them.

"We got him distracted," came Jaune's voice from their scrolls. "Now hurry and take him out before he actually manages to make pancakes out of us!"

"Did somebody say 'pancakes'?" Nora's voice was heard before the call ended.

"...same old Nora," they couldn't help but chuckle before getting serious.

"I'll slow his movements, you hit him hard," MetalGarurumon said, before firing another volley of missiles, this time aiming specifically for the giant monster's limbs. As expected, the monster roared in anger as his limbs froze solid, stopping his movements for a bit.

"You got it!" WarGreymon nodded. "You might want to get off for this one, Gyro," he said as he brought his Dramon Killers together, and Gyro wasn't about to argue as he jumped off and used his Semblance and weapons to keep him hovering in the air for a bit. "Brave Tornado!" WarGreymon called out as he spun rapidly and flew towards VenomMyotismon with all the intent of a drill, punching a hole right through him, causing him to roar in pain as he fell to his knees for a moment.

"Did they get him?" Weiss asked.

"I think they did," Birdramon nodded, seeing the gaping hole in VenomMyotismon's body. However...instead of dissolving, something seemed to be happening

VenomMyotismon groaned, a mix of pain and discomfort, before the hole in his… lower area… was filled by a strange black thing, which sported its own mask and had two stubby arms. It let out a bizarre, yet disturbing, roar of its own.

"Okay….that's just wrong…" Togemon commented.

"And THAT is saying something," Stingmon agreed, considering the shit they'd been seeing lately.

Things soon went from bad to worse, as the odd creature opened its mouth, and released a wave of darkness that soon blew them all back. "Okay...someone plug that thing!" Pierce groaned from where he'd landed.

"Good idea...anyone got something big enough?" Nora asked, a little dizzy.

"Forget plugging that thing, we need to stop his movements, or at this rate he'll level Vale!" Ruby said urgently.

"...more than he's already done anyway…" Blake added flatly seeing as the area they'd been fighting in had been more or less flattened by now.

"If we can just make him stop then we'll probably be able to get a clear shot at ending him." Jaune said with a frown as he tried to think up a plan.

He didn't have to think for long.

As if in response to their will to end this fight, their crests started shining, the 8 who still had their tags pulling them out, while Gyro and Pyrrha found the crests appearing in their palms and glowing just as bright.

Suddenly, the light shot out from the crests, and towards VenomMyotismon, before it started wrapping around his various body parts, stopping his movements completely.

"Unhand me! You'll let go of me this instant, you miserable Chosen Children!" the weird thing in his lower section screeched at them as he tried to struggle free.

"That thing can talk?" Pyrrha blinked in surprise.

"Maybe… that's it! That's his real appearance, the whole body is just a thing he's controlling!" Gyro realised, as it would definitely explain why it was like all their attacks weren't really having any real effect.

"Well then, let's finish this now!" WarGreymon said, earning a nod from MetalGarurumon.

"Gaia Force!"

"Cocytus Breath!"

The two attacks hit VenomMyotismon full force, the giant ball of flame hitting first before being pushed further in by the ice breath, the explosion causing spasms throughout his entire body, before little by little it started to dissolve and before long there was nothing left of him. Nothing left save for a familiar little stone that was absorbing parts of his data, before it fell into a waiting hand, which soon retreated into a portal in the ground, unnoticed by anyone.

 **(Song End)**

"Jesus christ…" Gyro breathed in awe after seeing how the two attacks had erased any trace of Myotismon's evolved form.

"We did it… we won!" Pyrrha exclaimed with a wide smile.

"Who's the best?!" WarGreymon cheered as they flew back down.

"We are!" MetalGarurumon shot back as the two Ultimates landed, their partners climbing off, before in just a second, Koromon and Tsunomon stood in their places.

"I'm too happy to complain for once." Koromon said after a moment, laughing loudly while Gyro picked him up.

Up on the mall roof…

"Its over! Its finally over!" Lisa said into the camera. "Despite that hard battle, the rebellion has triumphed! Remnant is safe!" she said, cheering, before regaining her composure. "Ahem…" she coughed a little at her moment of emotion. "This has been Lisa Lavender, Vale News Network, signing off and wishing everyone a good night."

* * *

Ozpin watched the screen for several seconds more, wondering if anything else would be shown, before slowly letting out a sigh of relief, the tension draining from his body.

Lionheart had long since disconnected, and Ozpin couldn't exactly blame him, he knew how fearful the man was.

"Well, glad he's been taken down." Qrow said with a sigh.

"I have to agree, I'm glad it's over." Ironwood agreed with him, Qrow grimacing a bit because of how rare that was "But I do wonder who he was talking to when he said 'Chosen Children'."

Qrow had a good idea about that, but decided to clam up… especially when he looked up, his eyes going wide.

"I… believe we have bigger issues at the moment James." Ozpin said, having turned when Qrow became strangely silent, noticing the same thing as the scythe wielder.

* * *

"What...the...FUCK?!" Gyro swore when the fog cleared and instead of clear skies, what they found was…

It was unnatural for one, as right there in the sky, were several tears in the air, and beyond them, several land masses could be seen.

"What… what is this?" Weiss breathed in confusion.

"That's… the Digital World." Summer quickly realised, recognizing a few points in the sky.

"Hey… mom's right! I can see Mount Infinity right there!" Ruby noticed, pointing at a certain area in the sky.

"What happened in the Digital World if we can actually see it in our sky?" Ren wondered.

"If I were to guess...THEY got out," Renamon growled.

"They? You mean those guys you and Gennai sealed away?" Jaune and Gomamon gulped.

"The very same ones," Keenan frowned.

"Ok… names, PLEASE, we don't want to be too blind when we go in." Pierce requested.

"Right." Summer nodded, she was already going to do so anyway "They call themselves the Dark Masters, 4 powerful Ultimate Level Digimon. They are composed of MetalSeadramon, Puppetmon, Machinedramon and their leader, Piedmon. All of them are Virus, save for MetalSeadramon who's a Data. Furthermore, if you need power level...well...if the four of them were to attack Remnant...I'd say just the four of them would be enough to take over the entire world in oh...a few months to half a year tops," Summer finished off…

"...okay, that last bit wasn't very comforting…" Blake deadpanned.

"It wasn't supposed to be," Renamon said flatly.

"Hey!" came Azure's voice as they saw him, Lisa, Ilia, Taiyang, Zwei, along with their Digimon, coming over to them. "We saw the fight, and you destroying the big demon, but…." Azure gestured to the continents in the sky hoping for an answer.

"Oh, that's just the Digital World so out of balance that the walls between worlds are getting VERY thin," Falcomon said matter of factly.

"Is… is that bad?" Ilia asked.

"Well… it's most likely the reason Monitamon and Kotemon are here, if the wall is thin, anything could get through, right?" Lisa ventured a guess.

"That's just about right." Wizardmon nodded at her deduction.

"Speaking of get through," Wormmon said dryly as he pointed upward, to which everyone looked up and…

"Oh come on!" came the long suffering groans from the chosen as up in the sky was….a Kuwagamon.

"If that bug starts attacking again, Uncle Ben's saying can go to hell, cause we're going Ultimate on that thing's ass," Gyro growled.

"I… I don't get it." Taiyang voiced his confusion.

"This is the third Kuwagamon we've met, and the two before him were annoying enough that we just absolutely hate that Digimon now." Biyomon answered dryly.

"We should probably get back to what's important though." Salamon noted, though not without glaring at the bug flying around in the sky.

"She's right. How much time do you guys think it's been in there?" Nora wondered as she looked up at the sky.

"Well...assuming time has flown more or less the same as when we were there...and we've been here for about a week...I'd calculate its been over a decade, maybe even two decades, since we left the Digital World," Weiss estimated.

"That… would probably be plenty of time for the Dark Masters to set themselves up and take over." Pyrrha said with a frown.

"Guess we have another tough battle ahead of ourselves." Tsunomon said.

"Before that…" Gyro spoke up, earning everyone's attention as he was looking at the sky with his goggles "Hey Weiss? I can see some Atlas ships in the distance… and your sister's personal ship."

Weiss took a moment to blink at that, before her eyes went wide "Wait, Winter's here?! NOW of all times?!"

"Uh...I think it also just got worse…" Palmon said, as the Kuwagamon flew near the ship...and suddenly the propellers stopped working.

"The ship's going down!" Patamon said in alarm.

"No! Tentomon!" Weiss shouted.

"You got it!" Tentomon said jumping into the air.

"Tentomon, Evolution! Kabuterimon! Super Evolution! AtlurKabuterimon!"

The ship's pilot was desperately trying to stabilize the system, and regain their altituted, but it was no good. The rotors weren't working at all. However, before they went down too far, they came to a sudden halt.

"W… what just…?" the pilot muttered in confusion, as they had suddenly stopped heading straight for their doom.

"What's going on?" a voice was heard behind him, making him turn to see a white haired woman with her hair done up in a tight bun on top of her head, wearing a military uniform (custom-made obviously) and a saber at her hip.

"I… I honestly don't know ma'am. But we're stable now… and whatever stopped us is bringing us down gently." the pilot said, he wasn't even holding the steering anymore.

The woman narrowed her eyes at that, before, to the pilot's surprise, she broke open a window with her elbow and looked around outside, eventually finding what was helping them… and slowly sticking her head back inside "... the giant beetle from the news is on top of the ship and bringing us to the ground… right… I need to sit down." she said, before going into the back, presumably to clear her head of the confusion.

Eventually the aircraft came to a stop as it landed on the ground, AtlurKabuterimon letting go before reverting to Tentomon.

"Getting an aircraft to land is a heck of a lot easier than fighting a gigantic vampire that's for sure." Tentomon said idly as he flew down to the ground next to Weiss as she went up towards the small ship.

When the ramp finished coming down, Weiss watched as her elder sister stepped off, looking around quickly, before her eyes fell on her.

"Weiss?! Why are you in the city?!" she asked in shock.

Instead of answering directly, Weiss went up to her sister, hugging her "I've missed you Winter."

Winter was… a little shocked at the action, but eventually returned the hug after letting out a sigh "I've missed you as well Weiss. But, really, why are you in the city after everything that just happened?"

"It's… quite a long story." Weiss eventually said as she broke the hug.

"Can't you just give her the short version?" Tentomon said as he came up… and was then looking at tip of Winter's sabre as she had stepped back in shock.

"W-what is-" Winter didn't get to finish her confusion though as her sabre was sent out of her hands after a glyph appeared beneath her feet, stopping her, and Weiss's rapier came up and launched the sabre up.

"Don't point your weapon at my friend Winter, please." Weiss said with a sigh as she caught her sister's sabre when it came back down.

Winter was honestly speechless at how efficiently her little sister had managed to disarm and immobilize her, and honestly, she could feel some pride well up inside her at that, but before she could talk…

"I think you should listen to your sister Winter." a voice spoke from behind her, and both she and Weiss went stock still, Weiss even dropping the two weapons she was holding and her glyph coming undone.

Tentomon looked at both of them in confusion, before he looked around Winter, seeing yet another white haired woman, this one though had her hair done in a bun that hanged low rather than high, wearing a more formal outfit that ended in a long skirt that reached her knees.

If he could, Tentomon would have blinked "Uh… are you Weiss's mother?" he asked bluntly.

The woman looked down at him, before nodding "Indeed I am, Willow Schnee, and I assume you must be a friend of my daughter's?"

"That's right!" Tentomon exclaimed as he buzzed upwards and held out his claw to the woman "I'm Tentomon, nice to meet you!"

Willow blinked at his claw for a moment, before grasping it and shaking it "Nice to meet you as well Tentomon."

"M-mother… why are you here?" Weiss asked, some of her nervousness fading away thanks to her mother accepting Tentomon so casually.

Willow sighed "I was worried about you of course. I know I haven't been the best at showing it recently, but when I saw the news earlier… well, let's just say your father lost a very expensive wine bottle."

Weiss blinked at that, putting the pieces together.

Her mother, who had been drinking wine almost every day for as long as she could remember, had actually dropped the bottle just to come see if she was ok.

It was… impossible to stop the tears from coming as she ran to her mother and hugged her.

Willow smiled as she wrapped her arms around Weiss, hugging her daughter tightly.

Eventually the two let go of each other, Willow wiping away some of her daughter's tears.

"Now then, why don't we have a chat together, your sister would like to know what happened." Willow asked Weiss, who looked at Winter.

"Well… you're going to have to keep this secret from Ironwood… please." Weiss requested.

Winter was surprised at that, but sighed "Weiss, you know I can't-"

"She will." Willow said easily, cutting off Winter, the two looking at each other, Willow giving her eldest daughter a look.

Eventually, Winter let out a sigh "Yes mother."

Meanwhile, over in another spot…

"So… about what happened earlier…" Ilia said nervously as she wrung her hands, looking anywhere but at Blake.

Blake closed her eyes, blushing a bit, she was glad that Patamon and Kotemon had understood the need for privacy and were hanging back a bit.

"Well… I didn't hate it." Blake said, opening her eyes and looking at her… she wasn't sure what Ilia classified as at the moment, but she'd figure it out soon enough.

Ilia looked at her in surprise, her body becoming red and pink "R-really?" she asked, and it was easy for Blake to notice the hopeful tone.

Blake smiled at her "Really."

Ilia smiled back shyly, glancing away before looking back at Blake "Then do you think we could… um…"

Blake rolled her eyes, knowing what Ilia was trying to get at, before grabbing her cheeks and kissing her.

After a few moments, Blake pulled back, looking at Ilia's stunned face as she kept shifting through a rainbow of colors.

Eventually though, Ilia snapped out of it, shaking her head a few times as her colors returned to normal "So… we're dating now?" she asked hopefully.

"I think we are." Blake said with a smile as she hugged her new girlfriend.

Ilia happily returned the hug, though as the two separated, she had a curious look on her face "Blake… I… I don't really know what I should do right now… I'm still in the Fang… and you aren't… I kind of want to leave, but I don't know if it's the right thing to do."

Blake frowned, she knew this should be Ilia's decision, but she didn't want to fight her at all… then she remembered some of the things from the original timeline she had discussed with the brothers privately "I think I know what could help you decide. Contact Fennec and Corsac, get information out of them, but I want you to give critical thought to what they tell you, it might help you decide." at the very least, she wouldn't bring up Ilia's parents like her original self had, no, she'd have her judge the words of those two manipulators.

Ilia took a deep breath, before nodding "I will… hopefully I'll have you answer when you get back from that." she said as she looked up at the sky.

Likewise, at another spot…

"Do they HAVE to go?!" Taiyang asked, trying his level best to remain...relatively calm. About as calm as a father who had just been told that his daughters had to leave to basically fight not one, but FOUR evil overlords to protect the future of the worlds. Yeah, no pressure really.

"I don't like this anymore than you do," Summer frowned. "But there's no other choice. Only the Crest Holders can defeat the Dark Masters. If there were another way, we would have taken it by now," she sighed.

"If anything, we at least have a chance of reaching Ultimate as well to make the fights easier, that way Gyro and Pyrrha won't have to shoulder all the burden." Yang said with a sigh.

"HOW did they reach it though?" Ruby wondered "I mean, we saw them do it, but I can't exactly tell what was different from when the crests activated the first time."

"We'll probably have to figure that out as we go…" Palmon sighed.

"Think maybe Gennai might know something?" Biyomon asked.

"Only way to find out is to ask him when we get the chance I guess…" Ruby frowned.

Taiyang sighed at what he heard, realizing that there really wasn't anything he could actually do about this… "Are you going as well?" he asked Summer.

Summer frowned a bit, looking up at the sky, while Renamon did the same. "...I think it might be best if we stayed," she said.

"Huh?" Taiyang, Ruby, and Yang all blinked in surprise.

"You may need to deal with the main issue up there, but we can't exactly leave the Digimon to keep pouring out. If some are hostile, we need to deal with them," Renamon explained.

"So anyone without a Crest should stay here to try and keep things...relatively stable," Summer nodded.

"Ah...good point," Ruby and Yang nodded. It wouldn't do much good to save the Digital World but leave Remnant to be torn apart.

* * *

Several more minutes passed as the family members present said their goodbyes. Among them Weiss had to constantly reassure her mother who looked all but ready to forbid her from going.

"Don't worry, we'll make sure what's left of the city is still standing when you're back, you guys just make sure the sun still comes up tomorrow." Azure said with a grin.

"Will do," Gyro and Pierce nodded. Eventually the 10 of them were gathered together with their Digimon at the side. "Everyone ready?" Jaune asked looking a little nervous.

"About as ready as we'll ever be," Ren sighed.

"Let's get going before any of us get cold feet…" Weiss sighed. She herself had reservations of this what with her starting to reconnect with her mother…

"But how do we get up there?" Yang asked.

"If I were to guess...I'd say the Digivices might be the key," Ruby suggested.

"Worth a shot," Pyrrha nodded, as they all held out their Digivices, forming a circle. When they did, the devices began to glow, before a rainbow beam from above shot down, covering them in its light. Raising the devices upward, they were all slowly pulled up, their Digimon floating alongside them.

"Okay...this is kinda weird," Veemon couldn't help but say.

"So it's basically normal for us," Gabumon chuckled.

"Sounds about right," Gomamon laughed.

"Woah… it's like a rainbow just decided to suck them up." Keenan muttered as he kept looking upwards.

"I hope they'll be ok." Lisa frowned "I may have just met them, but I've seen how much they've done, and the fact they have to do more…" she said, sighing while Monitamon patted her leg supportively.

And just moments later, the Chosen Children disappeared from sight, returning to save the Digital World.

* * *

 **And... we're done!**

 **Finally, this beast can be put to rest!**

 **Next time... it's the Dark Masters Arc.**

 **Hope you enjoyed this one, and are looking forward to the rest, because...**

 **The Adventure Evolves.**


	41. 40: The Lords of Spiral Mountain! Dark M

**Hello everyone and welcome to the start of the next arc of the story!  
**

 **Today you're all getting a double feature as I post the first two chapters of the arc instead of just one!**

 **Hope you'll enjoy it, as well, the song for the new intro is Brave Shine, a suggestion from Timeless.**

* * *

 _*Music*_

The scene opens as a cloud of dust is blown away, showing several feet walking through a rocky and ruined path. The scene then shifts to show the Chosen and their Digimon, before they look upward, the scene focusing on Gyro and Agumon who frown deeply. The scene changes to show the sight they are looking at: Spiral Mountain that stretches far into the sky, as the title appears. "THOR Alter: Digital Story-Dark Masters Saga"

 _Hidari te ni kakushita negai wa negai no mama de samenai yume miteta_

The scene changes to show a small gust of wind that is moving in tandem to a hand, revealing Gyro practicing his semblance, while Pierce gets up, Pandora at the ready, both of them inside a workshop of some kind with Agumon and Veemon, before the four walk out into the light.

 _migi te ni wa kara no kioku daremo shiranai sekai no hate yamanai ame ni utareteita_

The scene changes to show team RWBY walking on the roof of a tall building in Vale, smiling as they overlook the city, the breeze flowing by them, before their partners suddenly land on their shoulders, all of them hugging the girls, much to their joy/amusement.

 _mamoritai mono o mamoreru tsuyosa_

The scene changes to show a field as Salamon, Gabumon, Gomamon, and Wormmon are seen running through it with smiles on their faces, Nora soon joining them as the rest of their teammates follow after with amused looks, as the group soon stopped and looked out over the cliff they were on.

 _sore o shinjirarenakunaru yowasa_

The scene then changes to show Gennai looking over various fragments of data salvaged from the Order, an apprehensive frown on his face as he looks out the doors of his home.

 _subete o ukeirete ashita o sagasu_

The scene changes again to show several feet stepping onto a rocky path overlooking the ocean, before the scene shifts to show Leomon and standing alongside him were Andromon, Thundermon, Ogremon, Centarumon, Waspmon, Whamon (on the surface of the ocean), Piximon, Dorugamon, ZubaEagermon, Ginryumon (the three now permanently adults), Chuumon, Dinohyumon, Grizzmon, the Gekomon and Otamamon, and GrandLocomon. The scene then changes to show the four Dark Masters, before focusing on Piedmon who has a sadistic grin on his face.

 _Brave shine…!_

The scene changes to show the 10 chosen children with determined looks before they all raise their Digivice Crests into the air which shine brightly.

 _Te wo nobaseba mada Stay the night!_

The scene changes to show MetalSeadramon burst out of the water, before firing into the sky, revealing Phoenixmon with Yang on her back as the two evade the attack and countered, forcing MetalSeadramon to dodge, before Ruby and Rosemon entered the fray, Ruby raking Crescent Rose against his armor, while Rosemon struck with her vines.

 _Kizu darake no yoru, You save my life..._

The scene changes to show a shot of Puppetmon upside down before he lands on top of Machinedramon as the two fire their attacks wildly. The scene then shifts to show UlforceVeedramon and GrandisKuwagamon evading the attacks, before cutting through several fragments of debris that were kicked up by the attacks, before charging forward and separating the two Dark Masters, followed by the scene panning to show HerculesKabuterimon and Vikemon with their attacks ready, before they launched them at the disoriented Dark Masters.

 _kazashita yaiba no saki ni_

The scene changes again to show Piedmon fighting against WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon, the two Digimon fighting on even grounds with him, before they manage to knock him back, Piedmon suddenly looking behind to see Seraphimon and Mastemon who launch their attacks, causing the scene to be covered in a white light.

 _omoi o kasaneta inori wa toki o koete_

The scene changes again to show the various Chosen and their partners (all in Ultimate form) watching a sunset from various different scenes (a rocky area for Gyro, a lakeside for Pyrrha, a treetop for Yang, a hill for Weiss, a shallow pool of water for Jaune, a grassy field for Ruby, under a tree for Blake, a beaten path for Nora, a forest road for Ren, and a street for Pierce)

 _Your brave shine…_

The final scene shows the Chosen standing together on top of a now destroyed spiral mountain, their D-Crests raised to the sky as the light breaks through the darkness and golden particles spread from the mountain to the rest of the world.

* * *

 **The Lords of Spiral Mountain! Dark Masters!  
**

* * *

In an ominous castle atop a massive mountain, a figure was chuckling as he looked through a telescope. "Look at them, so full of fear, wishing for the return of peace and order that will never come," the figure chuckled as he used the Telescope to look at the human world, and their soon to be next conquest. "It is truly a wonderful sight."

"I disagree!" came another voice as a large form emerged from the water, revealing a large sea serpent covered in metallic yellow armor. "I say we should kill them all in one shot!" he thundered before diving back into the water.

"But time in their world flows differently than ours," a third voice said, this one sounding notably more childish than the previous two. "I say we should use it to pick them off slowly. One by one," he said, as he stepped into the light revealing a child-size wooden puppet with gears and cables. "Just like him," he said again, looking at a large mechanical creature that was saurian in design, bipedal with a pair of large claws and huge cannons on its back.

"Enough," the first voice said, getting out of his seat, revealing a humanoid being in clown-like garb with a black and white mask on his face, and a set of swords strapped to his back. "The Chosen Children will be arriving shortly. It is time for a break of our conquest, and on to an amusing distraction."

At that, the others looked at him, seemingly in excitement at that. "Now then...let us leave the dressing room, and enter the stage as the curtains rise! To the play called 'The end of the Chosen Children!" the clown laughed, as a series of spotlights illuminated the four of them.

* * *

"Okay….that was a bit rougher than last time," Gyro groaned as they'd all been deposited on the ground. "Is everyone here? Say 'aye'."

19 'ayes' were his answer, confirming that yes, everyone was indeed here.

"Well...this is a familiar sight," Weiss couldn't help but say at the sight of the vegetation that was that of the familiar forests they'd gone through a few times.

"At least that confirms we're here," Veemon sighed, rolling his neck a bit. "So, what horrible change has happened while we were gone?"

"Well...unless they blocked out the sun, I think either we arrived at night, or the trees here are just too thick for us to see," Biyomon said, not even batting an eye at how casually Veemon said that. Yeah, they'd all gotten TOO used to this shit.

However, before they could talk further, a rustling was heard in the tall grass. "Who's there?!" Everyone said in alarm, weapons ready, attacks prepped in the Digimon's case (and Koromon and Tsunomon quickly evolving back into Agumon and Gabumon). However, instead of a vicious monster trying to kill them (something they'd gotten waaaay too used to by now), all that came was a whimper of fear. THAT took the wind out of their sails quickly.

"Uh...okay, I think its safe to say that's not who we're here for," Ruby blinked as she put away Crescent Rose, and carefully approached. "Um...excuse me? Are you okay? Don't worry, we won't hurt you," she said.

When she got close enough, she could see that the Digimon who was clearly afraid was a small pink mouse, one which she vaguely remembered seeing on File.

"That's Chuumon." Tentomon noted quietly.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Chuumon_

 _Chuumon. Virus Type. A Child Level Beast Digimon. A small Digimon who is best friends with Sukamon, acting as his conscience most of the time. It's not the strongest Digimon, and is rather cowardly, but it can be very cunning in the right situation. His special attack is Cheese Bomb, throwing a bomb hidden inside a piece of cheese… it is strangely efficient._

"Hey… are you ok?" she asked worriedly.

"A-Are you the Chosen Children?" Chuumon asked, fear clear in his voice.

"Yeah… can you tell us what's going on?" Ruby asked calmly, hoping that seeing everyone else calm would help the small Digimon.

At that Chuumon burst into tears and ran into her arms.

"Okay, I'm thinking it's gonna be REALLY bad…" Pierce couldn't help but say.

"After Myotismon disappeared from the Digital World about 15 years ago, my best friend Sukamon and I went back to File Island and decided to just go back to our lives of peace and tranquility. For the first few years it was just fun and games without having to worry about anything. But then… then THEY came. They ripped File and Server to pieces. So many Digimon died when they ripped it all apart, even Sukamon! Just so they could make their base." Chuumon explained, crying at the same time.

"There there," Ruby said, doing her best to sooth the distraught Digimon...about as well as she could considering the poor guy was no doubt reliving the horrifying event. "We came to stop the Dark Masters, and we promise we'll do what we can," she said.

"Actually...you said something about a base?" Ren checked that detail.

"Yeah, they plan to turn the entire Digital World into their personal domains, and to rule it more easily they're trying to add everything to Spiral Mountain!" Chuumon said. "They already turned all of Server into it, and they're trying to absorb the other continents and File! It's horrible! Even with the other Continents putting up a fight, it's only a matter of time before...before…!" by now Chuumon looked like he was ready to have an emotional breakdown, to which Gyro pulled out a tissue form his pouch, giving it to the mouse who blew really hard.

By the end of his story everyone's eyes had darkened. "So...who's in favor of tearing a mountain down?" Blake asked coldly.

"Aye!" was the answer from literally everyone else.

"Can you show us where it is?" Agumon asked.

"If… if you guys can really do it… yeah! Yeah, I'll help!" Chuumon said, his face showing determination despite his tears.

* * *

"...oookay, I know we said we'd tear this thing down, and we still plan to, but….that's a BIG mountain," Salamon couldn't help but say as they looked up and up and up at the strangest mountain they'd ever seen. True to its name, Spiral Mountain was...well...a big spiral, apparently made up of 4 bands of ocean, forest, city, and...wasteland respectively.

"I know this is weird, but then you have the sky as well." Wormmon idly noticed as they could even see Remnant in the sky.

"Points for efficiency, negative points for creativity," Gyro commented. "So let me guess, since there are 4 Dark Masters, they rule like one section of that spiral each, right?"

"And better yet, their base is at the top, isn't it?" Pierce added.

"Yeah, that's exactly right!" Chuumon nodded. "Wow, you guys are amazing to already know that!"

"Oh no, we didn't. Let's just say we've seen PLENTY of guys like these guys in the past...they kinda all followed a trend," Gyro sighed, scratching the back of his head.

"So….how do we start bringing this thing down?" Nora asked. "I didn't carry enough grenades."

"I don't think we can bring it down THAT way," was the deadpan response from several of the Digimon, including her own partner who were giving her dry looks.

"Well...seeing as so far it's been working in undoing damage, I say we go murder the guys who made this thing," Yang suggested.

"I don't know what's more disturbing. How much that makes sense or how easily we've come to accept that as our best answer," Weiss sighed.

"Probably somewhere along the lines of how it seems killing off the evil Digimon who did shenanigans seems to always undo said shenanigans," Tentomon deadpanned.

"Y-You're serious?!" Chuumon asked in alarm. "That's impossible! You can't beat them!" he said in fear.

The group looked at him before shrugging. "Eh, won't know unless we try," Palmon said.

"But you could die!" Chuumon countered.

"Would you rather live forever under their rule? Or die fighting for a better tomorrow?" Agumon countered. THAT shut the mouse up as he gained an introspective look.

However, before they could talk further, a sinister laughter filled the air. "Chosen Children, I've been waiting for you!" the voice said before a large form burst out of the ground.

"I-Its MetalSeadramon!" Chuumon shouted in fear as one of the Dark Masters emerged.

 _Digimon Analyzer: MetalSeadramon_

 _MetalSeadramon. Data Type. An Ultimate Level Cyborg Digimon. The final form of the Seadramon species, with a body coated in Chrome Digizoid armor, granting him ultimate defense. Though it is a sea serpent, it can even more through the sky and earth, making him a capable fighter in all situations. His special attacks are Ultimate Stream, firing a powerful laser from the cannon mounted on his face, and Poseidon Divide, kicking up a tsunami to attack his foes._

"Ooookay, that was fast," Veemon blinked. Normally they had to fight through some minions and mooks first before one of the bosses showed up.

"And he's coming at us fast too. DUCK!" Pierce added as they all ducked for cover as the gigantic sea serpent dove for them, but narrowly missed them.

"A bit early, but we can work with this," Gabumon mused. "So what's the plan? Go Ultimate?"

"Hang on," Gyro said, stopping them. "Normally I'd be all for that, but keep in mind, when was the last time a big boss of any villain faction just waltzed right up to us without being absolutely sure they could win?"

"...never," Ren nodded, seeing the logic.

"Okay, you two are the video game buffs, what do you think is likely gonna happen next?" Patamon asked the twins.

"Their trying to either scare us, or gauge our strength, if it's the second, best we don't reveal all our aces just yet, because I think we won't actually have time to properly damage him, it's likely we'll meet the rest of them soon anyway." Pierce pointed out.

"Okay, so Perfects only for now," Jaune said...before he remembered the last fight with an Ultimate they had… "...we're about to be walking into a hopeless boss fight, aren't we?" he deadpanned. He'd been around the twins long enough to pick up their gaming hobby.

"Which is why we'll be using the Ultimate Technique first chance we get," Gyro nodded simply.

"...this is gonna suck…" everyone sighed, but pulled out their D-Cores (And D-Crests for Gyro and Pyrrha) as well as their Tags.

The Digivices and Crests shone brightly as everyone soon evolved to their Perfect stages, and began attacking the Dark Master before them.

"Giga Destroyer!"

"Flower Cannon!"

"Shadow Wing!"

The three attacks were let loose and hit MetalSeadramon dead on...but he didn't even seem phased, before he rammed right through their ranks.

"No effect whatsoever," Ruby frowned, before checking her scroll. "Of course…" she sighed.

"What's wrong?" Blake asked.

"He's literally covered in Chrome Digizoid," Ruby deadpanned.

"...crap…" was all they could say to that tidbit, as their partners were soon thrown to the ground from a slap from the Dark Master's twin tails.

MetalSeadramon was laughing at this point. "Is that the best you can do? As if you could possibly defeat me with that power!"

"Are you SURE we can't just go Ultimate and waste this guy now?" MetalGreymon groaned.

"If more of them don't show up in the next few minutes, sure," Gyro frowned. However, it seemed MetalSeadramon was done playing with them for now.

"You're finished. Ultimate Stream!" MetalSeadramon called out, firing his best move from the blaster on his nose, which soon sent them all flying, but they'd been able to grab hold of each other in the explosion.

* * *

"Okay, first of all, oww...and second...is everyone okay...relatively speaking?" Pierce groaned as he got up, AeroVeedramon having cushioned the landing for him.

"Aside from feeling like we just got caught in a flood? Yeah," JewelBeemon said.

"But at least everyone is alright," HolyAngemon said as they all got up...before he tensed. "Something is here…" he said as currently the area they were in was full of mist.

"Careful, it's likely another one of them if our luck holds," Blake cautioned.

"Think it's another sneaky one?" MetalGreymon asked as he scanned through the mist, hoping to catch sight of anything out of place.

"I hope not, MetalSeadramon bursting out of the ground was sneaky enough already, we don't need another villain who uses fog." Angewomon ground out, some annoyance in her tone as she remembered Myotismon.

The group surveyed the mist...before HolyAngemon noticed a glint. "Over there!" he said, but just as he said that, a series of blasts came through the mist and hit him several times till he reverted to Patamon, Blake quickly catching him. "Everyone duck!" she shouted, but too late, as more shots were fired, knocking all the Perfects off their feet.

The source of the shots soon revealed itself. "Okay...that's obviously Machinedramon," Yang couldn't help but say at the mechanical dragon...dinosaur...thing...that was standing before them.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Machinedramon_

 _Machinedramon. Virus Type. An Ultimate Level Machine Digimon. A Digimon made entirely out of mechanical parts without a shred of organic material within him. It's rumored that all Cyborg Digimon acted as prototypes for him, which explains why he shares some aspects with other Digimon, like having an arm from MetalGreymon. His special attacks are Infinity Cannon, firing powerful energy beams from his twin mounted cannons, and Catastrophe D, a desperation move that detonates his body to take out his opponents with him._

Machinedramon didn't say anything, instead continuing to pepper them with blast after blast.

"Huh, we went from chatty to a mime...and I'm oddly okay with that," AeroVeedramon commented...right before getting hit again. "Though those cannons I can do without…"

"As refreshing as a villain who's not out to talk our ears to death is, we're in DEEP trouble if we don't do something about those cannons!" Gyro shouted...right before the ground started cracking and breaking from the barrage. "...nevermind, we're already deep into it," he deadpanned before gravity asserted itself and they were soon screaming as they fell.

"Wait, can't most of you guys fly?!" Nora said, reminding about over half the team that yes, they COULD fly, to which they promptly made use of, slowing the descent, before they suddenly stopped...by themselves.

"...anyone get the feeling they've been deliberately herding us so we can meet and greet all of them?" Zudomon said flatly.

"Eeeeyup," was the deadpan response from everyone else.

"Well...bring on the next one. Not like my butt hasn't been kicked enough today," WereGarurumon deadpanned. Ask and ye shall receive, as not 2 seconds later, he quite literally felt something kick him in the butt. The surprise? The one who did it was Garudamon.

"Okay...what?" was his flat response to that...before his arm raised itself and promptly socked her in the face.

"Guys guys, not a good time to get physical in an argument," Yang said in alarm.

"Hey, we would like to stop too, but our bodies suddenly grew a mind of their own!" both Digimon said frantically.

"Uh...guys? I think mine did too!" Pyrrha suddenly said as she was doing some bizarre poses.

"Okay...why are we acting like we should be screaming weird stuff as Punching Ghosts fight for us?" Pierce couldn't help but ask as now they were all doing bizarre poses.

"This would be funny if it was anyone but us!" MetalGreymon said...having actually understood the reference.

"Strings! There are strings attached to us!" Weiss shouted in alarm.

"Took you long enough to notice," a new voice laughed, as they looked up and saw what appeared to be a wooden puppet.

"Okay, if you're not Puppetmon, I don't know who you are," Blake said flatly.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Puppetmon_

 _Puppetmon. Virus Type. An Ultimate Level Puppet Digimon. A Digimon apparently built out of wood from a cursed tree, it has a cruel personality. While it has the appearance of a marionette, it can move of its own will, and enjoys spreading lies… which makes its nose grow longer. His special attacks are Bullet Hammer, packing gunpowder into the chambers on his revolver barrel styled hammer before bashing his enemies with it, making them blow up with each hit, and Flying Cross Cutter, throwing the cross on his back like a deadly boomerang._

"Heh, well I wish I could have played with you all more, but…" Puppetmon started, but…

"Stop! Let me guess. This is the part where you send us flying again, and no doubt next you're gonna be sending us to Piedmon. Am I right?" Gyro deadpanned.

Puppetmon stopped...before not so much throwing them as LAUNCHING them into wherever they were supposed to go next. "You can fly too! Bullet Hammer!" he called out, sending a barrage of shots at the Digimon, forcing them back to their Child forms before sending them flying after the screaming hunters.

* * *

"Gyro...the next time you think it's a good idea to go taunt a powerful evil Digimon who literally had us on the ropes...or rather strings...I'm kicking your butt," Weiss deadpanned from the pile they had found themselves in after their impromptu flight and collision on the hard ground.

"You mean you'll try." Gyro told her dryly, and Weiss grumbled, since she knew it would be easier said than done for her to actually beat Gyro in a fight.

"Can everyone move now...please…" Blake groaned as she was the one who had been the first to hit the ground, leaving her at the bottom of the pile...followed by another groan as several more weights were added to the pile, the Digimon landing on top of them...before the impromptu tower crumbled as everyone soon rolled off.

"Okay, we just had our butts kicked by 3 Dark Masters, so by that logic, next is the big boss himself," Jaune sighed.

"Yeah, so fill the next guy you see full of holes if you get the chance," Pierce said. True enough…

A clown, of all things, actually rolled into the area from behind a stone pillar, balancing perfectly atop a large ball.

"Really?" Gyro muttered dryly as he looked at the clown, savvy enough to know who it was.

"Hello there children, would any of you be interested in a story?" the clown asked, and his voice did not bring smiles.

"Not really?" Jaune answered awkwardly.

"Too bad, you get one anyway." the clown said, making everyone blink, not expecting that, as the clown pulled crude drawings out of… somewhere.

The drawings actually seemed to depict them, albeit as if they had been drawn by a child… possibly made by Puppetmon if the signature at the bottom was any hint since it depicted a long nose.

"Once upon a time there were 10 Chosen Children and their Digimon, they tried to climb to the top of Spiral Mountain to defeat the Dark Masters, but instead ended up dying. The End." the Clown said his story, smiling all the while.

The response to his story was… gunfire… and fire in general, as he moved out of the way, through the drawings weren't so lucky.

"Can you BE anymore obvious, Piedmon?" Pierce asked in complete deadpan. "And yes, we know its you. We just went through the other 3, so who else could it be but you."

"Also, next time you try to tell a story, try not to tell it using drawings that was probably made by Puppetmon," Weiss deadpanned.

The clown actually looked affronted for a second, before he soon regained his composure. "Well then, I suppose I can see why you managed to defeat Devimon, Etemon, and even Myotismon," the clown admitted before he revealed his true form as the leader of the Dark Masters...which still had a clown-like theme to it. "At least you're not completely stupid."

 _Digimon Analyzer: Piedmon_

 _Piedmon. Virus Type. An Ultimate Level Demon Man Digimon. A Digimon with a low amount of information regarding him, save for the fact some refer to him as the Clown of Hell. He uses trickery to defeat his opponents, and likes to make a show of it at that. Special attacks are Trump Sword, throwing one of the four swords on his back, and Clown Trick, a multi-purpose attack that usually takes the form of a magic trick, such as using a white cloth to make an object disappear or change._

"We live in a world of bloody evolution, where you need to be able to fight to live to the next day. What were you expecting? A bunch of clueless kids who would fall for every trick you pull?" Yang shot back dryly.

Piedmon hummed in thought at that as he held his chin, nodding after a moment. "Yes, I see your point."

"So, what's the plan now?" Pyrrha whispered.

"I say we go all out on this one. Win or lose, this might be a chance for US to get a feel of how strong these guys are, and who better than the boss?" Gyro whispered back, to which they both nodded in agreement. "Stand back everyone, we're going Ultimate on this one."

Everyone blinked, before doing as they were told, while Agumon and Gabumon moved forward.

"Agumon, Warp Evolution! WarGreymon!"

"Gabumon, Warp Evolution! MetalGarurumon!"

It wasn't long before the two of them were in the air, Gyro and Pyrrha with them. "Okay, this guy is the leader of them, so it's safe to say he'll be stronger than the other three," Pyrrha said.

"So what do we do?" MetalGarurumon asked.

"We play smart is what," Gyro said. "Combo moves everyone!"

"You got it! Gaia Force!" WarGreymon said, throwing his attack.

"Cocytus Breath!" MetalGarurumon called out, firing his attack as well.

Piedmon smirked, before pulling out his swords and cutting through both attacks with ease. "Is that all? Well then, Trum-" Piedmon didn't get to finish, as suddenly a volley of missiles was fired from MetalGarurumon...who wasn't using his targeting system?

Piedmon evaded a few before chuckling. "Where are you aiming?" he laughed...right before the missiles suddenly turned around and were now aiming for him. "What the-?!" he blinked before jumping out of the way, but the missiles continued to chase him, forcing him to dodge.

"Nice trick with the swords. Now try THIS one!" Gyro smirked as he created a massive wind tunnel with his semblance, one that WarGreymon soon threw another Gaia Force through. The wind was pulled into the massive ball of flame and heat, making it bigger and stronger, till it was at a point that one would be hard pressed to dodge.

"Damn!" Piedmon growled, going for his swords again...but at that moment the missiles impacted, all of them aiming for the swords on his back the whole time, causing them to freeze and thus he couldn't pull them out in time as the next attack hit. "Graaah!" he growled in pain as he was sent flying from the attack, but at the critical moment, he stabilized himself in mid-air. "Clown Trick!" he called out, and suddenly the entire sky was blanketed in smoke, obscuring their vision, before a pair of swords went flying, forcing the two to evade, but not quite fast enough as they still got stabbed, forcing them both to revert to Child form, but fortunately Gyro managed to use his Semblance in time to slow and cushion their fall.

"Okay...he's strong...as we expected," Agumon groaned.

"But we at least managed to hurt him," Gabumon added, as true enough, when the smoke cleared, there was a panting Piedmon, nursing a frozen burn on his side.

"I'll admit, that one was actually pretty good. But not good enough," he frowned. "You may be on the same level, but it'll take more than a pair of inexperienced Ultimates to beat me."

"Called it…" Ren frowned. They'd long since realized that the longer each Digimon fought in a form, the better they'd fight overtime. In short, it was no different than a muscle that got stronger with training. And by that logic, they had considered the possibility that the Dark Masters may have THAT edge over them. It seemed they were right.

"So...I'm thinking now is a good time for us to use that Ultimate move?" Salamon checked.

"First chance we get yeah," Veemon nodded.

"Now then, I think its time we brought this play to a close," Piedmon said, regaining his confident smirk. "But first allow me to introduce our star players. MetalSeadramon!" he started, and at that MetalSeadramon emerged from the ground. "Machinedramon!" at that Machinedramon stepped into the arena, not saying a word. "Puppetmon!" Puppetmon suddenly appeared hanging upside down, letting out a laugh as he commented on how he'd love to have been able to 'play with them more'. "And finally myself, Piedmon!" he said, giving a dramatic bow.

"I knew it...it really is impossible..." Chuumon whimpered.

"Don't worry, we're not done yet. Not by a long shot," Ruby reassured.

"Now then, who shall be the first to die?" Piedmon smirked, looking through them...however much to his annoyance, not one of them had a look of fear on their faces. No, rather than fear, it was that infuriating look of one who would be defiant to the end. They'd all been soundly defeated, yet not even the smallest bit of hope and will had left them. However, it was when his eyes landed on Ruby did his expression change. "You…!" his eyes widened for a moment, the other Dark Masters with notable eyes soon doing the same. "Why are you here?" he growled.

"Huh?" Ruby blinked.

"No...you are not that infernal woman with that Taomon, but why do you look so much like her?!" Piedmon was actually angry now, as the memories of the seal that kept them at bay for so long was fresh in his mind.

"A woman with a Taomon? That can only be…!" Pyrrha's eyes widened when they all realized what Piedmon was going for.

"Mom…!" Ruby breathed. She knew that her mother and her partner had been involved in the seal, but from the way Piedmon was talking, it seemed they were more than just involved.

"Mom? I see...so that is your relation to her," Piedmon mused, before a cruel smirk crossed his face. "Very well then, you will be the first to die. Perhaps I should even bring your head to that woman the next time we find her again," he smirked as a knife suddenly appeared in his hand. "Now die!" he shouted as in a flash the knife was thrown.

Time slowed to a crawl at that point, as movements happened without anyone thinking. When the second was over, what happened was not Ruby getting a knife to the chest as Piedmon would have wanted...but what happened was Chuumon hitting the ground on the side, having been rammed by something, and what the knife hit...was Yang's right shoulder, the blade rather deeply embedded into her skin, drops of blood falling to the ground.

"Yang!" Ruby said in alarm, but Yang didn't respond, instead she grasped the handle of the knife, and with a pained groan, pulled it out, the now bloody knife clattering to the ground.

"No way," Yang growled. "If you want to get to my sister, you're gonna have to go through me!" she glared at the Dark Masters, her eyes red and hair ablaze, and for a moment, her Crest was starting to shine brightly.

"Yang, don't move your arm! It's bleeding!" Biyomon said in clear worry as she hovered up to her partner's shoulder.

"Chuumon, what happened?" Patamon said as he helped his fellow Child level to his feet.

"I… I tried to take the shot." Chuumon admitted, blushing a bit "Guess I didn't need to in the end."

"Fools," Piedmon frowned. "What use is there covering one another when you're all going to die. But if that is what you wish, then very well," he said, this time going for one of his swords. However….

"Bit Bomb!" came a familiar voice as the Dark Masters' view was suddenly obscured by a blinding light, followed by the Chosen, their Digimon, and Chuumon suddenly feeling themselves pulled into a barrier.

Inside the barrier which was now rapidly escaping…

"Piximon?!" the group said in surprise, before they grinned.

"Man, are you a sight for sore eyes! Guess that's another we owe you," Gomamon said in relief.

"Nice to see all of you again as well." Piximon spoke with a grin.

"Let me guess, you've been fighting against the Dark Masters since they got free with guerilla tactics until we got back?" Gyro asked knowingly.

"That's pretty much it yeah, there was some close moments over the last few years though, I can tell you that. I'm glad you're all here though, we have a chance now after all, but first, you'll need to become a bit stronger." Piximon said with a sigh.

"Yeah, we gave it a decent shot at least, we managed to hurt Piedmon a bit." Pierce said, looking for the positive.

"That's more than what anyone else has been able to do recently." Piximon said with a hopeful grin.

"Great, so now that we're all here, let's make a tactical retreat, then we'll come up with a counter-" Weiss started, before the barrier suddenly shook.

"There you are!" came MetalSeadramon's voice as the Dark Masters were in hot pursuit.

"I guess it WAS too much to hope they'd just let us get away…" Wormmon sighed.

"Can this barrier go any faster?" Palmon asked urgently.

"Sorry, this is more or less maximum speed," Piximon said, right as another hit rocked the barrier.

"Well, can this barrier let attacks out? Maybe they'll back off a bit if we fight back," Jaune suggested.

"No, we can't risk them getting to you. You all are our last hope," Piximon said. "That's why I'll hold them off."

"Wait what?!" came the response from the group.

"I know you're the poster boy for 'don't judge a book by its cover', but you're STILL one Perfect against 4 Ultimates who just wiped the floor with us more or less," Agumon gasped.

"But this is also the only way for you to escape. Once I'm outside, I'll be able to launch you well away from them. Take this chance to gather your strength, formulate a plan, and save this world!" Piximon said, before he exited the barrier. "One last time...STRIKE OF LOVE!" Piximon shouted as he slammed the barrier with his staff, sending it and its passengers careening into the distance.

"Well well well, if it isn't Piximon. Should have known you would be the one behind this," Piedmon smirked cruelly. "You know you can't win, right?"

"Maybe, but even if this is my end, I don't intend to go out without a fight!" Piximon snarled, before looking to the sky. "What I once willingly gave up, I ask to be returned. Master!" Piximon shouted, as from the sky what appeared to be a Holy Ring came flying towards Piximon, before it entered his body, his form glowing with power.

"W-What is this?!" the Dark Masters gasped in surprise, before Piximon roared as he charged right at them.

Far away in the barrier, all the Chosen could see was a bright light suddenly covering the arena, before it slowly died away…

"Dammit!" Yang growled, punching the side of the barrier, completely ignoring the pain that flared up in her shoulder. She was about to go for another punch, but Pierce and Biyomon stopped her.

"Yang, stop! You'll only make it worse!" Biyomon said.

"And hurting yourself isn't going to change anything!" Pierce added, before pulling her into a hug. "Don't worry. We'll get them back for this. We're gonna make sure every life lost to those monsters wasn't in vain."

"For now, let's get that patched up." Jaune said as he reached into his pouch, pulling out a roll of gauze, everyone giving him a look. "What? I picked up some medical stuff before we went to fight Myotismon."

"Huh...good thinking," Veemon said, as the barrier continued to speed off.

* * *

 **And there's the chapter!**

 **Contrary to canon, Chuumon survived here, and as you all saw Piximon had something special going on for him, but it's a secret for now.**

 **Also, yes, they managed to hurt Piedmon, by tricking him into thinking combo moves were just the Digimon attacking together, NOT that the hunters would enhance the attacks of their partners with their own abilities.**

 **Anyway, for now, see you in a few minutes, because...**

 **The Adventure Evolves.**


	42. 41: Blazing Wings and Beautiful Flowers!

**And here we have the second chapter for the day!**

 **Originally this one and the last one would have been posted as one big chapter, but Timeless suggested we cut them in half, and I agreed to the idea.**

 **Anyway, let's get this show on the road!**

* * *

 **Blazing Wings and Beautiful Flowers! Phoenixmon and Rosemon!  
**

* * *

The barrier kept flying, before finally coming to a halt and dissipating, leaving them on a beach.

"Huh...we ended up this far away," Biyomon said, looking around.

"So this is part of spiral mountain? Hard to believe we're on a mountain, but eh...not the first time gravity was screwy in the Digital World," Pierce sighed.

"Ya know...does this place feel...familiar somehow?" Patamon asked.

The group blinked at that, before looking around and… "There!" Tentomon said, pointing at a pile of destroyed telephone boxes.

"Wow… we're back on that beach from our first day on File." Gyro blinked, honestly not expecting to return here.

"It looks pretty much the same, although the sand is darker for some reason." Yang noticed, making sure not to move her right arm and shoulder too much at the moment.

"Its because it's part of Spiral Mountain now," Chuumon said with a sad frown. "This is what happens to any part of the world that gets pulled into the mountain. They become part of one of the four spirals that the Dark Masters rule. Since this was the beach and ocean, it means we're in MetalSeadramon's territory…"

"So that's gonna be the third Seadramon we beat up then… well, third time's the charm I guess." Nora said, grinning slightly at the end.

"We have an advantage this time as well, WarGreymon's Dramon Killers." Weiss pointed out, having taken the time to look up the data they had on the Dark Masters, as well as the data on their own Digimon.

"We can take on both MetalSeadramon and Machinedramon easily with those in hand." Gyro said with a nod.

"The only problem is MetalSeadramon is an aquatic Digimon," Jaune pointed out. "Like with the other Seadramon we've fought, he has the advantage if he goes underwater."

"That's a good point," Agumon frowned.

"Well...maybe we can change the fight venue," Gabumon suggested.

"Hey, good idea. We can use MetalGarurumon's missiles to give us more ground to work with," Pyrrha nodded, earning an embarrassed but pleased laugh from her partner.

"Now comes the hard and unpleasant part," Blake sighed. "Finding him...preferably in a way that he's not holding most of the cards."

"Best way to do that would be to catch him by surprise, but since we wouldn't be able to see him until it's too late, that's a bit easier said than done." Ruby pointed out with a frown.

"Tell me about it. This is gonna be like Jaws...on steroids…" Pierce said, sharing a miserable look with his brother as the two had the 'lovely' mental image of them trying to fish for a giant cyborg sea serpent, complete with the iconic theme playing in the background, the morbid fantasy ending with them finding that he'd been under them the whole time, jaws WIDE open.

The two brothers shook their heads and shivered, trying hard to banish THAT mental image.

Fortunately a distraction came their way. "Help! I'm drowning!" a voice shouted, drawing their attentions.

Everyone turned to the source and saw what seemed to be a LOT of splashing, no doubt whoever was drowning struggling to stay afloat. "Okay, war meeting postponed, first things first, rescue whoever is drowning!" Gyro said quickly. "Gomamon?"

"Way ahead of you! Marching Fishes!" Gomamon called out, forming a raft of fishes to which Gyro, Agumon, Ruby, Palmon, Blake, Patamon, Ren, Wormmon, and Jaune got on, while Gomamon followed from the water. The group quickly made their way to the source of the splashes. "Don't worry, we...got...you?" Ruby started, but soon lost her steam when she saw…

"...really?" Blake and Ren deadpanned at the sight of the flotation ring...that seemed to be around something that looks vaguely like a shark's fin somehow...and oddly familiar too.

"...I don't know what is stranger. Why they were calling for help when they had a flotation ring, or what the heck that is…" Patamon said flatly.

The latter was soon answered when a figure emerged from the water, revealing a very familiar form. "Shellmon!" the figure shouted, revealing itself to be none other than Shellmon.

Gyro stared at it with a twitching eyebrow "You again?" he asked incredulously, before something else clicked in his head "You were pulling that stunt to get at us weren't you?"

Shellmon laughed… like a stereotypical villain "Obviously! And now I'm gonna make you pay for what you did to me all those years ago!"

"Oh my dear server…" Palmon facepalmed.

"It's actually the same one?" Jaune muttered in confusion, not expecting it to still be alive after all this time.

Gyro's eyebrow twitched a few times as he listened to Shellmon, before he suddenly grinned, and although it looked friendly, it was anything but. "You know what? Thank you for offering yourself up like this, because I think I needed this."

Shellmon blinked in confusion at that, as Gyro drew Ascalon, and a few quick slashes later was slowly resheathing them, and just as they clicked closed… all the spikes on Shellmon's shell fell off.

"Listen here you overgrown hors d'oeuvre, I'm in no mood for your bullshit. We just got our asses kicked by those four assholes, and we just saw one of our friends die, so you're going to do me a favor, and get the hell out of my face, before I decide to make some digital escargot!" Gyro said coldly, a growl in his tone.

"R-Right! Sorry!" Shellmon squeaked before turning tail and running away.

With him gone, the group soon returned to the shore. "Well that was a big waste of time," Wormmon sighed.

"I know, right? Can you believe that guy held a grudge THIS long?" Gomamon shook his head incredulously.

"Well, at least he won't be bothering us again. Ever," Agumon chuckled at the memory of his partner terrifying the Digimon till he ran away.

Now with that bit of annoyance out of the way, they continued on their way, deciding for now to start moving lest they get caught in the open. What soon followed was…

"...seriously?" Yang asked.

"Seems like it," Biyomon said flatly as they were all staring at what appeared to be a beach hut, like the type you'd see on various vacation beaches or during the summer aimed at selling food and the like to people.

The group shared a deadpan glance at each other. "Obvious trap is obvious?" The Digimon checked.

"Obvious trap is obvious," the hunters all nodded.

"...wanna go and spring it and get the sweet catharsis of kicking the crap out of the poor schmuck who laid it?" Veemon suggested.

Pierce clapped his partner on the shoulder "I like your way of thinking Veemon."

With that in mind, the group went up to the Beach Hut, before Ren stopped. "Wait, what if the trap is actually a good one and whoever goes in gets caught?" he asked.

"Huh...that's a good point. Some of us should wait out here just in case," Blake said.

"Okay...who goes in and who stays out?" Weiss asked, honestly not sure why she was going along with this plan...until she remembered the catharsis factor.

The group going in ended up being Gyro, Agumon, Nora, Salamon, Ren, Wormmon, Blake, Patamon, Weiss and Tentomon, the others staying outside as per the plan, and deciding to go into the nearby trees just in case MetalSeadramon showed up.

When the group got into the Beach House. "Empty. Shocker," they all said sarcastically. True enough, the door closed and from the sand came a new Digimon. "Anomalocarimon!" the Digimon shouted.

"...what is it with some Digimon doing Poké-speak lately?" Gyro deadpanned.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Anomalocarimon_

 _Anomalocarimon. Data Type. A Perfect Level Ancient Crustacean Digimon. A Digimon created from data on the research of extinct species. It searches for food on the seafloor, only attacking enemies it's positive it can beat. Its special attacks are Sand Shower, shooting a stream of sand from its mouth that weakens and puts its enemies to sleep, and Stinger Surprise, crossing its forelimbs and firing a shockwave from them._

"Sand Shower!" Anomalocarimon called out, shooting a stream of sand at the group, intending to put them to sleep and bury them till his master could come to get them...or that WOULD be the plan except…

"Is it worrying that we're not even phased by this shit anymore?" Wormmon sighed, as currently all the sand was trapped in a mass of wind courtesy of Gyro's semblance.

"When did you start swearing?" Salamon asked him with a raised eyebrow.

"When I stopped caring." Wormmon told her dryly, before Gyro let all the sand fall to the ground as Anomalocarimon stopped in confusion.

"That's… that's new." The Digimon admitted, actually thrown for a loop and not sure what to do next.

"I thought it would be." Gyro said, before grinning "Now… how about I show you a real sandstorm?"

Moments later, the ones who had stayed outside looking up in surprise as the roof of the hut went flying high in the sky as a tornado of sand rose up high, a voice being heard screaming from inside it.

"...I think it's safe to say we all need some therapy after this," Jaune mused.

"Why do you say that?" Gomamon asked.

"Because the fact we're not even phased by hearing the screams of our enemies as whatever our friends are doing is happening...yeah, that's probably not a good sign…" Jaune explained.

"...good point…" everyone else couldn't help but nod in agreement. The fact they'd become basically desensitized to this...probably a good thing to get checked.

"Well...that was surprisingly easy," came Nora's voice as the group came out of what was left of the hut, while in the distance, Anomalocarimon was still screaming as he soon landed with a splash in the ocean further away.

"I know I shouldn't tempt the universe, I really shouldn't, but...does anyone else feel like this has been too easy so far?" Blake sighed.

"...for once I can't deny that," Pierce sighed. "I mean, for a mountain controlled by the Dark Masters, its safe to assume all the Digimon who have it out for us are working for them, but...so far they kinda...sucked at their job…"

"Then again, when was the last time we met a REALLY competent henchmon?" Gabumon pointed out.

"...fair enough," Pyrrha admitted. "Now, we should probably keep moving. With all the ruckus we've been causing, its probably only a matter of time before…"

She didn't get to finish as the water erupted nearby, revealing MetalSeadramon.

"...that happens," she sighed, going for her D-Crest, Gyro doing the same.

But then they noticed an important detail…

"... That's a BIG wave he made when he came up." Weiss muttered with wide eyes, as it seemed MetalSeadramon had appeared in the way he did in a deliberate attempt to cause a Tsunami.

"Okay, new plan, get to stable ground THEN fight back!" Ruby shouted.

"Way ahead of you!" Jaune nodded, grabbing his Digivice as Gomamon jumped into the water.

"Gomamon, Evolution! Ikkakumon! Super Evolution! Zudomon!"

"Get on!" Zudomon shouted as everyone got onto his back as he started treading the waters as fast as he could.

"You won't get away!" MetalSeadramon smirked as he started going through the water, going faster than Zudomon could.

Zudomon tried to evade, but it wasn't working out so well. If anything it seemed MetalSeadramon was toying with them, knocking them all over, and with him being in the water a lot...counter attacking would be difficult.

"Now then, I think that's enough for now. Die! Ultimate Stream!" MetalSeadramon called out, firing his best attack, and forcing Zudomon to revert to Gomamon, dropping them all into the rough waters.

"Oh… crap." Gyro muttered as he saw MetalSeadramon heading straight for them, with them having no way of fighting back.

"Plan anyone?" Pierce asked hopefully.

"Nothing." Jaune said, swallowing fearfully as he held the tired Gomamon in his arms.

"There's got to be something!" Chuumon shouted fearfully as he was riding on Ren's shoulder.

At that moment though, something DID happen, as a large form suddenly surfaced, and before they fully knew what was going on, they were swept into a gigantic maw, and soon the form dove underwater.

The entire thing happened so fast that when it was over, MetalSeadramon was left blinking in utter bewilderment at what just happened.

His confusion was just what the savior of the Chosen Children needed, as they slipped away quickly.

And on the inside of their body…

"Thanks for the save Whamon." Gyro said with a sigh of relief as they all stood in the currently empty stomach of Whamon, having quickly figured out he was the one to save them.

"Yeah, we'd have been toast if you didn't show up," Palmon sighed in relief.

"It was my pleasure," Whamon said. "I am very glad to see you are all alright."

"We're glad to see you too. How ya been holding up?" Pierce asked.

"Well enough. Despite much of the chaos, the seas have been 'relatively' untouched. Even when the oceans became part of spiral mountain, it was barely noticeable," Whamon said. "For now though, I believe we should escape."

"Yeah, a tactical retreat sounds good. We'll leave that bit to you. Mind if we use your stomach as a war council room first though?" Jaune said. It was always good manners to ask before using someone's...stomach...yeah, now sanity was officially dead in his life…

"Of course," Whamon figuratively nodded nonchalantly.

"Right, so...first order of business, the biggest issue we have to deal with...us being stuck in a MASSIVE home field for the enemy…" Gomamon sighed. It was an unspoken agreement by now that the idea of fighting MetalSeadramon IN the ocean was out of the question.

"Honestly, EVERYWHERE is home field for him, not only can he swim, but he can also fly and move through the ground, and he's always like a fish in water." Weiss noted with a frown.

"Right, so the best we'll get is making sure he stays out of the water, so at the very least we can...ya know...breath…" Veemon said.

"The next issue is finding where to actually fight. We need ample ground to be able to pull this off," Ren frowned.

"Right, so possibly on the shores would be ideal," Salamon nodded.

"Know any place like that, Whamon?" Nora asked, looking upward.

"Yes, I believe I may know a path. In fact...if we were to use it as a means to escape...it may be able to shake off most of his followers that try to pursue," Whamon confirmed.

"Okay, so we got a sort of plan," Gyro nodded. "And if worse come to worse, we can use Gabumon's idea to add some footing for us."

"Though I don't think we should bank on that too much," Blake said. "Aside from ice being smashable, using too many of those would probably just tire him out."

"Not to interrupt, but we will be arriving at our destination soon," Whamon suddenly spoke up.

"Right. Thanks. We'll continue this discussion when we arrive," Agumon nodded.

* * *

"Huh...you know...this would be a pretty nice vacation spot...if we weren't being chased by a killer cyborg sea monster," Gyro mused as he reeled in a large fish. "At least food is plentiful."

"Well, we might as well enjoy the reprieve," Jaune sighed, pulling in a net full of fish. "Gomamon already had the Marching Fishes scatter to act as sentries, so we SHOULD know when they find us."

"And I've just about gotten all data on MetalSeadramon and whatever Digimon Whamon knows work for him. Once we've gotten that together, we should be able to formulate a strategy to fight him," Weiss added as she sat on Whamon's head, fiddling with her scroll.

"Alright, so besides Mr. I-shout-my-name earlier, who else works for him?" Pierce asked.

"Let's see…" Tentomon said, reading over his partner's shoulder. "MetalSeadramon's army is collectively called, ironically enough, the Deep Savers. Seems the brunt of them are comprised of Divermon. They're good at diving, but they're mainly mid-ocean depth Digimon, so if push comes to shove, we can always escape by diving deep into the ocean," he read. "That's...mainly it really. Sure there are plenty of miscellaneous aquatic Digimon, but those are the ones he'll most likely send after us since they have the best mobility."

 _Digimon Analyzer: Divermon_

 _Divermon. Data Type. A Perfect Level Aquatic Beast Man Digimon. A Digimon known for always swimming around in the Net Ocean, though unable to live in it's depths. It carries a harpoon known as Torrent with it everywhere it goes and uses a motor hanging off its back to move around quickly. Special attacks are Strike Fishing, throwing its harpoon to stab its opponents, and Hell Dive, leaping at its opponents after immobilizing them in some way to stab them repeatedly._

"Okay, aside from the part where the army sounds more like a rescue team...sounds legit," Veemon mused.

"And as for our local evil overlord himself...well, it seems his species is, unsurprisingly, designed for all terrain combat to a degree. Not to mention his armor is Chrome Digizoid, so that's going to be something we need to get around," Weiss frowned.

"But as we agreed, the Dramon Killers will be our trump card for this fight," Gyro nodded.

"So the bottom line is we gotta make sure he stays above ground, then keep his attention long enough for WarGreymon to slice and dice?" Yang summed it up.

"Pretty much, yeah," the others nodded.

"...eh, we've worked with worse plans," Yang shrugged.

"So I guess now we can only sit and wait…" Patamon frowned.

"Big trouble!" Gomamon suddenly surfaced.

"...well...that was fast…" Patamon sweat dropped.

"Don't need to say it, Gomamon, we're packing," Biyomon said as they quickly put all their equipment away, and soon loaded back into Whamon who dove down into the water.

"Okay, so first things first, we'll need to locate that spot you mentioned. Whamon?" Pyrrha said.

"Understood. I will get us there, while trying to lose as many of the Divermon as possible," Whamon said as true enough, there were Divermon approaching.

"Let's try to get a sense of where we are." Weiss muttered as she grabbed a cable hanging from the top of Whamon's stomach and plugged it into her scroll, just a few taps later, and she had a visual of what Whamon could see.

"How'd you think of doing that?" Chuumon asked, rather curious.

"The Digital World has very different logic compared to ours, so I just thought outside of my comfort zone." she said with a shrug.

"Okay, so from the terrain...hm...this isn't good," Pierce frowned. "Sure there's a lot of places to hide and evade, but lots of it is narrow too. That won't stop our enemies in the least."

"Not to worry, I know these waters well. I know how to maneuver these and I know where we can escape them if needs be," Whamon reassured.

"Alright, we're counting on you, Whamon," Nora nodded.

With that, Whamon soon made his way through the ocean. For something his size, he was moving quite quickly, but the Divermon were slowly but surely gaining.

"Seems like more enemies are joining in," Weiss frowned.

"More enemies, huh…" Agumon frowned...before an idea hit. "Hey, can we draw their attention more?"

"What are you saying?" Gabumon asked.

"Well...we DID have that plan to lose them in deep water right, so…" Agumon trailed off with a grin.

"If we gather a bunch together, we might be able to incapacitate them all in there! Nice idea!" Salamon grinned.

"Understood. I'll see what I can do," Whamon nodded, liking this plan too.

With that, he slowed a bit, but also purposely caused some damage along the way, provoking the Divermon.

"Tch! Don't underestimate us!" one of the Divermon growled, before looking to the others. "Call in the rest of the nearby fleet. Also alert Lord MetalSeadramon! We'll get them soon enough!"

That worked like charm, as it wasn't long before a rather large group was gathered, all of them chasing after the whale.

Seeing the large number, Whamon increased his speed again, and it wasn't long before they approached a large trench. "Hang on!" he told his passengers as he went for the trench, but slowing JUST enough so that the Divermon could get closer, several of them throwing their harpoons, while more grabbed on to their friends. However, that was when the trap was sprung, and Whamon plunged himself deep into the waters, carrying them for the ride...before their diving gear suddenly started to get crushed, the swarm struggling as they were met with unfamiliar waters, but Whamon kept going deeper until they couldn't take it anymore, pulling the harpoons out, and trying to resurface, but….too late.

"And that takes care of the Divermon," Weiss sighed, before looking up. "Sorry about the harpoons."

"Its fine, I honestly barely felt them," Whamon figuratively waved off.

"Well, don't celebrate just yet, cause the main event is coming our way," Tentomon cautioned, as true enough, by then MetalSeadramon was on their trail.

"Okay everyone, this is it," Gyro said, as everyone armed their weapons. "Whamon, we'll leave the last bits of this stage to you. Once we reach the surface let us out so we can handle the rest!"

"Understood!" Whamon said as he made a beeline for the path they were aiming for. The deep water made it impossible for Divermon to follow, leaving them with mainly just MetalSeadramon to deal with.

"Don't think you can escape me so easily! Ultimate Stream!" he called as he fired his attack, just barely missing Whamon and hitting part of the cliff instead, shaking several stones loose that fell in his path, but he simply crashed through them with no harm to himself.

Just as he was about to fire again, he noticed Whamon going into a hole within the cliff, eyeing it suspiciously for a moment as he scanned the area around him, and then realised where this tunnel would lead, contacting the rest of his troops near that area "Attention all soldiers! The Chosen Children are heading your way! Make sure to barricade them in while I pursue them!" he ordered, receiving a chorus of 'Yes Sir!' from his soldiers, before he followed into the tunnel.

On the other end of it, Whamon soon emerged, plowing through a small squadron of Divermon, taking a moment to open his mouth and let everyone out as they got onto dry land.

 **(Play Brave Heart)**

"Okay everyone, it's now or never!" Agumon shouted as the hunters readied their weapons.

"Right!" Everyone nodded as the Digimon didn't waste time Evolving, and before long, everyone was in their strongest forms.

MetalSeadramon soon burst out of the water, while the Divermon in the area soon reconvened around their master. "This is as far as you go, Chosen Children!"

"Our thoughts exactly. This ends here, MetalSeadramon!" MetalGarurumon growled.

"Only one side is walking out of this alive, and we'll do everything we can to make sure its NOT yours!" AeroVeedramon growled.

"Let's go!" WarGreymon shouted as he surged forward, and struck MetalSeadramon on the cheek, causing the larger Digimon to reel a bit, but his armor didn't have a scratch on it.

"I'm made of Chrome Digizoid. You won't hurt me THAT easily," MetalSeadramon smirked.

"Then let's try harder!" Yang said, as the Perfects on the team started opening fire, bombarding MetalSeadramon with their attacks, but the Dark Master seemed only mildly inconvenienced.

"Annoying gnats! Divermon!" MetalSeadramon ordered.

"Yes sir!" they all called out before throwing their harpoons...and they were aiming for more than just the Digimon.

"Whoa!" Jaune gasped, raising his shield to block several harpoons.

"Okay, this is a little different," Ren mused as he shot down several harpoons. "They've never really aimed for us deliberately before.

"Considering we're notably squishier than our Digimon? I'm surprised they didn't do this sooner!" Gyro growled, cutting through several harpoons with a blade of wind.

"Everyone!" JewelBeemon said in alarm, before his momentary lapse in guard resulted in him taking an Ultimate Stream head on, forcing him back to Wormmon, to which Ren caught him.

"Hey! Attacking our partners is a dirty trick!" Lillymon shouted.

"I don't think he cares!" Garudamon frowned.

"You got that right! Ultimate Stream!" he called out, shooting several more blasts, all of them aimed deliberately at the hunters, forcing their partners to take the hit, reverting Garudamon, Lillymon, Angewomon, and AeroVeedramon back to their Child forms in quick succession.

Another shot was fired, but this time HolyAngemon was able to quickly block it with the Heaven's Gate.

"We're your opponents, bastard!" WarGreymon growled angrily as he and MetalGarurumon started fighting him head on, the two Ultimates managing to hold him back a bit better, though the experience gap was still there.

"Divermon! Deal with them while I deal with these two!" MetalSeadramon smirked as he continued to fight against the two Ultimates.

"Yes sir!" came the responses as the remaining Divermon continued their attack...and it seemed more and more were coming, no doubt every last one of them heeding the call of their master.

"How many of these things does he have?!" Zudomon demanded as he just finished destroying several incoming Divermon underwater.

"Considering he rules the entire ocean? I'm gonna guess a LOT!" AtlurKabuterimon growled as he blasted more of them.

"Hold fast everyone! We'll get through this!" HolyAngemon said as several more were sucked into his gate. However, it was quickly becoming a borderline feeding frenzy as the three were hard pressed to keep the numbers down, leaving the ones that got through to start swarming the hunters, leaving them to have to fight back. Fortunately the smaller size of the Divermon made that MUCH more feasible, as one after another the Hunters struck them down. But more kept coming.

"How long do you think you all can hold out against my Deep Saver army?" MetalSeadramon smirked cruelly.

"As long as we need to! Cocytus Breath!" MetalGarurumon growled.

"Ultimate Stream!" MetalSeadramon countered, the two beams clashing, before MetalSeadramon smirked again and adjust his position a little before increasing the blast's intensity, overpowering the attack, forcing MetalGarurumon and WarGreymon to dodge...right before they realized WHERE the blast was aiming for.

 **(Song stop)**

"Watch out!" AtlurKabuterimon and HolyAngemon shouted, as they were forced to block the beam, the force reverting them, and even then the beam was still going, albeit much weaker then before, and was now headed right for the Hunters.

"Oh no you don't!" Yang growled and without thinking, she ran forward and punched the beam while firing Ember Celica. The end result was an explosion as she was pushed back, falling to her knees as her aura fizzled out, and the Ember Celica on her left hand sparked from the damage it took. Nothing that couldn't be fixed, but she wasn't going to be able to fight with it for now.

"Yang!" Ruby and Pierce said in alarm as they went to her.

"I'm alright," she sighed, but managed a tired smile. "You guys okay?"

"Are we okay? Are YOU okay?! You just punched an Ultimate's attack! Badass yeah, but REALLY stupid!" Pierce shouted in worry.

Any responses were stopped as they heard MetalSeadramon's laughter. "What's so funny?!" Ruby shouted, glaring at the Dark Master.

"Just how stupid you all are!" he laughed. "You keep fighting and covering one another, acting like its all going to make a difference," he smirked. "Well it's not, I'm going to turn this place into your graves and there is nothing you can do about it."

"Shut up," Yang growled, standing up and glaring at the sea serpent. "Like hell am I going to let you do whatever the hell you please! Not to my friends and not to anyone I care about!"

"Oh? And do you think you can stop me?" he smirked. "Once you are all gone, I think I'll sink that city you were all fighting Myotismon in," he said. "Heh, what do you know, Puppetmon was right. It IS fun to destroy things slowly for a change!" he laughed. "I'll enjoy watching as those humans clammer for a safety that doesn't exist!"

"Like hell you are!" Yang shouted. "I don't care if I have to go over there and beat you myself! We are NOT going to let you have your way again, not in this world, and not in our world!" by then her Crest had begun to shine, reacting to her desire to protect that which she loved, and now...it had reached its peak.

Her tag lifted up out of her clothes as her her body let of a red glow, a pillar of light shooting up into the sky as the tag shattered, the crest shooting into her body as the light all concentrated into her hand while her D-Core floated up from her belt, quickly grasping it as it turned into a D-Crest with a red grip.

"What… I can feel my strength coming back." Biyomon said as she got back up, feeling better than ever, before noticing what Yang was holding, her eyes widening as she went up to her partner.

"Ready to kick some serious butt, partner?" Yang grinned.

"Always," Biyomon nodded as Yang pointed her new Digivice at her.

 **(Song restart)**

The Crest of Love appeared on the glass covering as a massive beam of light was shot out of the screen, sending the Crest flying out where it soon absorbed into Biyomon.

"Biyomon, Warp Evolution!" she called out as she did a backflip, her body turning the same color as the Crest, before a beam of light shot out of her, which soon revealed Birdramon, who shot another beam of light, revealing Garudamon who soon repeated the process one more time. From the final beam of light, a new form emerged, an avian silhouette with four wings and what appeared to be a helmet on its head, before an inferno covered its form. The head emerged from the flames, revealing a golden helmet over the avian's head, Biyomon's blue eyes visible within as it let out a proud screech, four golden wings spreading the flames apart, revealing the rest of her body as flame like feathers appeared on the back of her helmet like hair, several tail feathers shaped like streamers appearing as well at the back while a pair of Holy Rings appeared on each of her ankles. She brought her wings in, before spreading them back apart as an inferno spread from her body, the Crest of Love appearing on top of her helmet. "Phoenixmon!"

A burst of flame rammed into MetalSeadramon's face, as he was pushed so far back he actually collided with a nearby hill, the flame dispersing to reveal Phoenixmon.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Phoenixmon_

 _Phoenixmon. Vaccine Type. An Ultimate Level Holy Beast Digimon. A Holy Digimon with four wings of gold, said to be the strongest of all avian Digimon. Those that see her fly into the sky claim that the sight is worth more than any amount of money. Her special attacks are Starlight Explosion, flapping her wings to shoot off her golden feathers which explode upon contact with the enemy and Crimson Flare, spreading a flame from her mouth that harms only those she wishes._

"Welcome to the Ultimate Club. You look great," WarGreymon grinned under his helmet.

"Happy to be here," Phoenixmon nodded, as the three of them turned to MetalSeadramon.

"Now let's make sushi out of this overgrown eel!" MetalGarurumon said as they charged forward.

"Do you really think this is gonna make any difference?!" MetalSeadramon roared. "Ultimate Stream!" he shouted, firing his attacks, to which the three evaded.

"Crimson Flare!" Phoenixmon countered, firing the flames, which exploded against MetalSeadramon, causing him to growl angrily, before lashing out with his tails to try and swat them out of the sky.

"Cocytus Breath!"

"Gaia Force!"

The only thing THAT attempt ended with was him getting a burnt and frozen pair of tails in the process. Growling again, he was about to lunge for them, but the next thing he got was the three of them ramming him in the gut with enough force to knock the breath out of him, sending him back into the water, where he was hit by another volley of missiles.

"Did that get him?" Jaune asked.

"Only one way to find out. Guys, unload EVERYTHING on him!" Gyro said before shouting to the trio of Ultimates.

"They've got him on the ropes! Nothing can stop them now!" Chuumon cheered from where they were on the shore...but that only earned him the horrified looks from the hunters and the Digimon. "What?"

As if to answer his question, MetalSeadramon burst out of the water, and went for the closest of the three, which happened to be WarGreymon, ending with WarGreymon forced to hold off MetalSeadramon's jaws apart. "Hell no! I did NOT survive this long to be your lunch!" WarGreymon grunted as MetalSeadramon tried to take a bite out of him.

"And this is why you don't provoke Murphy," Tentomon said as the Digimon gave the sheepish Chuumon a deadpan stare.

"Hang on, we're coming!" MetalGarurumon shouted...until a familiar form surfaced from the water, as Whamon came out and charged at MetalSeadramon.

The moment the two saw that, they gasped in horror. "No Whamon! Don't be a hero!" Phoenixmon shouted, but too late, as Whamon rammed into MetalSeadramon, allowing WarGreymon to get loose, but in the process, gaining his attention.

"You can't be serious!" MetalSeadramon roared angrily as he fired his Ultimate Stream. Time slowed to a crawl for everyone involved, the Ultimates even trying as fast as they can to stop the inevitable, but they were too far away, and could only watch helplessly as Whamon was shot through the head by the Dark Master's attack, their friend's pained roar hitting them like a cold wave.

"Whamon!" Everyone on the shore shouted in horror.

 **(Song Stop)**

"You're DEAD you bastard! Brave Tornado!" WarGreymon roared in anger as he initiated the attack, to which MetalSeadramon countered with his Ultimate Stream, but WarGreymon drilled right through the move, something MetalSeadramon noticed and tried to evade at the last minute. It was...mildly successful.

"YEAAAARRGGHHH!" the Dark Master roared as the attack plowed through his blaster, but his odd position meant that WarGreymon drilled through his right side, causing severe damage to his armor, causing parts of it to break off, as well as gouging his eye out in the process. MetalSeadramon crashed into the water, severely injured, but stubbornly clinging to life.

At the same time, the chosen had managed to reach the fatally wounded Whamon.

"Whamon! Hang on, we'll think of something!" Ruby said in panic, tears stinging at her eyes.

"It's… it's alright… you don't have to do the impossible for me… I've lived for long enough… I was likely on the verge of my own natural death anyway… so the fact I instead used what remained of my life to help you all… it makes me happy." Whamon said through his heavy breathing. "Good...luck...chosen...children…" he rasped. "I...know...you can...save...this...world…" he said, and before their horrified and tear filled eyes, breathed his last breath as his body started to fade away.

"No… please no…" Ruby pleaded as she fell to her knees, tears falling as Gyro crouched down and tried to console her "Why… why do our friends have to die? We're just trying to help… and they die for us." she sobbed, before lifting her head up and glaring at MetalSeadramon through her tears, her crest starting to glow… along with her eyes. "It's all because of people like you!"

"This is just the natural order of things…" MetalSeadramon growled as he glared right back at her as he raised his body back up "The weak die, and the strong live! That's how the world works!"

"You… you! I hate people like you!" Ruby screamed as her eyes glowed brightly, everyone caught off guard by that as they sent out a shockwave which sent MetalSeadramon crashing back into a hill.

"Ruby!" Palmon exclaimed, some worry in her tone as she staggered back to her feet and went to her partner in concern, the glow of her eyes soon dying down… but not that of her crest.

"I've made my choice. I won't ever let people like them do as they please ever again!" Ruby exclaimed, as the glow of her crest reached its peak and a bright green light exploded around her into the sky, Gyro having to let go of her in surprise and cover his eyes due to how bright it was.

Her tag slowly floated out of her clothes, before it shattered apart, leaving the crest behind as it then flew into Ruby, all of the light concentrating in her hand as her D-Core floated up, grasping it as the light went into it and changed it into a D-Crest with a green grip. "Palmon, let's fight together!"

"I'm always by your side, Ruby!" Palmon nodded as she stepped forward, Ruby pointing her D-Crest at her.

 **(Song restart)**

The Crest of Purity appeared on the glass covering, before the light exploded forth, sending it flying into Palmon, who turned the same color as the Crest. "Palmon, Warp Evolution!" she called out as she backflipped and released a beam of light, revealing Togemon who did the same, revealing Lillymon before she repeated the process one last time. From the beam of light a large rose bud was revealed, as it bloomed and from it emerged a curvaceous feminine figure with a flower covering the majority of her head, exposing only the bottom half of her face, though Palmon's dark green eyes glowed behind the petals for a brief moment, before thorny vines wrapped around her arms, growing out of a pink jewel that shined as it appeared around her neck, a long cape appearing on her back moments later, the Crest of Purity embroidered in it, before she backflipped into the air as the glow disappeared from her body, revealing her to be wearing a tight red bodysuit that exposed some of her stomach, long blonde hair falling out the back of the rose shaped helmet. As she landed, flowers suddenly sprouted all around her, turning the area into a beautiful garden as she cracked one of her vines like a whip. "Rosemon!"

"You'll pay for that!" MetalSeadramon roared, before several vines suddenly wrapped around him, and he was promptly tossed around like a rag doll, ending with a throw into the nearby water, where he carved a small trench in the beach.

"You have no right to speak of that after all you've done," Rosemon stated as she joined her fellow Ultimate level teammates.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Rosemon_

 _Rosemon. Data Type. An Ultimate Level Fairy Digimon. Known as the Queen of Flowers, Rosemon is well known for her beauty, which matches her strength in level. The Tifaret that shines around her neck is said to be the secret to her beauty, preventing her from growing old. Her special attacks are Forbidden Temptation, her body glowing along with the Tifaret as it unleashes several rose petals that can either act as an explosive or coalesce into a powerful energy wave, and Thorn Whip, attacking her enemies with an electrified whip covered in thorns._

"Got room for one more?" Rosemon asked in a half-joking manner.

"Always," the other three grinned.

"Now, let's end this!" MetalGarurumon said, earning nods of agreement.

MetalSeadramon groaned as he staggered up, and soon found himself faced with 4 VERY angry Ultimate level Digimon.

"What was that you said again? Oh right, the weak are supposed to perish," Phoenixmon glared.

"Well you're looking pretty weak to us right now," WarGreymon nodded. "Guess by your own rules it's time for you to go."

"W-wait!" MetalSeadramon said, backing up as for the first time in a very long time, he felt something he'd inflicted on others for so long. Fear. And the realization of just how screwed he was.

"No more waiting!" the four of them shouted.

"Thorn Whip!" Rosemon called out as her whip extended and wrapped around MetalSeadramon's body, stopping him from moving.

"For everyone you hurt and killed! Starlight Explosion!" Phoenixmon called out, bombarding him with her exploding feathers.

"For everyone you would have hurt! Garuru Tomahawk!" MetalGarurumon called out as a panel on his belly opened and a single missile fired, resulting in a large explosion against the Dark Master's body, tearing apart more of his armor.

"For Whamon! Forbidden Temptation!" Rosemon called out, her body glowing pink before a storm of flower petals impacted the now utterly battered Dark Master.

"And for anything else we missed!" WarGreymon finished, raising a clawed gauntlet. "Dramon Killer!" he called out as he swung his arm down, the Dark Master letting out one last roar of pain as he was cut in half, before shattering into billions of fragments of data.

 **(Song End)**

The four Ultimates panted as their anger slowly subsided, before flying back down to their partners "That's one down." WarGreymon said as he landed, reverting to Koromon a few moments later.

"Only three more to go." Rosemon finished, turned back to Tanemon a moment later, the other two Ultimates reverting back to Baby as soon as they touched the ground too.

As they were picked up by their partners, and Zudomon finally came out of the water, turning back into Gomamon in the process, they all turned to the ocean as it started to ripple, and was actually slowly disappearing, fading away into nothingness and leaving nothing but a void where it stood on Spiral Mountain.

"Well… we're on a good start… let's find the next one." Gyro said solemnly after a few moments, before they all started to leave the area, heading into the woods, and towards the next Dark Master.

* * *

Meanwhile, up at the top of Spiral Mountain…

"So...they've defeated MetalSeadramon," Piedmon mused as he watched from his telescope.

"Eh, that guy was all brawn and barely any brain anyway," Puppetmon waved off. "More importantly it's my turn next," he grinned childishly. "I can't wait to play with them. We'll be best friends forever!" he laughed before he left the stronghold, returning to his domain.

* * *

 **And that's the chapter!**

 **Yeahp, we get two more Ultimates already, in the form of Phoenixmon and Rosemon.**

 **I don't know if I've said it before, but if not, I will here.**

 **EVERYONE will reach Ultimate.**

 **Though I think the intro in the last chapter showed that off pretty well.**

 **Anyway, for now...**

 **The Adventure Evolves.**


	43. 42: A Dangerous Game! Cruel Puppetmon!

**Hello everyone, and welcome back!**

 **So, the chapter today is going to be pretty interesting.**

 **You'll see why soon enough.**

 **I won't say anymore, so enjoy.**

* * *

 **A Dangerous Game! Cruel Puppetmon!  
**

* * *

The sound of rushing water filled the area as the oceans, once controlled by MetalSeadramon, receded from Spiral Mountain, the Dark Master no longer holding power over it. However, that was the farthest from any of the chosens' minds as they were busy paying respects in front of a pair of makeshift graves they'd set up.

"I hope Piximon and Whamon manage to find peace after we defeat the other three Dark Masters." Gyro said after finishing his prayer.

"They gave their lives to help us. The only thing we can do now is make sure they didn't die in vain," Ruby said with a sad but determined expression.

"We should go soon too. The last thing we want is to be caught out in the open," Jaune said softly, looking at the graves one last time.

"Right," the others nodded as they soon made their way into the forest. Once they reached the woodlands, it wasn't long before it started to become thicker.

"Hm...if the seas were MetalSeadramon's, who controls the forest?" Patamon frowned.

"That would be Puppetmon," Chuumon supplied. "He rules the forests, while Machinedramon rules the city, leaving the wasteland and the powers of Darkness to Piedmon."

"Wonder if we'll ever find a place to rest here," Pierce sighed. "We've been doing well so far, but if we have to keep going non-stop…"

"Yeah...we'll burn ourselves out. MetalSeadramon was tiring enough alone…" Veemon nodded with a sigh.

At that, they continued on, hoping to find some time to rest… before noticing something strange. "Uh… is it just me, or is the scenery moving by really fast?" Nora wondered as she looked at the surrounding area.

Everyone blinked at her question, before looking around as they slowed down, then stopped moving… and the scenery was STILL rolling past them quickly.

"Um… that's not normal, even in our world." Salamon said after a moment.

"Neither is the fact we're standing on some kind of travelator built into the ground!" Gyro added as he had looked down and noticed the ground under their feet moving forward.

"This has got to be Puppetmon's doing!" Weiss shouted, remembering how childish that particular one seemed to be.

"Whatever the case, we shouldn't let him bring us to him! Jump!" Yang shouted, which they did...only for the section they jumped on to start moving as well.

"Okay, that didn't work!" Nora shouted. "Any other ideas?!"

"The trees! Get on the trees!" Blake said quickly, before they all grabbed hold of and climbed into the trees. The ground/travelator continued to move for a while, before finally stopping.

"It...stopped?" Pyrrha said with a frown.

"Either it was weight sensitive, or Puppetmon was controlling that…" Ren sighed. "It's possible he has a different approach compared to MetalSeadramon for how he controls his territory."

* * *

At the same time…

"Come on, where are they?" Puppetmon muttered as he stood in front of a TV, pressing the button on the remote and changing channels constantly, though instead of TV shows, it was various shots of the forest.

"Perhaps they aren't on the ground anymore sir?" A Kiwimon suggested, Puppetmon looking over at him, before glancing back at the TV.

"Hmm… that's possible yeah." Puppetmon said, before continuing to change channels, though now they showed high areas. "There they are!" he said, seeing them all in the trees. "Hm...this gives me an idea!" he grinned as he rummaged through a nearby toy box and pulled out a small chest with a set of dolls made in the image of the 10 Chosen and their Digimon. "Let's play a new game!" Puppetmon grinned as he looked to the floor...which was covered in a mat that was styled like the forest area he ruled. With that in mind, he placed the dolls in the spot the chosen in real life were on. Then the 'fun' began.

* * *

"Okay, so assuming he knows we're here...how do we counter that?" Salamon asked.

"There's gotta be some kind of blind spot…" Wormmon frowned.

"The question is, how do we fi-" Weiss was in the middle of saying before she suddenly vanished.

"What the?!" Jaune gasped before he suddenly vanished too.

"Okay, who has the b-" Gyro was cut off from his angry shout as he too vanished.

"What's going on?!" Koromon gasped in alarm.

"Its gotta b-" Tentomon started before he too vanished.

"Oh great, us too?!" Veemon said in annoyance before he vanished as well, quickly followed by Pierce.

"...here we go again…" Blake sighed, before she vanished, followed by everyone as well suddenly vanishing and reappearing, to the point it was like someone was shuffling them like a deck of cards.

"Well… this is an odd group." Pierce said as he had landed in a bush, and with him were Blake, Koromon and Salamon.

"Let's just hope we don't have to fight anyone too strong…" Koromon sighed.

"I wonder where everyone else ended up…" Salamon added.

"They should be fine...but this...could be a big problem…" Blake said as she looked around. No sign of the others near here at the moments.

Before anyone else could speak though, Blake was replaced by Ren, who wobbled a bit at his sudden displacement, before Koromon was then replaced with Tentomon.

"Ok, this is a bit silly right now." Tentomon said.

In another area…

"Gyro, evolve me quick!" Koromon said suddenly as he noticed Gyro was hanging from a tree.

One flash of light later and Agumon was standing there before Gyro was replaced by Jaune.

He had time to notice that Veemon was there, before the blue dinosaur was replaced by Biyomon "I found Yang for 5 seconds before she disappeared."

"Similar case here." Agumon said, before Ruby replaced whoever the fourth person was, not having had time to see who exactly they were.

* * *

Back at Puppetmon's base…

"You go here! And you go there! And you two go over there!" Puppetmon said in a singing tone as he kept shifting everyone around on his play mat which covered the whole floor.

He'd noticed how the Digimon that were in Baby form had turned back into Child, but didn't pay it much mind, it wasn't like they could hurt him right now after all. "This is so much fun!" he laughed as he started juggling several dolls, which happened to be the dolls for Gyro, Agumon, Yang, Biyomon, Jaune and Gomamon.

"I think I'm gonna be sick!" came Jaune's voice from the television, as the hapless six were being juggled in the air too, Jaune going green from air sickness, much to Puppetmon's amusement.

"Sir? Puppetmon sir?" Kiwimon spoke up.

"Yeah?" Puppetmon asked, abruptly stopping with his juggling...which sent the 6 dolls flying into a corner of the room, sending the six on the TV flying in that direction as well.

"Sorry to bother you, but we just received word that an 'odd disturbance' was picked up near Area R-51," Kiwimon reported.

"Oh? Well, go tell the Woodmon division of the Wind Guardians to check it out. If it's actually interesting, then let me know," Puppetmon said, waving Kiwimon off, who bowed and did as he was told. With him gone, Puppetmon looked at the mat again and realized what had happened to six of the dolls. "Aww...guess I can't play with them anymore," he said before shrugging. "Oh well," and continued toying with the remaining dolls. He switched the feed a few times, before stopping on one of the chosen children. The one with the stoic face. "Why's his face so serious all the time?" Puppetmon muttered with a raised brow, before grinning with an idea "I know, I'll make him smile! And if I do, he could become my friend and we could play stuff like cops and robbers together!" he grinned. "But first…" he quickly shuffled several of the dolls around again first before leaving his house.

* * *

"Glad that's over…" Ren sighed, feeling a little dizzy from all the switching. "So...where'd I end up now?" he blinked as he started to look around. So far it seemed whatever was shuffling them around had decided to stop...for now anyway.

He turned to the side as he heard someone hurl, before seeing Nora with her head in the bushes, walking up to her and patting her back "Upside down too many times?"

"Yeah…" Nora said from inside the bush "... I puked on my hands a bit."

Ren simply sighed before fishing out some tissue paper from his pouch, Nora's hand darting out and grabbing it before pulling it back into the bush.

After a few more moments… "Thanks…" Nora sighed.

"No problem," Ren smiled a little, before going back to being serious. "So...I don't suppose you've seen the others…" he frowned.

"Nope. We've been tossed all over the place I don't even know where in the forest we are," Nora shook her head.

"Well...looks like Puppetmon stopped whatever he was doing to cause this. The question is why?"

"Nothing good, probably," Nora nodded in agreement. It wasn't a stretch for them to figure out that Puppetmon had something to do with what had been happening. He DID rule this area after all.

"I found you~" Puppetmon's voice sang out from everywhere around them, the two drawing out their weapons and standing back to back as they looked around warily. The sound seemed to echo around them, forcing them to look all over...before he was suddenly there, having somehow gotten close without them noticing. The moment they saw him, they had their weapons leveled at him.

"Huh, those look pretty cool." Puppetmon said idly as he eyed their weapons "Here's mine!" He said as he pulled his hammer out from… somewhere, and actually swung it towards them.

...Except it was stopped in the air, and he actually recoiled back, when it collided with Nora's hammer "What? How did you do that?"

"Chrome Digizoid, duh." Nora said, rolling her eyes at him.

Puppetmon grumbled under his breath at that "I knew I should have gotten some for my hammer."

"Okay...so what are you here for? Decided to single us out?" Ren frowned deeply.

In response, Puppetmon pointed at Ren "You're going to play with me."

Both hunters blinked at his response, actually checking to see if their ears were clear and if they heard him correctly. "What the hell?" Nora questioned in confusion.

"Shut up, I'm not talking to you." Puppetmon said simply as he threw a ball of red… something at her, which exploded when it hit her and wrapped around her, trying her up, and even covering her mouth.

"Nora!" Ren shouted in alarm, before pointing Storm Flower at the Dark Master. "Let her go now or else…!" he threatened.

Puppetmon tilted his head at him "Or else what? I'm an Ultimate Level you know, you probably can't hurt me," he said, before adding smugly, "And on that note, I can't guarantee her safety if you don't listen to me."

Ren grit his teeth as he glared at the Dark Master, before putting away Storm Flower "Fine." was all he said.

"Great! Come on, let's go to my house and play. Today's game is cops and robbers. You can use your guns, or this one," Puppetmon said, before tossing him a submachine gun.

Ren caught it silently, only being slightly surprised at the actual weight, making him realise he was being given a real gun. "Its real," he said flatly.

"Of course! It's more fun when you might die for real!" Puppetmon laughed.

Ren maintained a straight face with much difficulty. It was clear that Puppetmon was just as, if not more, deranged than MetalSeadramon, though while the sea serpent had a more straightforward vicious side, Puppetmon had a more psychotically childish personality. "I see," he said simply, and when the Dark Master turned to leave, he could only give Nora a reassuring look before he followed after.

Nora tried to say something, anything, but the stuff binding her stopped her from doing that much. However, she knew she couldn't just do nothing. With that in mind, she soon rolled till she was on her belly, then started slowly inchworming to the forest. She had to find the others and tell them what happened.

* * *

Ren had been mildly curious as to where he was being taken, and thus he soon got his answer when Puppetmon brought him to a sizeable two story house that somehow reminded him like something out of a children's book. However, he knew it would be anything but. Especially with an owner like Puppetmon.

"So…" Ren started lowly as he followed Puppetmon before they ended up in a living room "Who's the robber?"

"You are, silly! Because cops have these!" Puppetmon explained before pulling a magnum out of somewhere.

"I see." was all Ren said as he gripped the weapon in his hands, a part of him wondering how idiotic Puppetmon was to give him a weapon with more ammunition than his own. Then again, the next question was how effective it would actually be on the Ultimate level Digimon, but he supposed something was better than nothing. Besides, a game like cops and robbers was a game pretty much anyone knew how to play...and that meant he just had to play smart. "Fine then," he said, before he darted off.

"Now we're cooking!" Puppetmon laughed as he soon gave chase, loading his weapon as he ran.

The chase that followed was rather intense. Whenever Puppetmon came close, he didn't hesitate to use the magnum to shoot him. However, when he found a good opening, Ren would counter using the submachine gun. He figured he might as well save his own bullets for now. On one hand he felt like he was holding his own pretty well. On the other hand…. "Hahahahah! This is really fun!" ….it seemed he was making the deranged marionette VERY happy.

Ren kept on running for several minutes more, eventually coming up on a room that was dimly lit, and in it were two Digimon, one shaped like a mushroom, the other like a flower with a row of sharp teeth, the two of them turning to him in surprise as they were playing cards.

Ren blinked in confusion, before shrugging it off as he ran in between a pair of shelves, giving a glare to the two Digimon that made the two look away quickly and understand the message.

Don't talk, or you'll be hurting.

However, a few moments later, Puppetmon came in. "Hey, did you see where my new playmate ran off to?" he asked.

"Oh, that scary guy? He's over by the shelves," the mushroom said.

"Right," Puppetmon grinned.

He walked towards the shelves, the floor creaking beneath him, it was too bad the game was over already, it had been fun while it lasted.

When he was just next to the shelves, he actually giggled a bit, before suddenly stepping in front of the space between, his weapon aimed at… nothing.

Puppetmon blinked several times in confusion.

"Huh?" Puppetmon oh so eloquently said, before turning to the two Digimon "Hey… he's not here."

"That can't be right. We just saw him go in," the flower with teeth said.

"Liars!" Puppetmon glared, before aiming his weapon and pulling the trigger at them, killing them instantly.

Puppetmon grumbled as he watched their data disperse, not even bothering to load it, before stomping out of the room.

A few seconds passed, before Ren stepped back out from the space between the two shelves, letting out a shaky breath, glaring ahead at the doors where he last saw Puppetmon.

He was glad his semblance had, surprisingly, managed to evolve further, leaving him capable of practically hiding in plain sight as it now seemed to affect the sight of others, making it so they didn't notice him, having proven helpful many times in the Digital World before.

But what he just saw right now, it angered him, to see someone kill off their subordinates for simply being wrong. Not just that, the sheer ease that Puppetmon did it at that...not even Myotismon was so bad as to kill his own subordinates for no reason. "I've got to get out of here, AND find a way to stop him from being able to control the forest," he frowned, as he activated his Semblance again, his body actually greying out. If it had evolved thanks to all the dangers he'd been in lately, then this could be his key to finding some information that could help the group.

With that, he started investigating the house, carefully going from room to room. So far the rooms seemed to alternate between the happy dreams of a child...and the happy dreams of a torturer/executioner, what with the rooms full of either toys or weapons. Of course, he soon realized that this was DEFINITELY an executioner's happy dream when he accidentally stepped on a toy that someone left in the hall, only for it to walk away for a bit...then promptly explode.

Unsurprisingly, that drew Puppetmon's attention, but he was quick to find a spot to hide, even with his Semblance on. After a few minutes of Puppetmon's futile searching, the confused Ultimate eventually went away, leaving Ren to be able to continue his little investigation. Another thing he seemed to notice was that there was basically nobody else in the mansion, a part of him getting uncomfortable implications considering what he'd seen so far. He HOPED the empty house was because most of the Digimon were smart enough to stay the hell away, but…

Shaking his head, he continued on, until he found a particular room. It was a room with a window, and what appeared to be another chest of toys.

What really drew his attention though was the play mat on the floor with small figures of all his friends… well, most of them. Gyro, Agumon, Yang, Biyomon, Jaune and Gomamon weren't anywhere from what he could see.

"What's this?" he frowned, looking closer.

"I think they might be how Puppetmon was moving us around," came Wormmon's voice from behind the toybox.

Ren simply blinked in slight surprise as his partner crawled out from behind the box, before offering his arm to climb on "Here, you might want to be in the range of my semblance."

Wormmon nodded, before climbing up to Ren's shoulder, his body becoming grayed out like his partner's own.

While everyone else had a harder time noticing Ren when his semblance was active, Wormmon could still see him clear as day, most likely because of their bond.

"Glad to see you're here, but how did you get here?" Ren asked.

"Well...I kinda saw you following Puppetmon earlier, so I followed. It was lucky that he didn't notice that he'd put me not far from the path you took, so yeah. I crawled into this room, and hid here every time I thought I heard someone get closer, but I at least figured out how he's been messing things up for us," Wormmon said, before gesturing to the mat, the dolls, AND the tv. "He uses that remote to control the various sections of the forest. I managed to trigger it in a way that I brought everyone back together...everyone except Gyro, Agumon, Jaune, Gomamon, Yang, and Biyomon. I couldn't find them anywhere in the forest, and their dolls aren't on the mat either…"

"That's...worrying," Ren admitted. "But more importantly, we can't let him keep using this or we'll never be able to counter attack."

"I thought the same, so I figured we should destroy these things," Wormmon said.

"Yeah, I agree. He should be far away enough that he won't notice so…" Ren turned to the mat, and started ripping out sections of it, while also taking the dolls away for good measure. At the same time, Wormmon picked up the remote and threw it into the tv, smashing the screen while Ren shot it with his weapon a few times for good measure.

"Now let's get out of here," Wormmon said, earning a nod from his partner as they both jumped out the window, and soon ran back into the forest.

Back in the house, Puppetmon was searching for his new playmate for a while...until he noticed one room door ajar. "Aha, there you are," he smirked, before going into the room, gun pointing...only to find that it was his control room with the playmat torn apart, the tv smashed, the remote destroyed, and generally the room had become a mess. "...so that's how it is…" he frowned when he finally realized what had happened, looking at the remains of his stuff. He looked out of the window, no doubt where they had run off with what could only be called cold anger in his eyes.

* * *

"We gotta hurry!" Nora said urgently as the rest of the group save the six who had been thrown into the air a while back, ran through the forest. After the group suddenly found themselves reunited due to conveniently moving ground, Nora was quick to tell them of what happened after she was freed, and the group was understandably worried. The idea that one of their own was with one of the Dark Masters….competent or not, that was going to be VERY dangerous.

The chase… barely had time to start "Everyone!" they all heard, making them turn to see Ren running up to them, his semblance long since deactivated.

"Oh thank Oum." Pierce breathed out in relief as they went up to him, Nora tackling him into a hug and almost sending him crashing to the ground.

"I'm glad to see you guys too," Ren couldn't help but chuckle from Nora's tackle hug.

"We managed to get away from Puppetmon, and good news, we destroyed how he was controlling us and the area," Wormmon spoke up from his spot on Ren's back.

"That's good, we've got a bit more freedom now… though…" Ruby frowned as she looked around "We're still missing a few."

"Well, he was using these to control us." Ren said as Wormmon passed him a small figure of himself "But I couldn't see the figures of the others, so it's possible he did something to them that put them further away."

"That's...not good at all. And you don't have any idea where they might be, do you?" Tentomon frowned.

Ren and Wormmon shook their heads.

"Didn't think so…" Palmon sighed.

"...so, what now?" Blake asked, turning to Ruby.

"I… I'm not sure." Ruby admitted with a frown "Maybe… we look for the others first? See if we can't find them?"

"About as good a plan as any right now," Patamon nodded. Search they did, going through the forest, while being careful to avoid being seen as much as possible. Never know who could be working for the Dark Masters after all. However…

"Hey...does anyone feel like we're being watched?" Weiss frowned.

"Yeah...and did anyone see something out of the corner of their eyes?" Salamon asked.

"Now that you mention it…" Ren frowned. I think I did see something in white out of the corner of my eye earlier."

"You too? I thought I was seeing things," Ruby said.

"Hey, I think I saw it too," Blake nodded.

"That...can't be a coincidence," Wormmon said.

"Do...you think it's an enemy?" Nora asked.

"We should be on our guard in case it is." Pyrrha said as she glanced around.

"Uh...guys…?" Gabumon said slowly, before pointing in a direction. Everyone looked at the direction he was pointing...before they saw what appeared to be the ghostly figure of a human woman among the trees. Somehow they could make out a small smile, and a 'come here' gesture before she seemed to float away.

There was silence amongst the group for several moments after that, before it was broken by Veemon "So… we all saw that… right?"

"I… I think we did." Pierce said after a moment.

"So uh….do we...follow it?" Palmon asked.

"...call me crazy, but somehow I think we should. And yes, every fiber of my brain is screaming 'NOOO!' at me right now," Blake sighed. "Anyone else feeling like that?"

Surprisingly...everyone was feeling the same.

"...okay, so either we're all instinctively knowing something...or we're under some kind of trick…" Ren frowned.

"Well...only one way to find out I guess," Ruby said, before slowly walking to where they saw the woman.

They kept following after the woman for several minutes, until eventually, the reached a rather large tree in the forest that was obviously hollow judging by the hole in the middle of it at the bottom, though as soon as the woman went into the hole, it started to glow.

"Ok… that's… something." Ruby said in confusion.

"So… whoever that woman was, she wants us to go in there… and it'll probably take us someplace else." Weiss deduced, honestly, it was pretty obvious if you thought about it a little.

"So...do we go in?" Patamon asked.

"...we might as well I think…" Salamon frowned, sounding unsure.

"...on three?" Veemon said.

"On three," they all nodded.

"One…"

"Two…."

"Three!" At that the group jumped into the portal.

They didn't know what to expect at first when the light faded from their eyes, but a white circular room probably wasn't one of those things.

The room was rather simple in appearance, though standing in the middle was a small pillar with several computer screens jutting out of it, a desk surrounding it with several keyboards on it, holographic screen floating above the keyboards, and slightly behind the group was small blue platform with the word EXIT written on it.

"What… what is this place?" Weiss voiced everyone's thoughts.

"Welcome, Chosen Children, to the Digilab." a woman's voice said as it's owner stepped around the pillar of computer screens.

The woman was decently tall, with short lavender hair that reached her neck, and lavender eyes behind a pair of glasses, wearing a white blouse, the arms and chest of it visible as over it she wore a sort of black dress and a pair of black pants underneath the dress, with lavender colors boots that reached to just underneath her knees, a clipboard in one of her hands.

"Um… who are you?" Ruby asked, not expecting to see another human here, well, what appeared to be a human.

"I go by many names, and in recent years, have come to like the name of Mirei Mikagura… but, I came into being under the designation Homeostasis, a sort of assistant to the great server, Yggdrasil." the woman explained simply, as if she wasn't revealing some shocking information.

"I'm sorry...what?" Pyrrha couldn't help but say.

The woman smiled in amusement. "I go by many names, and-"

"No no, we got that part loud and clear," Pierce said quickly, cutting her off, though she didn't seem the least bit displeased. "We're just trying to wrap our heads around the part where we're standing in front of Yggdrasil's assistant."

"I suppose that is understandable," she chuckled.

"So uh...which do we call you? Mirei or Homeostasis?" Ruby asked after a few moments.

"Hm...Mirei will do. While I don't dislike my original name, I've grown fond of that human-like name," Mirei said.

"Alright...so...you were calling us here. Why?" Wormmon asked.

"I have been trying to contact you ever since you're original arrival on File actually, but at the time, I was not powerful enough to establish a proper connection, nor did it help that Devimon's Black Gears were creating interference, and even on Server, Etemon's Dark Network hindered me. After that, you all returned to your world for several years, and I have been gathering my energy to instill my influence further onto the world, allowing me my own physical body, and while I waited for your return, well… I did have several other things to take care of." Mirei explained, ending it with a mysterious smile, obviously hiding some secret she found amusing.

"What kind of other things?" Palmon asked in curiosity.

"A story for another time." Mirei answered "For now, there are more important matters to discuss."

"Such as?" Ren asked with a raised eyebrow.

Mirei took a moment to adjust her glasses before answering "The reason why you are the Chosen Children."

"Uh...Gennai kinda...explained it to us," Pierce said, scratching the back of his head. "We all saw the fight, and we all had the qualities needed, and not to toot our own horns, but so far I'd say we've been doing good."

Mirei simply smiled at his words "True, but, he wasn't able to explain the full story now was he? After all, he doesn't know that the one that was given the task of choosing you… was me."

"Wait, you?" Pyrrha blinked in surprise, voicing their general thoughts.

Mirei nodded with her usual enigmatic smile. "Indeed. Let me show you," she said, as a number of screens appeared in the air, depicting each of them that night. "As you all know, you were all watching this incident all that time ago," she started. "And as you know, it was the catalysts to find the ones who would be the Chosen Children," she said as the screen showed a number of children, from a young blonde boy with a monkey tail, a black haired kid with hazel colored eyes and freckles, to even a very familiar white haired girl, which caused Weiss's eyes to widen, though she quickly realized it made sense, seeing as her sister had been with her when she saw the fight. Heck, even Azure when he was younger was among the candidates. "You 10 were chosen among all the candidates, as you all had the virtues needed, but not just that. I've been watching you all for some time now. As I saw you all grow, I knew that you all had what was needed to help a Digimon grow down the path that was needed," Mirei explained.

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked.

"Well, let us take you for example Ruby. Had Palmon been partnered to anyone else, her Ultimate Level could have easily been Lotosmon rather than Rosemon, in fact, her Child Level might not even have been Palmon, she could just have easily been an Alraumon." Mirei explained simply.

"A partner can affect even that much?" Ren couldn't help but say in surprise. He could understand the Ultimate levels, but for even the child level to be affected...they never thought the role they played was THAT significant.

"Indeed, the connection was established to your partners before you even entered the Digital World, and you helped shape their future, a prime example of this would be Gyro and Pierce helping Botamon to evolve into Greymon without the need for a Digivice." Mirei explained "It's a bit strange and convoluted, but the best way to put it would be you each had a connection to specific aspect of the Digimon without even knowing it. That aspect was known as 'Family' for the Digimon, though it's more akin to say, it's like the link that two lizards have together in that they are reptiles. For example, Gyro and Pierce both seemed to be linked to Dragon's Roar."

"Which would explain why me and Agumon evolve into that family tree," Veemon nodded.

"Once I had found all of you, preparations were made to confront the oncoming darkness," Mirei said, before she actually frowned. "However, it seemed the forces of darkness were more perceptive than we thought, and they soon took steps to try and prevent our efforts," she said, before the room soon changed.

A few moments later, and the group stood in a somewhat familiar room "This… looks like the gate room in Myotismon's castle." Weiss noticed.

"It isn't. The two rooms are simply similar, this was the first base of operations for Gennai's group, Myotismon's castle being the second." Mirei clarified, earning some nods from them.

As that happened, a group of people in familiar robes and hoods walked by. "I'm guessing these guys were the Order?" Pierce mused, before idly putting a hand through one of them, confirming that yes, it was just a hologram.

"Correct. These were the Order," Mirei said with a small frown.

"Yeah...we kinda got that something...bad...happened to them…" Blake sighed. "We know they died against the Dark Masters...that's what we're going to see, aren't we?"

"I'm afraid so." Mirei said, before snapping her fingers, pausing the hologram "There is something I think you would like to see first though." she said, as she guided them to another area of the room, till they reached a glass casing, and inside of it were Digieggs.

"These… their our partner's eggs, aren't they?" Ren asked as he looked a green egg with a purple leaf pattern on it, seeing a D-Core attached to it, and the Crest of Kindness right next to it.

"That is correct. This memory takes place shortly after you all saw that battle between Greymon and Parrotmon, back before the distortions in the digital world started getting out of hand." Mirei explained, before she snapped her fingers, the memory resuming, as the door into the room was blown open.

"Did the Dark Masters all come themselves?" Nora asked, before seeing various robotic Digimon running in and attacking the members of the Order.

"Yes, however not all into the same sector of the castle thankfully." Mirei said with a sigh. "This is the most important in my opinion," she said, as they saw the Order members being slaughtered. And not long after, Piedmon himself appeared in the room. Smirking, he went over to where the Eggs were kept, and destroyed the glass, before seizing the Crests and Tags.

"Wait, Piedmon's taking the tag and crests… how did Devimon get his hands on the tags? And how were the crests scattered around Server if the Dark Masters were sealed?" Weiss asked in confusion.

"The seal was constantly being attacked from the inside by the Dark Masters, and when an opening was made, they scattered them to the winds." Mirei explained easily.

"Well… I guess we're lucky they picked up the idiot ball and didn't keep hold of them then." Pierce said with a sigh.

"Indeed we are." Mirei agreed with a small laugh. "Now then, keep watching."

At that, they saw Gennai charging at Piedmon with a sword, making him move away, but not before moving behind him, and from the looks of it, was about to do something...had a gunshot not hit his hand, though that caused whatever he'd been holding to react strangely and go through Gennai's leg, causing the man to grit his teeth in pain.

Looking to the source, they saw...

"Mom!" Ruby said in mild alarm, seeing her mom...and a Taomon standing next to her.

"Huh...so Renamon was a Taomon back then...what happened to her?" Blake mused.

"You'll see shortly enough." was all Mirei said, before the group continued to watch, Gennai taking the chance of Piedmon's distraction to rush at a strange Digimon with a glass dome on its head, only to open it and pull a Bakemon from out of it and head towards the Digieggs and D-Cores, pulling all of them into the cockpit with him before closing it, as thankfully, Piedmon was occupied with Summer and Taomon. Despite being out powered, the two were holding rather well against Piedmon. But slowly and surely, they were losing ground. Inevitably, they were forced out of the base, Summer soon riding on another of those odd Digimon, destroying others so that Gennai could get away safely, while Taomon was floating before the base. Flipping through a number of hand seals and drawing a near countless number of characters, they could practically FEEL the power coming off of Taomon as a barrier began to appear around the base. The Dark Masters soon emerged from the now wrecked base, and they weren't going down without a fight. Summer did her best to protect her partner, but she was soon sent crashing to the ground, having been forced to evacuate from her stolen mech, leaving Taomon who had manage to JUST finish the seal in time, right as she was hit with an attack from Piedmon, sending her to the ground, where she degenerated into Renamon, both her and her partner lying unconscious as the seal solidified, trapping the Dark Masters inside the ruined base.

"Woah… that was definitely something." Salamon said after a moment.

"That was how the Dark Masters were sealed, and for all its worth, it performed admirably," Mirei said. "However, knowing that the day would come that evil would arise, we continued with the plan as best as we could. Finding a safe place for the eggs, they were cared for, and eventually…" Mirei said as the screen then showed the Eggs together on File Island, before eventually hatching, revealing the Digimon in their Fresh forms, all of them holding Digivices, and overtime, evolving to their Baby forms, the Digivices bouncing on their heads, before suddenly flying into the sky, and not long after...a group of meteors came down. They didn't need to think hard on what it was.

"Pause here for a second." Pierce requested quickly, Mirei doing so easily enough "Do you have the moment when we lost our weapons?"

"Indeed, though it's somewhat earlier." Mirei said as the hologram seemed to rewind on itself, this time following the group, until eventually she paused it on what they were all looking for…

"So, we were right, it WAS Devimon who took them." Pyrrha said with a frown as she saw their first enemy, managing to get their weapons away from them mere minutes after their arrival in the Digital World.

"Though...that begs the question why he didn't just kill us," Ren mused.

"It's an oddly common trend where evil Digimon are powerful and cunning...but sorely lacking in common sense," Mirei supplied helpfully, and somehow, they felt like she had SEVERAL examples in mind. "I mean, if they HAD any sense, Piedmon would have destroyed the Eggs, Cores, and Crests rather than take them, Etemon would have spent more time maintaining his Network, and Myotismon would have disposed of the theatrics and just end things rather than toying around," Mirei actually snorted in amusement.

"Jeez… when you think about it, it's a good thing none of our enemies have common sense." Nora said, shivering at the thought of how different things could have gone.

"I wouldn't be surprised if we end up eventually fighting enemies that DO have common sense." Wormmon said with a sigh.

"Let's worry about the enemies in front of us first," Tentomon sighed, but didn't refute that likelihood.

"Yeah, you're right," Patamon nodded.

"Now we just need to find the others and let them know about everything." Gabumon said.

"Worry not, I'll handle that part myself." Mirei reassured with a smile.

"But before that...why did you feel you wanted to show us all this really?" Veemon asked. Sure she'd said a lot, but he felt there was something else.

Mirei smiled a gentle and almost motherly smile. "I wanted you all to understand why it is I chose all of you, those who came before you...and so I could tell you all how proud I am of all of you. You have all performed above and beyond my expectations. That is why, no matter what happens next, no matter the hardships. Know that you are, and always will be the Chosen Children. The worthy ones who bear the virtues that will save our world."

* * *

 **And cue all readers who play the games going WTF**

 **Yeahp, Mirei is here, and she lives in the Digilab just like she does in the Cyber Sleuth games.**

 **I decided that since Homeostasis wasn't able to contact them at all, maybe it would try to work out a way of being able to do that, thus, it created an avatar for itself in the form of Mirei Mikagura.**

 **So yeah, and we also have the conformation that Devimon was the one to take their weapons when they first arrived, also, yeah, the villains in the series seemed to lack common sense at times.**

 **There was also a LOT of stuff hinted at in here that you may have missed on your first time reading, so don't be afraid to go back and give it another look and see if you can't figure it out, but DON'T post your findings in a review, PM it to me instead, but for now...**

 **The Adventure Evolves.**


	44. 43: Giant Warriors! Vikemon & GrandisKuw

**Well, this chapter ended up being a bit longer than we originally expected.**

 **Still though, it's pretty important, just as much as the last one, so I hope you'll enjoy!**

* * *

 **Giant Warriors! Vikemon & GrandisKuwagamon!  
**

* * *

"You know, when we find Puppetmon, who wants to turn him into a chair?" Yang deadpanned as the six of them had been walking for quite a while now, trying to find the rest of their group. So far zilch. After their impromptu juggling and flight, suffice to say they REALLY wanted to tear the marionette a new one. Literally.

"I'd pay to see that!" Chuumon said as he peaked out from Jaune's hood, reminding them he had been hiding there for the most part.

"I think we all would," Gomamon said. "But that can probably wait till after we get back to the others."

"I'm just glad Ruby, Palmon, Pyrrha, and Gabumon are with them. Two Ultimates are better than none when we're smack dab in the middle of a Dark Master's territory," Gyro sighed.

"Even then I'm sure they can handle it," Agumon said, earning a nod of agreement from his partner.

"Still, that aside, what Mirei just told us… it was pretty surprising." Biyomon said, looking up at the sky as she thought back on the conversation they had with the one who chose their partners just a few minutes ago.

"Doesn't help that I'm pretty sure there was stuff she wasn't mentioning. I don't think it was related to us specifically, but still… were there other humans who came to the Digital World before even Summer?" Gyro wondered, thinking back on Mirei's last few words to them.

"Somehow I don't think we'll be finding out anytime soon," Jaune sighed. "Still though, it was nice to know we'd been doing a good job," he smiled wryly.

"Let's not pat ourselves on the back just yet," Yang said, though she smiled at the memory too.

"Yeah, let's do that after all the Dark Masters are gone," Biyomon nodded.

"Question is...where do we go?" Gomamon asked. As if to answer his question, they saw something seemingly falling from the sky.

"...is that a meteor?" Agumon blinked.

"It...sure looks like it," Gyro said flatly, not sure what to think, but it wasn't long before the object crash landed somewhere a good distance away.

"...should we see what that is?" Jaune asked cautiously.

"I...think we should?" Gomamon tilted his head a little, all of them more than a little unsure what to do exactly.

"I don't see this ending well." Chuumon said nervously.

"Define 'ending well'," Agumon said dryly. "Cause so far most things have ended pretty badly in their own way," he said, referring to the explosion that separated them after killing Etemon, Vale being badly damaged by VenomMyotismon, and most recently, Whamon dying in the process to defeat MetalSeadramon.

"...fair point…" Chuumon conceded.

"Well, we have two Ultimates on our side, so whatever we run into, we should be able to manage it… hopefully." Yang said, before tacking on the last bit after a moment of silence.

"We'll have to be careful though, who knows what that was." Biyomon said as the group started heading towards the crash site.

However, before they could reach the crash site, they found something else. "Okay...wasn't really expecting to see him here," Yang admitted as they found Ogremon of all Digimon under a pile of broken branches and carrying some wounds on him.

"Let's just get him somewhere else and treat his wounds." Gyro said as they went up to the Digimon. Sure the last time they'd seen him was...less than ideal...but he did prove he wasn't quite as bad as he tried to make himself out to be, so...yeah.

As they were lifting him up to swing his arms over their shoulders, Ogremon groaned as he slowly opened his eyes "Wha… what's going on?"

"Nice to see you're awake." Jaune said as he was looking over the medical supplies he had in his pouch while Gyro and Yang carried the large Digimon.

"Wait… the Chosen Children? You're back? Why are you helping me?" Ogremon questioned in confusion.

"Well, that depends on how you want to look at it," Gyro said. "Take it as either us helping cause we can or helping cause we owe ya for some of those trees for our boat. Whichever sits better with you," he shrugged.

"Ah… I see…" Ogremon said after a moment, nodding to the explanation "How long have you been back?"

"Just about a day more or less, we already got rid of MetalSeadramon." Agumon said.

"Good… one down and only three more to go." Ogremon said with a sigh of relief, glad to hear one of the Dark Masters was gone.

"What were you doing here though?" Yang asked the large Digimon as they finally found a decent spot to place him underneath a large tree.

"I came with others from File Island. We were hoping we'd be able to deal with the Dark Masters ourselves." Ogremon grimaced after that "It… didn't go so well. We had to split up a while back, and I've been on my own since then, taking out some of their soldiers, since you never know how much of a difference one more or one less can make."

"Not a bad plan," Agumon nodded. "So who else was with you?"

"There was Andromon, Thundermon, Centarumon, Waspmon, some of the FanBeemon, Whamon and Leomon, we left Meramon on File to watch over it since he'd evolved into a BlueMeramon by then. And before you ask, no, my rivalry with Leomon isn't over, we just agreed it can wait till AFTER the Dark Masters are data dust." Ogremon explained.

"Wait, it's just a rivalry? I thought you wanted to kill Leomon?" Gomamon asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Kill- WHAT?!" Ogremon practically screamed "Why would I kill Leomon?! I just want to be stronger than him, not kill him!"

"But WHY do you want to be stronger than him?" Biyomon asked, curious about that part.

"Because everyone always says that us Ogremon are just idiots who can't amount to anything." Ogremon said bitterly "So I thought to myself 'Hey, if I can beat a strong Digimon, that'll make everyone shut up!' and while I would love to steal a SkullGreymon's femur like the first ever Ogremon managed to do, I'm not suicidal."

"Well… it's a decent idea, I'll give you that." Gyro said after a moment "By the way, I'm curious about something, do you know what happened to our ship?"

"Last I saw it was still docked at the harbor in File City, though the town has been relocated recently to the base of Mount Infinity, and we dug a canal that the ship moves along to reach the town, and the harbor is on a lake now." Ogremon explained with a shrug.

"Cool. Glad to know that, since we liked that ship," Agumon nodded.

"And done," Jaune said as he'd finished bandaging Ogremon's arm and putting it into a sling. "This is the best we can manage for now."

"Eh, its fine," Ogremon said. "Better than lugging a broken arm around anyway. I'm just glad my clubbing arm wasn't the one broken or I'd be in BIG trouble."

"Let's play~!" came a familiar and VERY unwelcomed voice.

"Me and my big mouth," Ogremon groaned, realizing he'd probably just invoked murphy with his last words.

"I'm more curious to know how the heck you found us so fast!" Gomamon groaned as all of them turned to a tree where Puppetmon was standing.

"Well, my entire Woodmon platoon just vanished, so I figured something fun had to be around, so here I am," Puppetmon chuckled. "So then, let's play 'Riddle me this'!"

"Alright, fine, give us your riddle, but if we answer it, you get out of here!" Gyro growled, his hands wanting nothing more than to grab Ascalon.

"Okay, what's really annoying, and is about to disappear?" Puppetmon grinned.

Gyro glared at Puppetmon for a few moments, knowing what the Digimon considered the right answer, and in that case, decided to go for broke "Your stupid, retarded grin!" he shouted, before adding, "Blast him!"

The group didn't waste any time as they unloaded their moves on him, even Ogremon pitched in with his own move. Unsurprisingly, Puppetmon evaded easily, but that was the opening they needed to get some distance.

"Okay guys, Ultimate time," Yang said as she and Gyro moved to grab their D-Crests, but then…

They heard a… well, Gyro would call it a cry of courage or something of the like, essentially a Tarzan shout, but it was the voice that was doing the shouting that made them pause.

"Wait a second…" Gyro said with narrowed eyes, the voice sounding familiar.

"Who the heck is that?" Jaune said as they looked around the area, before catching a glimpse of something moving beyond the trees.

"It's… ME!" a VERY recognizable voice shouted as they landed on a tree branch.

"Oh for fuck's sake." Yang groaned.

"Not him again." Agumon added.

"Didn't Pierce and AeroVeedramon waste this guy already?!" Gomamon glared.

"Who the heck are you?!" Puppetmon demanded.

The figure chuckled. "Don't you know a superstar when you see one?" he grinned, revealing himself to be….Etemon. Only unlike before his body was a metallic gray with a notably more well developed physique, while the Monzaemon doll on his waist was now that of a WaruMonzaemon, and on his chest was written Strongest in Japanese. "Now applause, applause!" he grinned his usual cocky grin as he clapped his hands...and funnily enough producing the same sound as one of those monkey toys carrying cymbals. After a few moment he stopped and looked at them. "It's been awhile, Chosen Children."

"So… let me guess, it's MetalEtemon now?" Gyro asked after a moment.

MetalEtemon laughed, showing off his solid gold teeth "Someone's a smart cookie! That's right, I'm all new, all improved, and heavy metal!" he said while striking several bodybuilder poses.

 _Digimon Analyzer: MetalEtemon_

 _MetalEtemon. Virus Type. An Ultimate Level Cyborg Digimon. Once again, this Digimon is still the self proclaimed King of Digimon, now with a fully metalized body of Chrome Digizoid. He is a powerful fighter who uses underhanded tactics to win a battle, having several skills that can embarrass his opponents. His special attacks are Number One Punch, a powerful strike that can easily crack a diamond and Dark Spirits Deluxe, calling down dark lightning to strike down his opponents._

"How the heck did you come back?!" Jaune groaned.

"I'm glad you asked," MetalEtemon said, before turning around, and pulling out a microphone and stand from...somewhere. "It's a story that will have everyone listening in tears~" he said in a singing tone as his usual song started up somehow. "After my battle with AeroVeedramon, I was sucked into a black hole as you all know. Inside the underworld, my body was broken down and regenerated over and over. Man it was horrible. But I managed to survive without dying completely, and do you wanna know why? Cause all I could think about was how much I wanted to get you brats back for making me go through that! After I finally became MetalEtemon, I made my grand return to this world on this very day!" he grinned as he started 'singing' again. "All so I can get my revenge~! My deep hatred and anger let me return to this world~"

"I see it hasn't done anything for your singing skills," Biyomon groaned.

"Is it finally over?" Ogremon asked, looking like he was ready to go deaf from how horrible that singing was.

"Thankfully." Yang said with a sigh, not taking her eyes off the monkey in case he tried anything.

"Now then…" MetalEtemon started before cracking his knuckles with a grin "Where's the other kid and his Veemon? I'm gonna start with them."

"Uh… he knows!" Jaune said quickly as he pointed at Puppetmon, who blinked at the action.

"Huh?" was all he could say before having to jump back as MetalEtemon landed in front of him.

"So, you know where the others are, do you kid? In that case, show proper respect to your elders and hand the information over before I have to discipline you." MetalEtemon said, his grin still in place.

Puppetmon growled "Hey! I'm not a kid!" he said, before hitting MetalEtemon with his hammer… in the shin.

"Hey! Watch it!" MetalEtemon yelped as he hopped in place, grabbing his shin "That stung you little brat!"

"Slowly… slowly now… their focused on each other." Chuumon whispered as the group slowly inched away from the area to let the two Ultimates duke it out.

Once they were a good enough distance, they ran full tilt. "Nice thinking there Jaune," Gomamon said with a grin.

"Yeah, now what are the odds they'd actually kill each other?" Jaune said.

"...eh, I wouldn't hold my breath," Yang shrugged. "Doubt we'd get THAT lucky."

"True. So plan to deal with them later," Biyomon nodded.

* * *

"Alright, so we're in agreement?" Ruby asked, earning nods from everyone. Despite their current situation, they knew that as long as Puppetmon controlled the area, they wouldn't be safe, especially their teammates who had been separated. With that in mind, and after much discussion, they'd come to the conclusion that the best way to handle this now was to take the fight to Puppetmon, preferably removing him from the equation as soon as possible.

"Alright then, since we know where Puppetmon's house is, our first order of business should be to either assault and defeat him there, or if he's not around, assault and secure it," Weiss said. "Based on what Ren told us, there aren't many if any Digimon there, so odds are resistance will be minimal."

"Though we can't forget about the 'toys' Puppetmon has lying around…" Pyrrha added, idly shivering a little at the mental image of a house full of toys meant to kill things...and Puppetmon thinks that's 'fun'. REALLY puts into perspective the kinds of sickos the Dark Masters are.

"Basically, don't touch anything." Gabumon said with a nod.

"Unless we're positive about the way it works of course." Tentomon added, earning another nod of agreement.

"Alright then, I guess we should get going as soon as we can," Veemon said. However…

"Hey...were those roots always covering the path?" Nora asked, as everyone turned to where she was looking and noticed that the path had been blocked by an abnormal amount of roots, branches, and bits of plants.

"...no it wasn't…" Blake frowned, as everyone was soon back to back.

"Careful everyone, it might be the enemy," Wormmon said.

"Anyone see anything?" Pierce asked.

"No, whatever it is, we can't see it! But seems like its controlling the plants!" Palmon said, as true enough, the trees around them were moving, vines, branches, and roots growing and moving at an unnatural rate.

"Then we'd better take out the source!" Patamon said as he started to fly upward to try and see if he could see anything. However…

"Cherry Bomb!" was heard as small projectiles flew at Patamon, who narrowly ducked back down and avoided them.

"Okay...who uses that attack?" Ren asked, to which Weiss quickly flipped through her Scroll.

"Here it is! Cherrymon!" she reported, right as said Digimon emerged from within the trees… showing it was also a tree, albeit one with leaves acting like a mustache and glowing yellow eyes peering through it's bark, with six arms, and walking with a cane in hand, though the cane didn't seem to be needed as it had several root like legs.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Cherrymon_

 _Cherrymon. Virus Type. A Perfect Level Plant Digimon. Known as the Lord of the Deep Forest, it is a wise Digimon that has lived many years, capable of tempting those gullible enough to heed his words. His body is able to produce a mist that catches those within inside an illusion, with few managing to escape. His special attacks are Cherry Bomb, flinging the small cherries that grow in his foliage, letting them explode upon contact with the enemy, and Vine Frenzy, shooting out vines from his foliage that attack enemies as if in a wild frenzy._

"So we meet at last, Chosen Children," Cherrymon said. "Your journey ends here."

"Right, like we haven't heard that one before." Pierce said, rolling his eyes as he drew Pandora, the others drawing their own weapons as well.

"Oh, I intend to deliver," Cherrymon said, before snapping his finger, before the sound of buzzing could be heard, as from the surrounding trees, a small swarm of large bees appeared, though they were a bit similar to a moth as well, and they were obviously an evolution of Kunemon judging by the similar appearance.

"That's Flymon, avoid the stinger at any cost." Weiss said seriously after a quick check.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Flymon_

 _Flymon. Virus Type. An Adult Level Insectoid Digimon. A Digimon capable of flying at high speeds, it's buzzing is said to be capable of numbing the senses when they are in large enough numbers. Its body is protected by a hard shell, and when it catches its opponents in its talons, it strikes them down with it's stinger. Its special attack is Deadly Sting, shooting off its stinger at its enemies, and any Digimon struck by it will be poisoned and slowly die._

As if in response to her words, several of them fired their stingers out, forcing them to dodge, to which several hit some nearby trees….which rotted almost immediately.

"...okay, NOT getting hit by that…" Salamon sweatdropped.

"Don't need to tell us twice. Evolution time?" Gabumon said.

"Evolution time," The others nodded as the hunters grabbed their Digivices. However…

"Wait!" Pierce suddenly said. "Ruby, Pyrrha, you and your partners better stay on the sidelines for now."

"Huh? Why?" the four of them blinked.

"We're about to fight one of the Dark Masters after this. You guys need to save your strength for the main course," he explained.

"He's right. When it comes down to it, you four are our best shots right now," Weiss nodded, understanding the logic.

"We'll handle these guys for now," Nora said with a grin, one the Digimon all matched as well.

However, just as they were about to evolve…

"Nitro Stinger!" was heard in the sky as several shots of some kind rained down on the Flymon, quickly deleting them and leaving burns on the ground.

"The heck?" Pierce blinked in confusion before looking up at the sky, seeing a yellow dot quickly zooming down.

"Is that where those shots came from?" Veemon blinked, as the source soon came into view.

"Hey, isn't that a CannonBeemon?" Palmon said when they could see the Digimon in question.

It looked like a large robotic bee with a cannon replacing its stinger, carrying something that looked like a cross between missile pods and the walls of a hive on it's back.

 _Digimon Analyzer: CannonBeemon_

 _CannonBeemon. Virus Type. A Perfect Level Cyborg Digimon. A Powerful Digimon that takes his role as a guardian of the skies seriously. The pods on his back carry a large amount of various weaponry, most of which though are rocket launchers, which he uses to rain down hell on his enemies. His special attacks are Nitro Stinger, firing several rapid bursts of energy from his main cannon, and Sky Rocket Infinity, unleashing it's full ordinance on it's enemies._

"You will not harm the Chosen Children!" CannonBeemon declared, before opening fire on more of the Flymon, deleting them.

"What?! How did you know of our plan?!" Cherrymon growled.

"Let's just say a little bird told us," came another voice, as another figure descended. "Turbo Stinger!" the figured called out, firing several rapid shots, hitting the roots and opening a path. "Go!" the figure which soon revealed itself to be a Waspmon shouted.

"I won't allow it!" Cherrymon growled.

"Yes you will! Royal Nuts!" another voice called out, before a number of egg-like objects hit Cherrymon, causing him to grunt in pain, while CannonBeemon and Waspmon soon made short work of the remaining Flymon.

Moments later, a Deramon ran out of the bushes, followed by a Floramon and some other Digimon, like a few Woodmon and a Vegiemon, at the same time as CannonBeemon and Waspmon floated closer to the ground.

Cherrymon narrowed his eyes when he looked at Deramon "So… it was you wasn't it?"

"What gave you the first hint?" Deramon growled "This is what happens when you take away my tavern! Royal Nuts!" he called as he shot the egg shaped seeds right at Cherrymon's face. "Hurry!" he shouted at the Chosen.

"Well, you heard the bird. No point in fighting an unnecessary battle," Blake said, to which they all ran through the opening, while the attacking Digimon covered their tracks, peppering Cherrymon with attacks that left him unable to stop them before soon running as well.

"They got away…" Cherrymon growled. "To think they would betray Lord Puppetmon so easily…" he frowned. He was angry...but strangely intrigued by this.

* * *

Meanwhile…

"Drill Nose!" Puppetmon growled as he ran forward with his nose spinning like a drill.

"Banana Slip!" MetalEtemon countered, causing Puppetmon to slip on the banana peel. "Had enough, kid?"

"Not even close! Bullet Hammer!" Puppetmon countered, forcing MetalEtemon to dodge.

"Is that all? At least try to make me fight," MetalEtemon taunted...before he suddenly slapped himself. "What the-?!"

"Alright, you'll fight then, but yourself!" Puppetmon said with a laugh as he used his strings to control MetalEtemon's body, and to him, there was only one logical course of action… "Stop hitting yourself! Stop hitting yourself! Stop hitting yourself!" he laughed as Etemon started hitting himself in the face. After a few moments of this, the monkey was thoroughly dizzy, to which Puppetmon eventually cut the strings. "Bored now. I'm going home," he said as he walked away.

"Wait...what about the Chosen Children…?" MetalEtemon tried to get to his feet after falling to the ground.

"Oh that? Obviously that other one was lying. You were just stupid enough to fall for it," Puppetmon shrugged before walking away.

"S-seriously?!" MetalEtemon groaned at that, before falling on his face thanks to the beating he'd ended up dishing himself. "I'll get them for this…!" he seethed as he felt his anger rise up again and soon pushed himself up to his feet. With that in mind, he started swinging into the forest again, intending to beat those kids into the ground when he found them.

* * *

"Think we're far enough?" Jaune asked.

"We've been running for a while, so...probably," Gyro nodded.

"Still, that was pretty sneaky back there, pitting them against each other. Nice," Ogremon chuckled. "I'd say I didn't think you had it in ya, but then again, you DID threaten to drown me that one time, so guess those are your fangs showing."

"You'd be surprised at how easy it is to trick idiots." Jaune shot back.

Ogremon blinked for a moment, because for some reason, that almost felt like an insult directed at him. Eventually he decided to shrug it off and just assume the idiots were Puppetmon and MetalEtemon. Sides, he was in no state to pick unnecessary fights.

"Now then, we should think about what to do when we encounter one or both of them again," Agumon said. However, just as he did, a familiar Tarzan call was heard.

"...well that was annoyingly fast," Yang deadpanned.

"Makes you wish we had full Chrome Digizoid weapons instead of just a coating." Gomamon groaned.

"Then I'll dice him like an onion," Agumon deadpanned. "WarGreymon's armor is Chrome Digizoid."

"We'll help," Biyomon and Gomamon both said in response. Yeah...they all weren't in the mood for MetalEtemon's nonsense. However, just before they could turn to fight, a trio of figures suddenly appeared from the vegetation, and before any of them could say anything, they were grabbed and tossed onto the back of the lead, figure, who soon sped off, leaving a bewildered MetalEtemon who was just in time to see that.

"...da heck just happened?!" was all he could say.

Ironically enough…

"Okay...what's happening?" Yang blinked from how fast that just happened, as the group now found themselves on the back of a saber toothed tiger… that had a lion's mane. Flanking it where a panda walking on two legs with a red scarf around its neck that was dragging Ogremon along by his hair, and an almost weasel like creature with pink fur, sickle shaped hands, and a mane of blue hair behind it's head.

"Well...we just got pulled away by these guys," Biyomon said. "And so far they don't seem hostile."

"Considering they're pulling us AWAY from MetalEtemon...seems like it," Gyro said. "Though...doesn't this guy right here seem...familiar to you guys?"

"I'd contribute to this… but I'm too busy being RAGDOLLED RIGHT NOW!" Ogremon raged as he kept bouncing off the ground while being pulled along.

The group was moving for a while, before finally they came to a stop in what appeared to be a small town in the middle or just outside the forest area. "Huh...seems like this would have been a nice place once upon a time," Gomamon mused.

"Not really," Jaune deadpanned as he pointed at a familiar building.

"...you're right. I take back what I said…" Gomamon agreed flatly at that. The building his partner was pointing to was...Digitamamon's diner.

"Well, the good thing we can take out of this, it looks completely run down, so I doubt he's here." Gyro said after a moment.

"Good point," Jaune nodded, before they turned to the Digimon that brought them here.

"So...seeing as you guys got us away from MetalEtemon...you guys friendly?" Yang asked.

"You could say that," the sabertooth said. "It's been a while, Chosen Children," he said as the three of them were covered in light and in their place were Leomon, Dinohyumon, and Grizzmon.

"You guys?!" Gyro blinked in surprise. Not actually expecting to see the latter two as well.

"Leomon! Oh man, I can't believe I'm saying this, but it's good to see you again!" Ogremon said, relief obvious in his tone.

Leomon chuckled "And it's nice to know you were able to survive on your own Ogremon."

"Who are you two though?" Biyomon asked as she looked between Dinohyumon and Grizzmon.

"Gyro, Pierce, Veemon and I met them on the Lost Island where we fought against some of Myotismon's followers, meet Dinohyumon and Grizzmon." Agumon introduced the two Adult Levels, who smiled in amusement.

"Nice to see you again Gyro." Grizzmon said with a nod.

"It's too bad the kids aren't with us, they would have loved to see you again." Dinohyumon added.

"So, those forms you guys took were your Perfect Levels?" Yang asked curiously.

"Well… it's the case for the two of us." Grizzmon said as he nodded at Dinohyumon.

"But blondie here reached Ultimate." Dinohyumon finished with a grin as he pointed at Leomon.

"As amusing as this is, let's at least talk inside." Leomon said flatly, before turning to the diner and walking in.

* * *

"Thanks for the assist," Veemon said as they were now in another clearing, the Digimon that helped them gathered around them.

"Huh...didn't expect to see you again. Thanks again for the drinks last time," Ren said, looking at Deramon, honestly not expecting to see the random bartender they'd met a while ago back when they were separated.

"Eh, stuff like that happens at times," Deramon shrugged. "At any rate, boy were we glad to hear you'd all returned," he said, before gesturing to some of the other Digimon in the clearing. "Up till now we've been forced to work for Puppetmon or die, but now that you're all back, we've decided to rebel."

"Lemme guess, if you didn't pretend to be his friends, he'd delete you?" Pierce asked knowingly.

"That's pretty much it yeah." Floramon answered with a nod.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Floramon_

 _Floramon. Data Type. A Child Level Plant Digimon. A Digimon that exists as a strange mix of reptile and plant, the leaves on her head act like a hard helmet to protect her from overhead attacks. She can spread her roots underground and use them to listen from far away. Her special attack is Allergy Shower, spraying pollen from her arms which induces an allergic reaction to anyone that breathes it in, no matter how powerful they are, hindering them in fighting._

"I can easily believe that." Ren said with narrowed eyes, thinking back on what he had seen earlier.

"Good thing we were nearby as well, now we can really land a hard hit on that psycho kid." Waspmon said, and the chosen all blinked as they looked at him… and FINALLY noticed the red scarf around his neck.

"Wait… you're the FanBeemon who gave us a tour of the base back on File, aren't you?" Pyrrha asked in realisation.

"That's me!" the Waspmon practically chirped, confirming that yes, it was him. "I know what you're thinking 'wasn't he a worker?'. Well...after the thing with the Dark Masters, times change, and the hive needed more warriors so...I volunteered," he said simply. "A bunch of the others also did the same so there are a lot more Waspmon now around the hive."

"Then...this guy is?" Wormmon looked at CannonBeemon.

"You're the Waspmon we met back in File, right?" Ren guessed.

"That is correct. In order to better protect the hive AND the island, I fought hard and eventually reached the Perfect level," he nodded. "However, while not ideal, the hive is secure for now, so the two of us decided to come here to try and put a stop to the Dark Masters. Understandably that has been rather...difficult."

"Well, the level gap has been a big factor in that, so yeah..." Waspmon added.

"Well, we have four Ultimates of our own on our side, though we only have 2 on hand, since the others got separated from us." Ruby said, earning a nod of understanding from CannonBeemon.

"Right, I figured you must have had at least one since you defeated MetalSeadramon already." he said simply.

"So...anyway, we were planning to go and beat Puppetmon before Cherrymon got in our way," Nora said. "Wanna join in?"

"Yes! Oh Server yes!" the Digimon in Deramon's group all said. At the same time. With a borderline maniacal look in their eyes.

"Ooookay...repressed rage...we can work with that…" Pyrrha said as they all sweat dropped.

"So...onward to Puppetmon's house?" Patamon asked. The answer he got was the Digimon suddenly pulling out war flags...which depicted axes with Puppetmon's head underneath. Yeaaaah….they'd been wanting this for a LONG time. With that in mind the group was now marching towards the Dark Master's home.

* * *

"Well, this place sure has seen better days," Yang couldn't help but comment at the dump that was once a popular diner. Though she and Biyomon were careful of the wording they used since they remembered that this was a bit of a sore spot for Jaune and Gomamon. Then again, she doubted anyone would want to remember a time they were tricked into borderline slavery.

"Well, let's pull up some chairs. I get the feeling we might be here for a while," Jaune sighed, as he and Gomamon idly cleared up some debris to make space...only to blink when they removed some of it to reveal 2 pairs of eyes. They blinked. They eyes blinked. Then the owners of the eyes started screaming.

"No!" Gyro snapped, shutting up the screaming. "That's a hilarious trope otherwise, but mind the volume! We'd rather not attract one of the two Ultimates trying to kill us."

"Who's even down there?" Biyomon asked as she peered into the hole.

The eyes blinked again when they saw her "Miss Biyomon?"

Biyomon blinked in confusion "Do I know you?"

"I-It's us!" one of the two hidden Digimon said, before crawling out of the hole and revealing themself to be Gekomon, and the other Digimon with him to be Otamamon.

"Oh hey, you're from the castle aren't you?" Yang realised.

"That's right! It's so great to see you here again." Otamamon said in obvious relief.

"Are the others here too?" Biyomon couldn't help but ask, but quickly regretted it when she saw the glum expressions on their faces.

"We were scattered in the chaos. When the Dark Masters took over, the formation of Spiral Mountain tore our castle apart…" they said sadly.

"Harsh…" Agumon frowned in sympathy.

"Well...if you guys want, you can come with us," Gyro suggested. "We're gonna be fighting the Dark Masters, but we might as well stick together for safety."

"You'll let us?" they asked hopefully.

"The more the merrier," Gomamon grinned...before he was bowled over.

"Thank you thank you thank you!" they cheered.

"Glad you're happy," Jaune sweat dropped before moving to get them off of his partner.

Leomon cleared his throat after a few moments "Now that the matter has been settled, I believe we were going to have a discussion here."

"Right, well… first some bad news you should all know, Whamon and Piximon both sacrificed themselves to help us." Gyro said somberly.

Leomon looked down at that, nodding solemnly "I see." was all he said in a quiet tone.

"Then we must make sure their sacrifices were not in vain," Dinohyumon growled, slamming a hand on the table.

"Yes, until the Dark Masters are dead, peace will never return to this world," Grizzmon nodded in agreement.

"On that note I think we're all on the same page," Ogremon. "But we should also remember about that jerk Etemon. To think he'd come back," he commented.

Leomon nodded. "It would be prudent to deal with MetalEtemon soon as well. While he isn't a Dark Master, his designs would be similar to theirs."

"Fortunately after our little trick, I doubt he's gonna be buddies with the Dark Masters anytime soon," Gomamon smirked, earning a few chuckles from the ones who were there.

"What kind of trick?" Dinohyumon asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Jaune made him believe that Puppetmon knew where Pierce was, even though he probably doesn't." Agumon said with a laugh.

"I see." Dinohyumon said with a small smirk "Clever trick."

"Even if he knows it was a trick, his pride won't let him ally with the Dark Masters now," Grizzmon smirked. "Not after he picked a fight with one."

"But on that topic, the main issue is this," Gyro said as he pulled up the analyzer on MetalEtemon. "His body is now Chrome Digizoid. We'll need to get through that first."

"WarGreymon's armor is made of Chrome Digizoid, so I should be able to break it," Agumon said.

"And if needs be, Zudomon's hammer is also made of Chrome Digizoid," Gomamon added.

"Okay, so we got weapons that can harm him. So what? We take him out as soon as we can?" Ogremon asked.

"Well...yes," Gyro admitted. "But I doubt it'd be THAT easy."

"We should think up possible plans as well." Yang suggested as she started up her own analyzer "What are the names of your evolved forms?" she asked as she looked at the trio that got them away from MetalEtemon.

"Well, I turn into Pandamon." Grizzmon answered simply.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Pandamon_

 _Pandamon. Data Type. A Perfect Level Puppet Digimon. It keeps a straight face and has a rather blunt personality, prefering to be straight and to the point. Despite its simple appearance, it is a powerful Digimon, most opponents usually lowering their guard to mock it before being defeated. Its special attacks are Animal Nail, attacking the foe with claws hidden in its hands, and Bamboo Punch, striking the enemy with a powerful hit that somehow summons up leaves on contact._

"My own Perfect form is called Kyukimon." Dinohyumon continued.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Kyukimon_

 _Kyukimon. Virus Type. A Perfect Level Bewitching Beast Digimon. A Digimon that can manipulate the wind around it into sharp blades able to leave scratches on even the toughest of Chrome Digizoid armors. It's said to be the source of strange tornadoes that can appear out of nowhere. Its special attacks are Blade Twister, spinning around and creating a small tornado that launches blades of wind at its foes, and Trinary Star, the blue star shape on its head shining and blinding the enemy, leaving them open for attack._

"And my Ultimate Level is SaberLeomon." Leomon finished.

 _Digimon Analyzer: SaberLeomon_

 _SaberLeomon. Vaccine Type. An Ultimate Level Ancient Beast Digimon. Said to possess explosive mach speed power, SaberLeomon is easily capable to run faster than the wind. His sharp claws and fangs are rare instances of a Digimon possessing a natural coating of Chrome Digizoid, though they are not indestructible. His special attacks are Nail Crusher, smashing his powerful claws into the enemy and tearing through any armor with ease, and Infinity Arrow, hardening the hairs in his mane and firing them off like small darts._

"Well, that last bit is convenient," Agumon blinked.

"I doubt I'd do much besides break my claws if I attacked him head on though, unless of course he was weakened first." Leomon added with a slight grimace.

"Right, so we should use one of the oldest tricks in the book when dealing with him," Jaune nodded.

"What's that?" Gomamon asked.

"Make a crack so we know where to apply the pressure," he said simply.

"Probably easier said than done, but definitely a viable option," Yang nodded in agreement.

"Sounds like a good as any plan unless anyone has any other ideas," Grizzmon commented.

"Melt him down could be an option." Gyro said with a shrug after a moment, glancing at both Agumon and Biyomon.

A Nice combination of Gaia Force, Crimson Flare and wind from his semblance might just reach the melting point for Chrome Digizoid for all he knew.

"Morbid...but sounds highly effective," Dinohyumon nodded. They couldn't afford to be picky at these times.

"I'm glad I'm on your side." Chuumon said with a shiver.

"Trust us, the world we came from needs us to be this way at times," Yang sighed, before shaking her head. "But anyway, it's agreed. Be it making a crack or melting him, we'll do what it takes to beat him. And in the off chance Puppetmon shows up too, go for option 2. He's made of wood, afterall."

"... I don't know what it says about us that we'd love to see one of the Dark Masters burn." Gekomon said after a short moment, Otamamon nodding in agreement.

"It says you're pissed the heck off at them." Gomamon answered simply.

"Our home was destroyed, our friends are Server knows where, and we've been on the run ever since. What do you think?" the two deadpanned.

"I'm thinking we DEFINITELY got more party members," Biyomon chuckled awkwardly.

"And I think we might have to make use of one of those plans," Grizzmon growled, peeking out one of the windows, to see a familiar monkey coming into the area.

* * *

"Alright, there's the house...wow, you weren't kidding when you said it looked like something out of a children's book…" Blake commented with a sweat drop at the end.

"Well… I guess it makes sense since he acts like a little kid." Patamon said after a moment.

"You know, if he was a human or a faunus, he'd probably be one heck of a case study for a psychiatrist." Pierce said idly.

"Huh… kinda weird when you think about it that way." Nora said in response.

"Well, as interesting as that might be, sadly we will be depriving the world of psychology of another certified whack job to work on," Weiss said flatly. "Any objections?"

"None!" several shouts came as a bunch of the mon that came with them ran forward...suddenly with a battering ram they made from a tree.

"...they DO know he doesn't bother to lock his doors, right?" Tentomon blinked, that little tidbit from Wormmon earlier while preparing had been… enlightening as to how smart the Dark Master was.

"I don't think they care," Ruby sweat dropped, as the door to the house was broken down in one charge. "But they have the right idea I guess. Charge!"

With that they ran forward, only to stop when an explosion happened, and the battering ram team was sent flying back, dazed and a covered in soot, but alive.

"Didn't anyone teach you to knock?" Puppetmon asked with an annoyed frown as he came out of the door, looking more like that one neighbor who keeps getting unwanted guests.

"Of course he's home when we try this." Salamon groaned.

"We DID spend a good few minutes on planning alone." Palmon added next to her.

"Whelp, no choice I guess. Let's smash him AND the house!" Nora said.

"Oh? So you want to play? Fine then, let's play a new game!" Puppetmon smirked, before he jumped up on the roof and got into his 'control room'. "Take this!" he said, as the door suddenly closed shut, followed by several windows and hidden compartments opening to reveal a number of cannons and guns.

"Yeah, somehow, we saw this one coming, didn't we?" Veemon asked dryly, honestly not surprised, before everyone answered in the affirmative. That was as far as they COULD get, before the cannons started firing, forcing everyone to back off.

"Okay, we need to take out those weapons. If we don't then we're the ones about to be blasted sky high," Pyrrha frowned.

"Should we go Ultimate now?" Gabumon asked.

"Yeah, I think now is a good a time as any," Ruby nodded.

"Alright then, go all out everyone!" Blake said as they grabbed their Digivices and Crests.

Everyone quickly evolved, and were soon facing off against the house. Now...normally one would think with like 7 Perfects, 2 Ultimates, and a number of other levels here and there, one house would be a simple matter. However, it should be noted that said house was built by one of the most childish and insane of the Dark Masters so…

"Da hell is this house MADE of?!" AeroVeedramon demanded as MetalGarurumon had opened with a salvo of missiles...and the house was STILL standing instead of being a pile of rubble. Heck, it was now returning fire.

"My guess, which is pissing me off just to admit it, Chrome Digizoid." Angewomon said with a groan as her arrow didn't even scratch the building.

"You'd think a house would be easy, but no, it just had to be tough." AtlurKabuterimon muttered under his breath in annoyance.

"Like it?" Puppetmon laughed. "I had Machinedramon help me build this house! It's made of the toughest material he could find, and some of the hardest wood in the area!"

"...that explains a lot…" JewelBeemon deadpanned.

"I swear, if he says the wood is called Adam Wood, I quit." Pierce muttered, knowing how tough that would be.

"Huh...how'd you know what the wood we used was?" Puppetmon blinked. "That stuff is super rare."

The best way to describe Pierce's expression at this point… would be 'done with this shit' "A house… made out of the same kind of wood that the Oro Jackson and Thousand Sunny are made from… never have these next words been so true: KILL IT WITH FIRE!"

"With pleasure!" the Digimon growled, though more in annoyance at Puppetmon's smug look, and opened fire.

"Let's try some Fire Dust!" Weiss said, before handing some of it to the others who made use of Dust Cartridges.

"Let's see how well this would work," Ren nodded, before they opened fire. Sure there was some fire...but then a sprinkler system came on and doused the fire...which wasn't THAT much to begin with…

"Okay...this is gonna take a while…" HolyAngemon frowned.

"Is that it? Boooring," Puppetmon sighed. "Here, I'll let you play with these guys too!" he said, before the ground in front of them broke and out of it crawled out a small army of Digimon. Honestly, they looked very much like Vegiemon but with red bodies, and instead of it's vine like arms being simple, they turned into spiked clubs near the tips.

"Let me guess, these are RedVegiemon?" Ruby asked dryly.

"Got it in one." Weiss responded just as dryly as she looked at her Analyzer.

 _Digimon Analyzer: RedVegiemon_

 _RedVegiemon. Virus Type. An Adult Level Plant Digimon. Compared to Vegiemon, this Digimon boasts a lot more power in its body, though that is still only on the Adult Level. It's more intelligent than its yellow counterpart, being far more cunning in battle. Its special attack is Hazard Breath, spreading a stink gas from its mouth._

"Get them! Get them!" Puppetmon laughed as the RedVegiemon charged forward. He didn't for a moment think they'd be able to actually beat them, but at least they'll slow them down more.

"Okay, this is SERIOUSLY annoying!" Rosemon growled, knocking aside a RedVegiemon, before grabbing one with her whip, and in a moment of annoyance, threw it back at the house. The RedVegiemon flew through the air...and lodged into one of the cannons which promptly misfired.

A moment of silence descended on the fight, everyone looking at what just happened...before the attacking group looked at the RedVegiemon with the most vicious smirks ever.

"Uh...is it too late to surrender?" one of the RedVegiemon asked lamely, before well…

"...seriously?" Puppetmon actually deadpanned as the attacking Digimon were soon on his RedVegiemon like a school of piranha, grabbing as many as they could only to throw them at the house, causing more of his larger armaments to misfire when they got clogged. "Well...at least I still got the weapons they can't clog up," he mused...right before several more explosions happened, as they'd started aiming for those weapons, destroying them.

"You know, isn't it just funny in a strange way when the bad guys practically GIVE us a way to beat them?" Nora laughed as she sent another RedVegiemon flying into one of the remaining cannons.

"Honestly? It kind of is," Pyrrha chuckled as MetalGarurumon froze another armament solid.

"Less talking, more smashing!" AeroVeedramon laughed as the last of the weapons was destroyed.

"Now come on out Puppetmon! Your house is out of tricks!" Waspmon said.

"Your end is nigh, you overgrown plank!" Deramon added.

"Out of tricks, eh? We'll see about that," Puppetmon chuckled, before he jumped up to the attic...revealing it was some kind of cockpit, and started flipping a few switches.

Pierce twitched when he heard a certain… sound, coming from the house "No…"

They all watched as parts seemed to be moving around through the various windows, bits of machinery coming together.

"No, no, no…"

The house at this point seemed to be rising upwards out of the ground.

"No no no no no no! FUCK!" Pierce finally shouted, because towering over them… was a giant robot made from the house.

"Forest Master Transformation!" came Puppetmon's voice from the robot. "Puppetrobo!" he finished before laughing his usual laugh. It was clear he was looking forward to using his new toy.

"...well...you always DID want to have a giant robot...too bad it's not us using it," Blake couldn't help but say. "Don't worry though, it's not like you tempted fate or anything," she said, giving a pointed glare at Waspmon and Deramon, both of whom were looking away sheepishly.

"This would be sooo cool...if it weren't about to try and stomp us…" Ruby admitted.

"Well...get ready everyone. We've got our work cut out for us…" Weiss said as they all stood at the ready.

* * *

"Oh Chosen Children~ come out come out wherever you are," MetalEtemon grinned as he looked around. "Now...where could they be, I wonder~" he smirked...before running to the diner, as it was easily the best place to take cover, and promptly smashed open a wall...with his body. "Heeeeeere's MetalEte-!"

He didn't get to finish as he was met with a Dramon Killer to the face, sending him flying back out.

"You didn't SERIOUSLY think we weren't expecting that again, did you?" WarGreymon smirked as the group stepped out of the Diner.

"You made a BIG mistake coming after us again," Gyro said.

"Yeah, cause now we're gonna send you back to hell, and this time you're STAYING there," Yang said, cracking her knuckles, though she was only wearing one of her Gauntlets. The other one was unfortunately still in need of repairs so she put it away for now.

"Let's go everyone!" Leomon said, earning sounds of agreement from his companions.

"Leomon, Warp Evolution! SaberLeomon!"

"Dinohyumon, Super Evolution! Kyukimon!"

"Grizzmon, Super Evolution! Pandamon!"

"I don't need a fancy evolution to kick your butt!" Ogremon said, swinging his club around.

With that, the four of them charged forward.

"Blade Twister!"

"Bamboo Punch!"

MetalEtemon saw the two attacks coming and smirked, before just flexing his muscles as the attacks hit, sparks flying from where they hit, but not causing him any damage. "Nice try, but my body is Chrome Digizoid!" he laughed as Pandamon continued punching him and Kyukimon continued trying to cut through the metal, before eventually knocking them both away. "Nothing can harm me now!" he laughed.

"We'll see about that! Fist of the Supreme King!" Ogremon shouted, launching his attack using his right arm, while his club was secured on his back.

MetalEtemon just smirked before letting the attack hit. No effect.

"Nail Crusher!" SaberLeomon followed up. However, once again Etemon just flexed and let the attack hit, pushing him back a bit but it didn't seem like that attack hurt much.

"I told you already, I'm invincible!" he laughed.

At the same time, Jaune had been watching the whole thing, before going over to his fellow hunters and pulled them closer. "You guys thinking what I'm thinking?"

"That MetalEtemon's let his new powers go to his head? Yeahp." Gyro nodded.

"Considering he didn't even bother evading SaberLeomon's attack, yeah, I think it's safe to say he's on a power high," Yang agreed.

"So what's the plan?" WarGreymon asked, having stayed behind in case MetalEtemon tried anything.

"We feed that ego of his and THEN we strike," Jaune said.

"Oooh, so we make him feel even MORE invincible, then we crack his ego AND that coating. Nice," Gomamon and Biyomon said in approval.

"But for that to work, we need to get him a bit more...emotional," Jaune said, before turning a little. "Chuumon? We'll need a bit of help."

"Huh?" Chuumon blinked.

Back at the fight…

"Are you all stupid or something?" MetalEtemon laughed as the attacks hit, but weren't doing significant if any damage.

"Cheese Bomb!" came Chuumon's voice as a hunk of cheese was suddenly thrown at MetalEtemon.

MetalEtemon almost casually caught the attack, and looked at it in amusement. "Seriously?" he laughed. "Are you so desperate you'd resort to throwing food at me? Oh well, I suppose I could go for a bite," he laughed...right before the cheese exploded in his face. Unsurprisingly he was fine. Though his sunglasses were a little cracked and his face rather sooty from the explosion. "...you die first, rodent."

"Okay...now he wants to kill me. What now?" Chuumon gulped.

"For now? Get him to be careless," Jaune said, before turning to MetalEtemon. "Hey banana brain! Your songs sound so bad, it breaks glass then makes it break more!"

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" MetalEtemon roared, before he soon ran towards Jaune, who did an about face and ran. "COME BACK HERE SO I CAN RIP YOU IN HALF!"

However, right as he was running, he was hit in the face when a clawed gauntlet and a hammer suddenly got in his way, causing him to do a rather impressive back flip.

"You should watch where you're going. You could get hurt," Zudomon taunted, while WarGreymon snickered.

"Why I oughta-!" MetalEtemon started, but didn't get to finish as Phoenixmon promptly landed on his face, looking very much like a bird just casually perching on something, completely ignoring the muffled and outraged cries of the monkey.

"Is it wrong I'm enjoying this plan so much?" she snickered rhetorically.

"NOPE!" everyone else laughed, all of them enjoying this plan a bit more than they probably should.

Eventually MetalEtemon had enough, and Phoenixmon was forced to get off when he basically threw himself off the ground. "Okay, that's it! No more mister nice monkey! Dark Spirits Deluxe!" he shouted, and everyone was ready to dodge. However, what they DIDN'T expect, was for not just one bolt, but several bolts of the attack coming down in a barrage, knocking everyone around.

"Okay...that wasn't part of the plan…" Yang groaned from where she'd been thrown a bit.

"Yeah...I think we all figured that much," Ogremon groaned in agreement.

"Now then, as I was-" MetalEtemon started, but stopped when he felt something hit the back of his head hard, causing him to see stars for a bit.

"Who said we were done?" Zudomon managed to say, though he seemed rather winded, seeing as he'd taken a good hit while protecting Jaune and Chuumon who were under him. Thank the Server his shell was nice and hard.

"We're still standing too," Jaune said, inwardly gulping thickly as he knew the monkey would come for him, as he switched his weapon to bastard sword mode. With all the stuff MetalEtemon had been taking, maybe, just maybe, this was the chance they needed to make a crack in his armor.

"You'll be regretting that real soon," Etemon smirked as he walked towards them. However, just as it looked like he was going to go up close and personal... he smirked. "Dark Spirits Deluxe!"

"Wait, what?" Zudomon and Jaune gasped, having fully expected MetalEtemon to do things up close and personal like he'd always done before.

"What? You didn't think I'd not realize you kids like to pull shit on me? I figured you wanted me to get close for some reason, so no dice!" MetalEtemon laughed as the lightning came down, only with MUCH greater intensity.

"No!" SaberLeomon shouted, before jumping forward, blocking the attack with his body. Time seemed to stop for everyone when the attack hit, the only they could hear was SaberLeomon's roar of agony as the attack nearly pierced right through him, but his body held, leaving him to fall on the ground next to Jaune and Zudomon, reverting back to Leomon.

There was shocked silence on the battlefield for a moment, before it was replaced by MetalEtemon's laugh "What an idiot! He was already hurt and he takes one full one! Can you get any dumber than that?!"

And then the others saw red.

"You bastard!" WarGreymon roared in rage as he flew straight for MetalEtemon. Something the others soon followed, even Zudomon.

As for Leomon, the hunters and Chuumon were quickly by his side.

"Dammit, no!" Gyro growled, the only wound Leomon had was a burned patch of skin on his back, so any damage done to him was internal, reducing their options at the moment.

Leomon groaned as he tried to lift himself up, only to fall back on his face, his breathing ragged "I suppose… this is how it ends."

"Do NOT say that damn phrase!" Yang said, her eyes red, angry at MetalEtemon, and probably something else, but she wasn't sure what else right now.

"We are NOT losing another of our friends to monsters like HIM!" Gyro added.

"No...it's alright. I know you all can win. You can save this world and restore it to how it should be. Don't worry about me, I will return to the Primary Village of File Island, and some day we'll surely meet again…" he said, his voice getting weaker.

"No! Just… FUCK no! We aren't losing you!" Jaune shouted, actually surprising the others with his rare cursing. "Enough innocent Digimon have died already. I am NOT going to let you join them!" he shouted, and at that moment, his body started to glow, both with his aura and with the light of the Crest around his neck.

"This is…!" Gyro's eyes widened when he remembered the white glow coming from Jaune's aura, and he soon felt a grin form on his face. Jaune had just activated his Semblance. "Jaune!" He said, catching his fellow blonde's attention "Place your hands over Leomon's wounds and focus your aura there. Don't question me and just do it."

Jaune was surprised at the command, before doing as told, and finally noticing how his body was glowing, but putting that aside and closing his eyes, focusing on the spot where his hands were, trying to will his aura there… for whatever reason, it… was working?

He opened his eyes in confusion, staring at where his hands were, moving them away ever so slightly to see that the burned patch of skin was slowly fading away. "What's going on right now?"

"Your semblance." Gyro answered "Volume 5 revealed it finally, it's something a few fans have called Amplify, since your aura works as a natural boost to other people, so right now, you're enhancing Leomon's natural regenerative abilities."

"I am?" Jaune blinked, more than a little surprised at what he was capable of, but he didn't stop. He didn't stop until every last part of it was gone, and though still in a bit of pain, Leomon soon got to his feet, his wound gone.

"I… I'm still alive?" he said in confusion, he was ready to simply fade away and let his data reconfigure, but it seemed that's not how things would go.

"Yes, now please, sit back, despite being healed, you aren't in any shape to fight." Gyro said.

"I'll make sure he doesn't move from here." Chuumon said as he jumped up to Leomon's shoulder, getting an amused look from the lion.

"Uh… not to break the moment… but Jaune's still glowing." Yang said, as they looked back to Jaune, who was indeed still glowing, but now it was coming from a very specific spot.

"My crest?" Jaune realise as he pulled it out, the crest glowing a bright light. "Why is it glowing like this?" he blinked, not expecting that to happen.

"Well, you weren't going to let Leomon die no matter what. Heck, you wanted to save him so much you activated your Semblance, and I dunno about you but I don't know what's more reliable than saving a life on the brink," Yang said with an encouraging grin….right before a punch was heard, and Gomamon came rolling towards them.

"Oww…" Gomamon groaned, having been knocked out of his Perfect form.

"And I think it'd be REALLY reliable if you helped Gomamon reach Ultimate about now," Gyro added half jokingly.

Jaune blinked, before letting out a small chuckle and nodded. This was what he always wanted. He wanted to help people, to be there for them when they needed him...and now, he was going to do just that. With that realization, the light coming from him turned a gray-ish color, before a pillar of light erupted, the Tag soon shattering to reveal the Crest of Reliability which soon entered his body.

"Can I go Ultimate now?" Gomamon managed to ask in his usual tone, though the excited grin showed how he really felt.

"Sure thing, buddy," Jaune nodded, before grabbing his D-Core, turning it into a D-Crest with a grey grip, and pointing it at Gomamon.

 **(Play Brave Heart)**

The crest of Reliability appeared on the glass covering, before a beam of light erupted from the D-Crest, flying in the air before entering Gomamon, who turned the same color as the Crest, and did a backflip. "Gomamon, Warp Evolution!" he called out, releasing a beam of energy, revealing Ikkakumon who turned and did the same, revealing Zudomon who repeated the process one more time. The light covered the scene to reveal a new form, the body being large and covered in thick fur all over save for his hands, several belts wrapped around his forearms with one around his waist that held a loincloth, a pelt of some kind hanging off his shoulders, his tusks were still present coming out of his mouth, but they were hard to see through all the fur on his upper lip, almost looking some form of mustache. The area around him then shifted slightly, becoming underwater, as a pair of round shields appeared on his shoulders, each of them sporting the Crest of Reliability, followed by a viking helmet appearing atop his head, and finally, a pair of large maces on his back, attached to each other by a chain, and each sporting a hole at the bottom. Then his body gained color, his fur a bright snow white color, his hands black, his fur pelt beige, and when his eyes snapped open, they were the same green as Gomamon, before he let out a roar that reverberated through the water, as it suddenly flash froze, before shattering apart from his maces being fired off from their handles, as if they were rocket propelled flails, retracting them shortly as he stood proudly among the ice and snow and punched his fists together "Vikemon!"

"Whoa...who's he now?" Yang asked.

"Hang on...here it is. Looks like he's Vikemon now," Gyro said.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Vikemon_

 _Vikemon. Vaccine Type. An Ultimate Level Beast Man Digimon. With fur as hard as Chrome Digizoid, Vikemon is known to several as The Frozen Warrior, making his home in the coldest environments of the Digital World. With the morning star known as Mjollnir on his back, he can destroy even the largest mountains in a single swing, the shockwave capable of rattling dimensions. His special attacks are Arctic Blizzard, flash freezing his enemies before smashing them to pieces with Mjollnir, and Viking Axe, striking his foes with glowing punches that freeze whatever spot he hits._

MetalEtemon growled as he was stuck fending off multiple attacks, though since he'd managed to knock out Kyukimon, Pandamon, and Ogremon back, he at least only had to deal with WarGreymon and Phoenixmon. Though both were starting to be a problem. "Give it up already! No way you can be-!" he didn't get to finish as something hard and metal slammed into the side of his face, sending him tumbling away.

"No, we can beat you anyday of the week!" Vikemon growled as he walked over to join his friends.

"Wanna do the honors?" WarGreymon offered.

"With pleasure!" Vikemon growled before shooting out his morning stars again, smashing into MetalEtemon, causing him to skid back, and so focused was he on them he didn't notice the small crack in his armor.

"You all are REALLY getting on my nerves!" he growled. "Number One Punch!" he jumped forward, but was stopped when Vikemon merely turned to the side, while WarGreymon brought up his Brave Shield, Etemon soon stumbling back after his punch failed to break through. However, he didn't give up and tried again.

"Viking Axe!" Vikemon called out, striking the ground, causing it to freeze, and causing MetalEtemon to slip and fall on his butt on the ice.

"What the heck? Of all the days I forgot my ice gear!" he grumbled as he tried to get up. However, this gave Gyro and idea.

"Guys, what happens when you heat then cool metal REALLY fast?" he said. The three of them blinked, before their eyes widened in realization.

"Right!" all three nodded.

"Crimson Flare!"

"Gaia Force!"

The two attacks hit, but they weren't intended to have much force behind them, so much as adding more heat.

"Heh. I barely even felt that!" Etemon grinned, feeling more confident than ever.

"Laugh while you can! Arctic Blizzard!" Vikemon shouted, blasting him with a burst of cold air.

"What's this? Some nice air conditioning? You shouldn't have," MetalEtemon laughed.

"Heh. Must be tough being stupid," Phoenixmon chuckled.

"Huh?" MetalEtemon blinked.

"Don't you know what happens when you heat up then cool metal?" WarGreymon smirked before the sound of cracking could be heard.

MetalEtemon looked down and gasped in horror as his entire body was now covered in cracks. "W-What?! WHY?!" he shouted.

"Metal becomes really brittle when it's cooled too fast after heating up," Vikemon smirked. "Also, I'm not done yet. But before this, I should mention. My Mjollnir is ALSO made of Chrome Digizoid!" he grinned.

"N-no way! You're not gonna!" MetalEtemon gasped.

"Oh yeah! Say goodnight monkey man!" Vikemon grinned as the Morning Stars on his back were launched forward, hitting the weakened metal of MetalEtemon's body, and broke right through, leaving a sizeable hole in his chest.

"N-NO WAY!" MetalEtemon cried in dismay as he soon dissolved into data, and once again, he was gone from the Digital World.

 **(Song end)**

"Good riddance." Vikemon said, before reverting back to Bukamon, blinking in surprise "Ok… that's a weird sensation."

"Yeahp, all that power just poofing away, pretty jarring." Koromon said with a sage nod.

"You just hate losing your hands and feet." Yokomon said knowingly.

"In any case…" Gyro started, before clapping Jaune's shoulder "Good work." he said, before turning to everyone "To all of you at that. Now we just have to keep this up against the Dark Masters."

"Hopefully the others are going to be able to do the same." Yang said in slight worry as she looked out towards the visible treeline in the distance.

* * *

"This is REALLY annoying!" AeroVeedramon growled as they were forced to evade. With how the robot was fighting, by now they'd had most of the Digimon that rebelled, including Deramon, run for cover, while they along with CannonBeemon and Waspmon continued to fight. It seemed that the 'Wind Guardians' (another ironic name) who were Puppetmon's 'playmates' were mostly made up of random mon that Puppetmon basically picked on a whim, so their combat prowesses...not really up there.

If there was anything that could be remotely called a silver lining...was that Puppetmon didn't seem to care who was in the way, as while none of them had been hit, several of the remaining RedVegiemon had met their end when they were accidentally crushed by the robot, not that Puppetmon seemed to care.

Ren grit his teeth again as he kept hearing the mad puppet's laughter while he had just stepped on several RedVegiemon who had been blown back. It was clear their lives meant about as much as a pile of dirt to the Dark Master.

"We can't keep this up forever!" CannonBeemon reported, hitting the robot with more armaments. "Perhaps we should do a tactical retreat," he suggested.

"That...might be a good idea," Waspmon admitted.

"Hate to say it...but they might have a point," Nora grunted, using her hammer to fend off another attack.

Ren frowned at hearing that...but nodded. "You may be right. We've done quite a bit of damage already."

"Okay, everyone, get ready to retreat!" Ruby said.

"Oh no you don't!" Puppetmon growled, moving to grab anyone who was still close by, which in this case was JewelBeemon, who had just narrowly avoided being stepped on a moment ago. However, CannonBeemon also saw that, and gasped.

"Look out!" he shouted, ramming into JewelBeemon who reverted to Wormmon in surprise...leaving himself to be caught in the robot's grasp. "Agh!"

"CannonBeemon!" Waspmon shouted in alarm and horror as the hive guardian was being squeezed in the arm.

"Hahahaha! I got one of your friends. Don't you dare run away or I'll squish him!" Puppetmon laughed.

"You… heartless bastard." Ren growled, his grip tightening on his weapons, the scene before him similar, yet different at the same time.

"I'm heartless? You're the one who ran off while we were playing and wrecked my toy room!" Puppetmon shot back. "But that doesn't matter," he smirked cruelly. "If you don't want anything to happen, you'll all stay right there!"

"Freaking asshole!" Pierce growled "He'll kill him anyway, that's how his kind work."

"But we can't just leave him…!" Blake frowned.

"We gotta save him!" Waspmon said frantically.

"Should we...listen to his demands for now and wait for an opening?" Wormmon asked. CannonBeemon got caught to save him, so he was understandably feeling guilty.

"Though decisions like this… they're never fun." MetalGarurumon growled, keeping his targeting system locked on Puppetmon's mech, trying to use this chance to find a structural weakness.

"Well, what'll it be?" Puppetmon smirked.

Ren frowned and stepped forward. "We wi-" he started, but didn't get to finish.

"Don't!" CannonBeemon shouted, before crying out as the mech squeezed again. But he didn't care. He kept talking. "You must NOT give in to his demands! Not for my life!" he shouted. "The future of the world is at stake, and right now, doing nothing is the absolute WORST thing to do!"

Ren froze at the words, the exact same words, the ones that had pushed him to save Nora from the Grimm as a child.

The ones said to him by his father.

"You shut up!" Puppetmon growled, making the mech squeeze harder.

"I won't!" CannonBeemon growled in pain, before looking at the chosen. "Don't worry about me! If to save all of you and the future of this world, one life needs to be paid...I would gladly want it to be mine!" he shouted, before turning to Puppetmon and firing from the parts of his armament pod that was still uncovered, the missiles futilely exploding against the mech, before Puppetmon growled and had his mech cover the entire pod. However...this was what CannonBeemon wanted. "Save...this world…!" he said, before firing EVERYTHING he had left, and seeing as they had nowhere to go...exploded while still in the pods, causing a chain reaction, ending with a massive explosion that destroyed a portion of the arm holding him, as well as breaking off the section of the mech's 'face', revealing Puppetmon to all of them. When the light cleared, there was nothing left of CannonBeemon.

Ren stood there, his body still frozen, but this time in horror.

It was just like back then.

His father had died to give him a chance to escape the Grimm.

And CannonBeemon had died to give them a chance to defeat Puppetmon.

"Wow… what an idiot!" Puppetmon laughed. "My robot can still move, so I can just ask Machinedramon to replace those parts when I've squ-" he was cut off however, as an arrow whizzed past his cheek, embedding itself in the wall behind him before breaking apart into light, as he new sported a deep gash in his wooden face.

"Next time I won't miss." Angewomon growled in anger.

"You spit on the commander's memory… for that you deserve no mercy!" Waspmon added as he fired several shots at Puppetmon, forcing the Dark Master to dodge and duck, looking up when he heard something clink on the ground in front of him, seeing a small cylinder with a pink stripe around it… and then it blew up in his face.

Nora was on the ground, Magnhild's panel open with now one grenade missing, before she closed it back up as she looked up and glared at the Digimon as the smoke cleared away and showed that his clothes were now burned at the edge and had a few holes in them "Give me another reason to shove one down your throat punk… I dare you."

"W-what the heck?" Puppetmon glared. "Who the hell do you think you are?!" he growled, pulling out his hammer, only to be met with a small barrage of attacks, knocking him into the air and making him drop his hammer. However, before he could hit the ground, several roots and branches cushioned his fall.

"Lord Puppetmon!" Cherrymon said, worry in his voice as he rushed towards Puppetmon.

"Perfect timing, Cherrymon," Puppetmon smirked, before turning to the Chosen, but he stopped him.

"No, you must not fight them right now!" Cherrymon said. "I had wondered why others seemed to flock to them so readily when they left, and I realized they have something you lack. If you fight them now…"

"You think I'm going to lose?" Puppetmon glared.

"My Lord, I…"Cherrymon tried to help him see reason, but Puppetmon was having none of it.

"Flying Cross Cutter!" Puppetmon called out, and suddenly Cherrymon had been sliced in half, shattering into data. "I don't care who you are. Nobody gets away with making fun of me," Puppetmon said coldly.

"You…" Ren growled as he watched the Dark Master erase one of his most loyal followers so easily "You're the worst kind of person I've ever met."

"And why should I care? You won't be my friend, and if Cherrymon called me weak, then he's not my friend either!" Puppetmon said, as if it was simple as that.

Ren was silent for several moments "Friend? Of course he wasn't your friend. Nobody was ever your friend! Friends treat each other with kindness, something you obviously lack! You only care about yourself!" he shouted, losing his composure in the face of such a despicable person, his crest starting to shine brightly.

"I care about those around me, I let them know as such, I help them when they need it, without asking for anything in return. Because that's how friends work!" Ren was practically raging at this point, the glow of his crest increasing and starting to spread to the rest of his body. The light continued to grow before it shot into the sky as a pillar of light. "I swear, I won't let anyone die because of your sick twisted sense of 'friendship' and 'fun'!" he shouted, before his Tag shattered, and his Crest entered his chest, the light gathering into his hand. He grabbed hold of his D-Core, which transformed into a D-Crest with a lavender colored grip. "Ready Wormmon?"

"Anytime!" Wormmon nodded with determination as he turned to face Puppetmon, while Ren pointed his Digivice at his partner.

 **(Play Brave Heart)**

The Crest of Kindness appeared on the glass covering, before the light erupted and shot it out, going into Wormmon, who turned the same color as the Crest and did a backflip. "Wormmon, Warp Evolution!" Wormmon called out, releasing a beam of energy, which revealed Stingmon who turned around and repeated the process, revealing JewelBeemon, who turned once more and released one last beam of light. The being that emerged from the light was a large humanoid with insect like armor, sporting a single large eye in the middle of his head right above a set of mandibles, and coming out the side of his head were two large stag beetle horns, before a pair of clawed gauntlets appeared on his forearms, similar to the Dramon Killers in shape, hair appeared on the back of his head, and four long wings shot out of his back suddenly, before his carapace gained color, revealing it to be black with some white stripes scattered about, the wings an orange flame like color, his lone insect eye was a shining blue like Wormmon while his hair was a dark brown, the setting around him changing in a dark forest, before he spread his arms out, cutting down the trees around him as the Crest of Kindness appeared on his left forearm. "GrandisKuwagamon!"

"Like hell I'm gonna let you!" Puppetmon growled as his eyes flashed, and the robot started moving by itself, trying to crush them with its other arm. However, before it could hit, there was a flash, as suddenly GrandisKuwagamon was standing over Ren protectively...and the robot's remaining arm was promptly diced apart.

"The irony of me being a Kuwagamon aside, I'm liking the new claws," GrandisKuwagamon commented.

 _Digimon Analyzer: GrandisKuwagamon_

 _GrandisKuwagamon. Virus Type. An Ultimate Level Insectoid Digimon. Known as the Demon of the Deep Forest, it is a powerful bug Digimon, and one of the rarest of its kind. It is known to be capable to match certain dragonic Digimon in terms of strength, thanks to the Gran Killers on his arms that can tear through any shell or metal with ease. His special attacks are Grandis Scissors, charging energy in his horns, and either using them to shred an enemy he catches, or firing it as twin beams of energy, and Demon Cross, slashing the air in front of him with enough power to send an X shaped wave of energy at his foes._

"N-No way…!" Puppetmon gasped, before he glared at them. "What the hell are you looking at!" he growled, throwing his strings out, catching both Ren and GrandisKuwagamon. "Heh, I got you! Now go fight each other!" Puppetmon ordered, pulling on the strings...but nothing happened. Both Ren and GrandisKuwagamon didn't move an inch. "W-Why? Why aren't my powers working on you?!" he demanded as he tried to tug on the strings more.

Ren didn't say a word, instead reaching behind him, and pulling out something which he promptly used to cut the strings, causing Puppetmon to stumble back in surprise. However, before he could recover, Ren surged forward, and jammed the object, an old but very sturdy knife, into Puppetmon's torso, actually breaching the wood and jamming the gears, causing Puppetmon to shout in agony. "Of course your abilities won't work," Ren said, his voice cold as ice. "None of us would listen to someone like you," he glared.

"Y-You…!" Puppetmon gasped venomously as he grabbed for his Flying Cross Cutter, but just as he drew it, a sudden flash happened and his severed arm fell to the ground, it and his weapon shattering to data.

"You should have listened to Cherrymon." Ren started, Puppetmon's eyes focusing on him "The thing you were missing? It's that you have no one to rely on but yourself. You don't have anyone who would willingly call you a friend." with that, Ren turned around, right as GrandisKuwagamon raised his claws, crossing them over each other "You lived alone, so alone you shall meet your end."

"Demon Cross!" GrandisKuwagamon called out, right as Ren ripped his father's knife out of Puppetmon's chest, taking out one of the gears and some of the wood. Puppetmon didn't even get to scream in pain before he was cut in four, shattering into data almost immediately.

 **(Song end)**

"Its over," Ren sighed, feeling the tension leave his body, leaving sadness in its wake. They'd won, but once again...a good Digimon had paid the price.

Before anything else could be said, the ground beneath their feet started shaking, cracks appeared in it, and small pieces of earth rising up before shattering into data particles.

"Ren, we need to go." GrandisKuwagamon said, kneeling next to his partner.

"Right." Ren nodded, before climbing onto his partner's shoulder as they lifted off into the sky, finding the others had done the same and that they were apparently taking some help with them.

"Well… next stop I guess." Ruby said as she held onto Rosemon, before everyone flew off to their next destination.

Now, only half of the Dark Masters remained.

* * *

 **So, I'm curious, have any of you noticed what I'm doing with the chosen Digimon in Ultimate form?**

 **If you answer "Give them each the crest and the eye color of their Child level" you are correct, so yeah, some designs are altered slightly to incorporate this, because we felt like it would be more meaningful if the chosen digimon had the same eyes in Ultimate Level as in Child Level.**

 **Also, yes, Leomon is alive, you can stop thanking me for that.**

 **I'm never going to pull a sacrificial lion, don't worry.**

 **Anyway, for now...**

 **The Adventure Evolves.**


	45. 44: The Titans! HerculesKabuterimon & Ul

**Next chapter!**

 **I was really looking forward to this one, because it's got the introduction of my favorite Digimon it it!**

 **So let's not waste anytime and get this party started!**

* * *

 **The Titans! HerculesKabuterimon & UlforceVeedramon!  
**

* * *

"Of all the places they could have copied and used on this mountain…" Pierce sighed as the hot sun was beating down on them as they walked through the long stretch of asphalt road. "Why did it have to be fucking Route 66?!" he angrily demanded as true enough, there was a sign right there that said 'Route 66'. The very same one from America.

"How long have we been going down this road?" Floramon asked tiredly. After the Forest area dissolved, most of the Digimon who rebelled opted to leave the mountain, but Floramon, Deramon, and Waspmon all chose to stay with them.

"I lost count," Deramon sighed, though he seemed pretty okay. It was likely due to him once living in a desert area too.

"Not to worry, I can see a city in the distance," Waspmon said.

"Who's the leader of the city?" Veemon asked.

"That would be Machinedramon, and he's cold hearted and ruthless from what we've heard." Floramon answered.

"Right. THAT one," Blake frowned, remembering their encounter with that particular Dark Master.

"Still...we'll be in a city, so maybe we'll have more familiar terrain to work with," Salamon mused.

"Or he could have the entire city be his personal base," Tentomon sighed.

"Right...or that…" Salamon groaned.

"Well...I guess there's no point in thinking about it too much if we haven't even gotten there, right Ruby?" Palmon asked, before turning around. "Ruby!" she shouted in alarm, catching all their attentions, as Ruby was lying on the ground, having clearly collapsed.

Minutes later, the group was gathered under a bus stop they had managed to find, Ruby layed down on the bench.

"Dammit, she's burning up." Pierce sighed as he removed his hand from her forehead.

"What happened though? She was fine recently. And last I checked she didn't have a cold, right?" Nora asked in confusion.

"Not that we know of." Blake said, shaking her head.

"Yang would be the one with that answer." Weiss added.

"Or Gyro, considering how much time the two spent together when we were on Remnant for that one week." Tentomon tacked on.

"Sadly… none of those options are available to us right now." Ren sighed.

"Is she going to be ok?" Palmon asked in worry.

Pierce looked back at Ruby for a moment, before nodding as he turned back to Palmon "Yeah, she should be fine with some rest. As for the cause… I may have an idea."

"What is it?" Pyrrha asked.

"You all remember when she got pissed off at MetalSeadramon, right?" he asked, receiving nods from everyone "That was her Silver Eyes awakening."

"Why is that special?" Wormmon asked.

"Because people with Silver Eyes are not only rare, but they have the power to be the bane of all Grimm, though they've also been shown to harm humans, and now, Digimon as well." Pierce further explained.

"I'm guessing Ruby's eyes awoke in the canon timeline?" Gabumon asked knowingly.

Pierce nodded "Right, it happened when she, well, witnessed the original Pyrrha's death, it pushed her over the edge and activated them, the result being she managed to turn a giant Grimm Wyvern to stone, and somehow made Cinder… lose some parts if you will. Although the last bit is due to Cinder strangely having a Grimm bonded to her, and don't ask how, it's just plain weird."

"Okay, but why did she collapse?" Ren asked, wisely not questioning the Grimm bond.

"Well...I don't know. All I know is that originally after she used it, maybe it was the shock, the stress, the exhaustion from the Battle of Beacon adding up with it too, but suffice to say she only woke up...I'd say about a week later," he explained. "There really isn't much info on the Silver Eyes, so for all I know, this is a side effect of awakening it."

"Meaning the only person who would have the actual answers…" Patamon trailed off.

"Is Summer Rose." Salamon finished with a sigh.

"So, what should we do then?" Waspmon asked, he was confused about the things mentioned in the past tense, but he didn't pay it mind at the moment

"For now? We should get to the city as soon as we can, then find somewhere to rest," Pierce frowned. "From there...then we'll make a plan."

"Right," the others nodded, Waspmon carrying Ruby so they could cover ground faster.

* * *

"Geez...who designed this city? Frankenstein?" Pierce asked, as they looked around at the city that looked like a hodgepodge of various cities, seeing as he could see landmarks from New York (Statue of Liberty), Rome (the Colosseum), Paris (the Eiffel Tower), and several others.

"I can even see parts from Mistral." Pyrrha pointed out as she saw what looked like landscape carved out into the sides of cliffs, though she assumed some of the area was also mixed in with Japan from Earth, seeing as the two shared some similarities.

"I can even see Atlas… and mixed in with some buildings from Earth I think." Weiss noticed.

"Yeah, that's Saint Basil's Cathedral from Russia… and that over there is an ugly sight." Pierce added with a grimace as he looked to the left and saw a mansion that had a… literally, a swastika banner hanging in front, obviously dating back to the Nazi regime.

"Wait, that's my mansion!" Weiss realised as she saw where he was looking.

Pierce blinked slowly at that "Huh… so even the Digital World thinks your dad is like Hitler… good to know." he said, before tapping the shell beneath him "Safe to say we're going there big guy."

"I figured as much." AtlurKabuterimon said with a laugh, having had to go all the way to Perfect to carry everyone.

Once they were inside, finding a room was easy. Seeing as this WAS her home, Weiss knew it like the back of her hand. The question was...which room to use…

"Hm...seeing as we're in the middle of enemy territory...maybe a room we can evacuate out of quickly if needs be?" Patamon suggested.

Weiss mused about it...and nodded. "I think I know just the place," she said, before she lead them to a room that was actually pretty close to a back entrance, so if needs be they could get away quickly. The only thing was that it was a bit smaller than some of the other rooms available. "Sorry about the space, but this is where Klein's room would be in the real mansion."

"No problem, I think we prefer this to your parent's room… or Shitley's room." Pierce said.

Weiss snorted at the name, catching a few of them off guard "Ok… that one was good." she said after a moment.

"We should probably see if there's any medicine around, maybe we could alleviate Ruby's symptoms." Ren suggested.

"Could aromatherapy help her?" Floramon asked as she raised her flower shaped hands.

"Well… possibly, it's worth a shot I suppose." Pyrrha said after a moment of thought.

"Let's look for the medicine while they do that." Veemon said to his partner.

"Right." Pierce said, before turning to Weiss "You're the one who knows where everything is around here."

"Of course, follow me." Weiss said as she left the room with Tentomon, Pierce and Veemon in tow.

On their way to the medical room (which Weiss said was more like a doctor's clinic complete with an actual doctor) they stopped halfway through a hallway, Weiss looking up at a painting on the wall with narrowed eyes.

Pierce stepped up next to her to look at it, and found it was the same family portrait that had been shown in Volume 4 "What's the story behind the sad looks?"

"Back when Winter and I actually cared about HIS opinion, we ended up disappointing him, though we still don't know why to this day, and of course, my little brother saw it as an opportunity to play kiss up." Weiss answered.

"So, born a little shit then, good to know, won't have qualms about kicking him in the balls if I meet him then." Pierce said with a smirk.

"Even mom doesn't like him, she said he reminds her too much of his father." Weiss added.

"Speaking of that, besides catching up, did you and your mom talk about anything else before we left?" Pierce asked.

"Well… she mentioned how she's thinking about doing something in regards to the company, though she's not sure what that could be." Weiss said with a sigh.

Pierce hummed in thought at that, before grinning a bit "I'm reminded of a fic I read once, there's a few interesting details I won't bother you with, but the main thing is an idea I'd like to give to your mom."

"I'm sure she'd like to hear them," Weiss nodded. "At any rate, this should be where the medical supplies are kept," she said as they arrived at their destination.

"Here's hoping this mansion is a complete copy of yours," Tentomon said as they went through the medicine cabinet in the room.

"Well...I found some stuff for fevers but...think this would help?" Veemon asked as he held up medicine for the common cold mostly.

"There's nothing here for anything worse than a cold or a light fever…" Weiss confirmed after a few minutes.

"Damn...this...might not be enough…" Pierce frowned.

"How about we bring this back anyway. Maybe it'll at least help lessen the fever," Tentomon suggested.

"That's fair," everyone nodded before taking the medicine the found with them...and a few extras just in case.

On their way back though, Weiss stopped in front of the painting again and pulled out her weapon "I've always wanted to do this." she said with a small grin, before using it to cut out the parts that contained her father and little brother.

"I get the feeling you've been needing THAT for a long time," Pierce chuckled lightly.

"Let's just say having time away from Remnant gave me plenty of time to think too," Weiss said with a satisfied look.

When they got back to the room Ruby was in, the first thing they were met with was a relaxing scent. "...that feels really good after a long day like this," Tentomon couldn't help but say.

"Why thank you," Floramon said. "I'm not sure how much its helping with the fever, but at least everyone is feeling relaxed again."

Veemon looked around the room a bit "Where are Blake and Patamon?"

"They went out to be lookouts just in case, Waspmon went with them and degenerated himself to FanBeemon to avoid being spotted." Gabumon answered.

"Right. Good idea," Weiss nodded in approval. As it was, the fact remained they were still in enemy territory. "At any rate, we found some medicine...but its only for light fevers."

"But it might be able to help lower the fever, right?" Palmon asked hopefully.

"That's what we're hoping for," Pierce nodded, before going over and propping Ruby up a bit. They quickly helped her take the medicine and laid her back down. So far she was still out, and the fever didn't seem to be going down much…

"Looks like there's no choice." Ren said after a few minutes of waiting.

"We need to go look for better medicine for her." Nora finished with a nod.

"Weiss and I will go with our partners, it's best if we're as small as possible for this, to avoid Machinedramon finding us easily." Pierce said quickly, so the others didn't get too gungho about it.

"It'll be tough, the merged landscapes means I don't know where the closest hospital to the mansion is. And hacking Machinedramon's network to get that information could be risky, for all we know, he could be monitoring it." Weiss mused.

"She's right, he could be capable of tracing the signal, and since our scrolls can connect to each other easily, there's a risk of him finding us as well." Pyrrha added.

"So in other words, it's best if we avoid having to try to hack for information, but if we absolutely have to...make sure the scrolls are disconnected," Pierce nodded.

"That… or I COULD try something… I have an idea which may possibly work, but I'll have to be quick about it." Weiss said after some thought.

"We'd better save that for if we really need to then," Tentomon said.

"But for now let's go. The sooner we get what we need, the sooner we can get back," Veemon said.

"We'll keep an eye out for enemies," Deramon volunteered. "I'm quite good at playing a bush."

"I can also spread my roots. That way I'll know if anyone is coming near," Floramon said.

"I'll help too," Palmon added.

"We'll take care of the mansion defenses. You four just worry about getting the medicine," Ren nodded.

"Alright, we're counting on you," Pierce nodded before he, Weiss, Veemon, and Tentomon soon left the mansion.

* * *

"I can't believe we're doing this. Again," Weiss sighed.

"Hey, if it works, it works, sure as hell is working on those things too." Pierce said, glaring at something ahead.

"Why can't we just break them again?" Veemon asked.

"Because it's likely they regularly report in, so one missed report, and poof, the place is on high alert." Tentomon answered.

"Still… I didn't think I'd ever fight an Atlesian Knight." Weiss added, looking at the few Atlesian Knights roaming the streets.

"Considering that they have some of Atlas's factories here, I'm not surprised they used it to mass produce the things to act as sentries." Pierce said with a frown.

"I suppose… but did we have to use boxes again?" Weiss grumbled.

"Hey, it's working right?" Pierce shot back.

Weiss chose not to dignify that with an answer…

"Anyway, we should keep moving," Tentomon sighed.

"Yeah, the shop is just over there," Veemon nodded.

"Let's just get this over with," Weiss sighed as they put on their...disguises...and made their way to the shop, the sentries not once seeming to register the oddity of a random box.

Once they were inside, they wasted no time in raiding the stock in the shop. The problem was, it seemed many of the supplies were..not that different from what was already available in the Schnee Manor.

"Dammit." Pierce sighed "Still nothing."

"And it's not like we can just give her more of the same thing. She might overdose if we do, and things could only get worse from there." Weiss added as she looked at bottles containing the same pills and liquids they had already given to Ruby.

"What do we do now?" Tentomon asked. "We can't keep randomly searching."

Weiss frowned, looking around...and spotted a computer. "...I may have an idea," she said, before booting up the computer.

"What do you have in mind?" Pierce asked.

"We can't do a random search, but we can't risk hacking either," she said. "So I'm gonna send them on a little wild goose chase while we find what we want. We won't be finding anything stronger than what the mansion already has if we hit normal shops, and the only place that would have that are hospitals."

"Okay?" Veemon blinked. "I don't really get it."

"...I'm with Veemon on this one. How do you plan on sending Machinedramon's forces somewhere else while looking for somewhere we can go at the same time?" Tentomon asked.

"Like this," Weiss said as she opened up a search and a map, and typed in 'radioactive equipment'.

Pierce looked at the screen in confusion for a moment, before his eyes widened in understanding "Of course!" he exclaimed, the two Digimon jumping in surprise at his sudden words, while Weiss smirked at him catching on.

"What is it?" Veemon asked.

"Hospitals make use of radioactive equipment all the time with certain treatments, x-ray scanners and the like, meanwhile, you can find radioactive equipment in certain other areas…" he trailed off.

"Like a military base, or even a power plant from what you two said about Earth several years ago." Weiss finished as she memorized all the locations, before adding in the specification of 'weapons' into her search, cutting down the number of results by at least half. "Alright, now we disconnect, and they'll think we're trying to find powerful weapons to take them on with." she said, closing the search engine and shutting the computer off.

"So, while they attack weapon depots and the like…" Tentomon trailed off, finally getting it.

"We raid some unguarded hospitals." Pierce finished with a grin.

"We'd better hurry. We don't know how long it'll take for them to attack the locations they'll think we're at, so we have to get to the nearest Hospital quickly," Weiss said.

"Right. Lead the way," Pierce nodded.

* * *

"So far the plan is working like a charm," Pierce reported as he and Veemon were on lookout duty while Weiss and Tentomon had raided the hospital they went to. Right as he said that, an explosion happened in another section of the city. "A little too well possibly."

"Well...this confirms one thing at least," Weiss frowned. "Machinedramon seems to be the most militaristic of the group. We can expect army tactics moving forward."

"Yeah...also I don't think the Manor is gonna be safe forever," Pierce added. "Call it a hunch, but I think we'd better think of where else we can hide that is less...open...of a target…"

"No, I think you may be right…" Weiss sighed. With how easily they were blowing up locations, the mansion would be all too easy a target.

"Well, as long as nothing forces him to change to carpet bombing, we'll be good, and Murphy can't twist that around in my face because they only just STARTED to blast things sky high." Pierce said, glaring at the sky, as if daring the gods to prove him wrong.

"But it's only a matter of time before he realizes he's not getting us, so…" Tentomon trailed off.

"Let's just go back…" Veemon suggested with a gulp.

"Right, but before that…" Weiss frowned, booting up a nearby computer. "This may or may not be a good idea, but I'm going to type in food locations," Weiss said. "Unless anyone else has a better idea of where to mislead them, I'll start in a minute."

"Let's not blow up important things just yet," Pierce said, stopping her, before typing in a new search option.

"...why would we want to get clothes?" Weiss asked.

"We don't, yeah. But seeing as he's bound to realize something is fishy soon, at least this might slow him down a little," he said, before entering the search, and they all soon ran away. They were now racing against the clock.

* * *

"We're back! Did anything happen while we were gone?" Veemon said as they reached the mansion.

"Nothing's happened here so far," Deramon said.

"But I don't think its going to be that way for long," came Blake's voice as she, Patamon, and FanBeemon came down.

"We saw a fleet mobilize a bit earlier," Patamon reported.

"Right, any noteworthy Digimon among them?" Weiss asked as they all hurried inside.

"Several." Blake said with a grimace as she pulled up her Analyzer with some highlighted entries of what they saw.

Commandramon, Sealsdramon, Pteramon, Tankmon, Mekanorimon, Assaultmon, Elephamon, Bulbmon, and several others, making for a rather...extensive...army.

"Daaamn…" Pierce could only whistle. Neither of the previous Dark Masters brought an army THIS diverse to the field.

"And just like the previous two, they're all part of the same 'Family'. Metal Empire," Weiss noted.

"Huh...think Piedmon is the same?" Veemon mused.

"Definitely something to consider, but not right now," Tentomon said as they were soon in Ruby's room.

"We got the medicine!" Weiss said as they brought out the medicine.

"Okay, let's give them to her now," Palmon smiled, as they quickly administered the medicine.

"Now while we wait and see what happens, we've got another issue to worry about," Pierce said.

"What now?" Wormmon frowned.

"Well...to find the medicine AND to throw Machinedramon off, we sorta...lead them on a wild goose chase," Tentomon said.

"But we doubt it's going to work for long," Weiss frowned.

"That's...bad…" Ren gulped, realizing what they were going for.

"We're not gonna like this at all, are we?" Deramon sighed.

"Nope, seeing as we think they might try carpet bombing the city on the logic that they'll have to hit us eventually…" Pierce shook his head.

"What's the plan then?" Wormmon asked.

"We need a place to escape towards, sure this room is a back door, but all it leads to is the outside of the mansion, right?" Blake asked as she turned towards Weiss.

Weiss nodded "Right, and we'd very likely be sitting ducks outside right now. So we need another route." she said as she tried to remembered every little detail about her home, which was harder than it should be. Eventually a thought clicked. "The cellar!"

"...okay, I don't think raiding the drinks are gonna help us," Nora said.

"No, the cellar has a secret passage in it. It was built as an emergency escape just in case the mansion ever needed to be evacuated without anyone noticing," Weiss said. "There's even a small room down there which we can move Ruby to so we can leave in a hurry if needs be," she added, though she seemed less...enthused...with the last detail, though nobody asked her about it.

"That'd be a good place as any for us to prepared," Pierce nodded. "Alright, everyone, don't leave the mansion. We'll move Ruby inside, then everyone be on the lookout. The moment anyone sees any signs of Machinedramon's forces coming, we get into the cellar."

"Uh...before we do that though, I should mention something…" Weiss added. "I've...never actually gone into the passage, so I have no idea what's in there or the way through…"

"...okay...that dampens the plan a little...but still viable," Blake said.

"Yeah, I think we'd all rather wander a dark corridor than be blown to smithereens," Nora gulped.

"Besides, even if you had navigated them before, with the merged landscape, it's unlikely the tunnels would be the same." Pyrrha added.

"Right, that's true," Ren nodded. "Alright, we'd better start moving. We don't know how long we have before they start attacking."

"Right!" everyone nodded, before they all got to work. Palmon, Nora, and Salamon quickly moved Ruby to the cellar room, while Weiss, Pyrrha, Tentomon, and Gabumon raided the mansion of any provisions they hadn't already taken, just in case. Meanwhile, Pierce, Blake, Ren, Veemon, Patamon, and Wormmon were all patrolling sections of the mansion, keeping eyes out the window for any signs of incoming Digimon, FanBeemon, Deramon, and Floramon doing what they could to help the various tasks as needed.

Minutes later, all they could do was wait, checking for any signs of movement towards their location, and it was likely the most tense they had ever been so far.

Pierce looked out a window, hiding within the shadows, watching explosions ring out through the city, likely Machinedramon was catching on by now though, since he'd noticed some areas blowing up a bit more, either collateral or intentional, he couldn't tell.

"Dammit… if only we had Gyro and the others here, at least that way a full frontal assault would be a viable option with 5 Ultimates… if Ruby recovers fast enough that is." he sighed, honestly, he wondered how his brother took command so naturally at times, although he himself was doing his best to pick up the slack.

"Don't worry, you're doing just fine," Blake said. "We're all having it hard, but we've been able to hold up so far."

"Besides, we're all in this together," Veemon added, earning a chuckle and nod from his partner.

"Hey, what's that?" Patamon said, pointing out of the window.

The three of them were soon looking at the direction...and saw several black dots in the sky.

"Okay, time's up!" Pierce gasped, before calling everyone, giving everyone the gist of it, as they all started rushing to the cellar.

Once everyone was gathered, Weiss wasted no time and threw open the cellar door while Nora had Ruby slung over her shoulder, the girl still looking weak, but her fever had started to go down, so all good signs. Whatever the case, the group soon ran into the door, and through the tunnels, before the tremors started. "Not to sound sentimental, but I can't help but feel...apprehensive...that my family's mansion is about to be demolished…" Weiss couldn't help but say as they ran.

"Hey, this is a near perfect replica. We don't blame you for thinking its your house," Veemon said as they kept running, and the tremors became worse.

"Their nearly here." Ren realised quickly enough.

"Blake! What's up ahead?" Pierce asked, having told Blake to lead the group due to her night vision and the tunnel being dark.

"A fork in the road, which way do we go?" she answered back.

"Uh…" Pierce frowned, before gulping. "Semblance don't fail me now. That way!" he said, pointing randomly to the left, and at that moment his Crest glowed a little. However, at that moment the choice was taken out of their hands, as a MASSIVE explosion rocked the manor above, causing a cave in from the vibrations.

After a few moments…

"Is everyone alright?" Ren asked after coughing through some dust.

"I...think so…" came Blake's voice.

"Ruby's okay too!" Nora reported.

"Great, now let's...shit…" came Pierce's voice when he finally realized something. "The cave in blocked the left path…"

"What are you talking about, the path is right...oh no…" Pyrrha realized what had happened. They'd been separated by the cave in.

"What do we do now?" Patamon asked, as he and Veemon were thankfully still with their partners. Everyone else was on the left side.

"...you guys go first. We'll find another way," Pierce said.

"Are you sure? Maybe if we tried we could…" Gabumon started, but…

"No!" Pierce said quickly. "The last thing we want is to risk another cave in. We HAVE to get away from here. We'll be alright, you guys find a safe place first!"

The left side looked at each other with uncertainty, but ultimately nodded. "Alright," Ren nodded.

"But be careful you guys," Nora said.

"We'll find you as soon as we can," Weiss said before they were soon going down the left path.

"Well...looks like we're going exploring…" Blake sighed after a minute. If nothing else, she could still see through the tunnels…

* * *

Ruby groaned as she slowly opened her eyes. "Where…?" she blinked, looking around. They weren't on the road anymore. From the looks of it they were in some kind of underground room. That and she noticed she was lying on a bed of...well...miscellaneous things, but somehow it was mainly straw or something like it.

"Boop." she heard as she felt two fingers on her forehead, turning to look at Nora's grinning face "Glad to see you're up."

"Nora? What happened? How'd I get here? And where IS here?" Ruby blinked.

"Let's see… you collapsed because of a fever, which means we had to look after you, you're here because I carried you of course silly, and here is just this big system of underground tunnels below the city in Machinedramon's area." Nora listed off.

"Wait, what?" Ruby blinked. "I...missed a lot...huh?" she sighed...before noticing something else. "Uh...where is everyone else?"

"The others went to scout the area. We have to make sure there aren't any of Machinedramon's forces lurking around," Nora frowned at that one. "They should be back soon though."

Right on cue, several footsteps were heard as the rest of the group soon returned.

"Ruby!" Palmon all but glomped her partner upon seeing her okay.

Ruby laughed a bit as her partner jumped at her "Good to see you too Palmon."

"Nice to see you're awake Ruby." Pyrrha said, relief evident in her voice.

"How long was I even out exactly?" Ruby couldn't help but ask.

"Roughly 4 hours, possibly a bit more, we didn't really bother to check since we were in a hurry." Tentomon answered this one.

Ruby nodded in acceptance at that, before noticing something "Hey, where are Pierce and the rest?"

"There was a cave in earlier, and it split us up into our two current groups." Ren said with a sigh.

"What?! Then we need to find them!" Ruby tried to get up...a little too quickly, and soon was on the ground again.

"You shouldn't push yourself too hard just yet," Palmon said in worry.

"She's right. We don't even know if there are any other effects that might happen," Weiss agreed.

"Effects?" Ruby blinked.

"Pierce theorized that the reason you collapsed is due to how you awoke your silver eyes recently, he said that in canon, you passed out for about a week after triggering them." Salamon explained.

"My silver eyes?" Ruby blinked, before remembering what she did against MetalSeadramon. "So that's what they were…" she mused.

"At any rate, we were scouting the area and you wouldn't believe what we found," FanBeemon said. "This isn't just an underground tunnel, there's practically an underground city here!"

"What?" was the almost flat question the chosen and their Digimon all gave, as FanBeemon had been with Deramon and Floramon.

"Its true! This place is so big, we even saw a whole bunch of houses here and there, though they were more like apartments in a way," Deramon said.

"Wow...that...seems like we'll have a lot of ground to cover…" Wormmon sweatdropped at that.

"Well, we should look into it, maybe we'll end up finding the others if we're lucky." Gabumon said.

"Just as long as SOMEONE is careful." Weiss said as she looked at Ruby dryly.

"Alright, I get it, no running off." Ruby said with a sigh as she got up slowly.

The tunnels were, as expected, expansive. Honestly, it looked like a massive subway station mixed with a residential area in some parts.

"Damn...you could hide an army down here…" Nora couldn't help but whistle.

"Please don't say that," Tentomon deadpanned. The last thing they wanted was to have to fight an army down here when they'd been separated even further than before.

"Still...it's incredible they could hide all this down here…" Floramon mused. "We're so deep I didn't even notice it when I was spreading my roots up top."

"Guess that gives a whole new meaning to the word 'Downtown', huh?" Ruby couldn't help but say, earning a few chuckles.

"This would be the part where Yang or Pierce complain that nobody would have found it funny if they said it." Pyrrha said with a slight smirk.

The mirth didn't last long though as Salamon's ears perked up. "Uh...does anyone else hear that?" she asked.

The group all stopped and listened carefully. "Hey...I think I hear it too," Nora said.

"Same here...I think its coming from that way," Gabumon said as they all soon followed. What they found…

"Get to work you maggots!" came a cruel voice followed by a whip crack. The scene they found was that of a black teddy bear, clearly sewn back together several times, claws on his left hand, a red cape hanging off his back, and sewn onto his left arm was the japanese kanji for evil.

"Is that a Monzaemon ripoff?" Nora wondered silently.

"Close, it's WaruMonzaemon, pretty much the anti-Monzaemon." Salamon explained.

 _Digimon Analyzer: WaruMonzaemon_

 _WaruMonzaemon. Virus Type. A Perfect Level Puppet Digimon. Opposed to Monzaemon, WaruMonzaemon is a cruel Digimon who prefers to deliver pain and suffering rather than joy and laughter. Its left arm is equipped with the Bear Claws, a weapon fashioned out of claws he stole from another Digimon. His special attacks are Heartbreak Attack, releasing broken hearts from his body that fills anyone they touch with a sense of despair and hopelessness, and Custom Claw, growing his weapon to a larger size before attacking his enemies with it._

"Work! Work! Work! THEN you can go die you worthless slugs!" WaruMonzaemon laughed as he cracked his whip, forcing a large group of Numemon to keep working on the machines they were strapped to. "You may be lowest of the low, but at least THIS way we're getting some use of from your existence!"

"What the hell?" Deramon ground out silently.

"Something like that… it's horrible." FanBeemon said.

"How should we do this?" Nora asked, knowing they weren't going to just leave it as it was.

"Fast for starters, or… maybe we could draw him away instead and free the Numemon." Ruby said, tapping her chin as she wondered which idea to go with.

"Draw him away, huh? Shouldn't be a problem," FanBeemon said, before flying over. "Gear Stinger!" he called out as he fired several small serrated stingers at WaruMonzaemon, catching his attention.

"What the?! Who are you?!" he growled.

"Nya nya! Can't catch me!" FanBeemon taunted, before firing again, further annoying WaruMonzaemon.

"Why you! Come back here!" he shouted as FanBeemon flew away, the bear hot on his trail.

"Huh...that was easy," Ren blinked, before they set about freeing the Numemon.

It wasn't long before all of them were free, the Numemon cheering for them as they got out of the room. After a few minutes, they ended up in an empty room, the Numemon still cheering.

"As nice as the cheers are, is FanBeemon gonna be okay? I mean...that WAS a Perfect he was up against…" Palmon asked.

"He's pretty fast, he should be able to get away," Ren frowned. "If nothing else, he's smart enough to know when to aim to get away…"

However, as if to answer the question, a nearby wall exploded and in came WaruMonzaemon...though rather than flying in, he looked like he was thrown in.

"Had enough?" Waspmon smirked as he came in...then noticed the others. "Huh...didn't realize we were going to where you guys were…" he blinked.

"We?" Weiss asked, right as 3 new Digimon entered.

The first was draconic in appearance, being a quadruped reptile with four wings, one pair smaller than the other, though his body was actually covered in red and white fur rather than scales, his tail had the appeared of several tails twisting together, the tip held in place by a golden spike shaped ornament, and on his snout was a sword like horn, right in front of a triangular red jewel.

The second was a black chinese dragon with a red underbelly, golden horns sprouting from his head and a sort of golden metal covering most of his snout, in each hand, he held an orb, one teal, and another orange.

The third was the only biped of the group, his whole body covered in golden armor, and instead of hands he sported swords where they should be, even his tail was a sword, and he had another coming out of his head, while sporting a 20 on his chest.

"Do… do they look familiar to anybody?" Palmon whispered to the others.

"Now that you mention it...yeah…" Pyrrha frowned.

The three newcomers saw them and smiled. "Oh hey, didn't expect to see you guys again," the red dragon said.

"...okay, you definitely recognize us, but we don't. Who did you three evolve from?" Ren asked.

The golden one chuckled "I guess it was to be expected. If it helps, we met Gyro first, and then met the rest of you on your ship."

The answer was met with several slow blinks, before their eyes went wide.

"Wait, it's you three?!" Weiss exclaimed in shock.

"That's right." the black dragon said with a nod "Though we have new forms, we're still the same… if not older at least." he laughed at his own words "You can call me Hisyaryumon."

 _Digimon Analyzer: Hisyaryumon_

 _Hisyaryumon. Vaccine Type. A Perfect Level Beast Dragon Digimon. Clad in thick, shining scalemail, this Digimon soars through the skies unbound. It has a calm demeanor, and with it's great mobility has total control over the skies. His special attacks are Seiryujin, transforming into a giant katana to slice his enemies down, and Tenryu Suishoukyu, throwing his two crystal balls which ricochet everywhere to attack his enemies._

"As for me, I'm Duramon." said the golden Digimon.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Duramon_

 _Duramon. Vaccine Type. A Perfect Level Weapon Digimon. Eternally training, this Digimon tempers his blades constantly, even though it knows not what the future awaits. Capable of transforming in a greatsword, he is one of the strongest weapon Digimon. His special attacks are Grasslash, a powerful slash that can cut even Chrome Digizoid clean in half, and Blindead, firing a beam in the shape of a 20 from his chest to deal massive damage._

"And I'm DoruGreymon." finished the furry dragon.

 _Digimon Analyzer: DoruGreymon_

 _DoruGreymon. Data Type. A Perfect Level Beast Dragon Digimon. A powerful dragon Digimon that can hold back even the most powerful of holy and dark warriors with a mere sweep of his wings. Most people expect it to be a mindless beast, but in actuality he's quite wise and cunning. His special attacks are Metal Meteor, firing an iron ball of super high mass ten times greater than his own body, and Bloody Tower, skewering the enemy with his tail and flinging them into the sky._

"Okay, a lot of questions, but I think we can all agree we can save it for after we deal with the bear," Weiss sighed.

"Yeah, that works," the three chuckled, before everyone's attention was on WaruMonzaemon.

"Uh…" WaruMonzaemon gulped, before making his decision. "Bye!" he shouted as he went for the door.

"Oh no you don't! Turbo Stinger!" Waspmon shouted, firing his attack.

"Metal Meteor!"

"Blindead!"

"Tenryu Suishoukyu!"

The four attacks went flying, but in a bout of fear, WaruMonzaemon reached the door and managed to close it...only to be sent flying when it unsurprisingly exploded.

"Come back here you coward!" Hisyaryumon shouted as they gave chase...but no dice, he was gone.

"I guess he was just a bully in the end." DoruGreymon sighed out.

"At least he's not bothering us anymore." Duramon added.

"But we'd better get moving," Pyrrha frowned.

"Right, since he got away, no doubt he'll tell Machinedramon," Ruby nodded.

"And THAT would be a real pain…" Waspmon groaned. Sure they were gonna fight him eventually...but they'd rather not do it just yet. "Right, let's move."

"You can all come with us if you want," Nora said to the Numemon with a smile, to which they all nodded and suddenly the group had grown like crazy.

* * *

"...how long have we been down this tunnel?" Patamon idly asked.

"Lost count after the last 3 hours or so…" Pierce sighed.

"At least its bright…" Veemon said in consolation.

"Still...we've been here for quite a while and still haven't found anyone," Blake frowned.

"Reminds me of some video games, big world, but empty as heck." Pierce said, trying to make a joke out of it.

"Well...I guess that's both good and bad…" Blake said...before she stopped. "Wait."

"What is it?" Veemon asked.

"I hear something. Something's coming...and I think it might be big," she frowned.

"Machinedramon?" Patamon gulped.

"Possibly. For now let's hide," Blake said, as they found a fence of sorts, and soon hid in the shadows behind it and a few pillars.

Slowly, the sound of something could be heard, the two hunters nodding slowly to each other and readying their weapons, while their partners tensed, ready to evolve at a moment's notice.

Slowly the sound came closer...before it stopped...followed by what appeared to be footsteps. And they were coming closer.

Blake narrowed her eyes in confusion, the soundsteps sounded rather light, at least lighter than what Machinedramon likely sounded like, and there seemed to be… two of them?

Her confusion cleared when one of the two became visible.

"Andromon?" Pierce blinked in confusion, Andromon stopping in surprise and turning to them.

"The Chosen Children?" he said, just as surprised as they were obviously.

After coming over their surprise, the small group stepped out of their hiding spot, seeing who Andromon was accompanied by.

Standing next to him.. And reaching just above his ankle, was a small grey spherical Digimon with red gloves and boots.

And standing some feet behind them was what they quickly confirmed to be GrandLocomon.

"So, who're you?" Patamon asked the small Digimon.

It chuckled in response "I guess it's been a while, but, really, don't you remember another small Digimon shaped like a ball?"

They blinked at that, thinking back, before Veemon snapped his fingers "I know, you're Thundermon aren't you?"

Thundermon, or rather, his evolved form, nodded "That's right, and as of now, you can call me Mamemon."

 _Digimon Analyzer: Mamemon_

 _Mamemon. Data Type. A Perfect Level Mutant Digimon. A Digimon that evolved in a harsh environment, wielding destructive power that surprises most opponents. It is one of the faster Digimon in existence, and combined with his power, he becomes nigh-unstoppable. His special attacks are Smiley Bomber, shooting off his hands like rockets and making them explode against his enemies while they grow back, and Buster Dive, leaping high into the air and crashing down on his foes._

"Glad to see you all are okay," Patamon smiled. "But why are you all here? Wasn't File safe?"

"It is," Andromon nodded. "...for the most part," he added with a frown. "But either way, we all knew the problem wouldn't get better if we did nothing, so we decided to come here to try and stop the Dark Masters, or failing that, act as a resistance movement to at least hinder them. So far that's all we've managed to do…"

"Well, at least you're all safe, on our end, we've already managed to defeat MetalSeadramon and Puppetmon, Machinedramon's next on the list now." Pierce answered.

"That's good to hear." GrandLocomon started "For a while now, I was the only one who had even remotely enough strength to defeat Machinedramon, but knowing you've defeated two of the Dark Masters already will help… though, aren't there supposed to be more of you?"

"We had a bit of an accident earlier, a cave in split us up, now we're looking to reunite with the others." Blake answered, earning what she assumed was a nod from the locomotive shaped Digimon, if the slight tilt of its front was any indication.

"Right, well, if you're looking for them, let us help. I've been helping our little rebellion by being our main mode of transport. I know these tunnels well," GrandLocomon offered.

"That'd be a big help," Veemon grinned.

"Great, hop on," GrandLocomon smiled as they boarded him. Once inside, Andromon took a few cables and connected them to himself.

"I will act as our navigator," he said. "I've managed to hack into Machinedramon's network, and from there we will be able to gain a map of the area."

"I'll provide a look out from up here," Mamemon added as he hopped onto the roof and nestled himself into a small groove.

The trip through the tunnels was moving a lot faster, as now it was possible for them to find the paths that they should take. However…

"I'm detecting a disturbance up ahead," Andromon reported. "I think it may be Machinedramon."

"And if he's causing this much trouble, I bet its cause he's found the others!" Pierce said in alarm.

"Then we'd better hurry!" GrandLocomon said, going full speed ahead.

* * *

"Cocytus Breath!" MetalGarurumon shouted as he fired the stream of cold energy, coating Machinedramon in ice.

"Grandis Scissors!" GrandisKuwagamon followed up, but when his attack hit the ice, it was stopped dead, before the ice exploded and out came Machinedramon looking no worse for wear.

"That's impossible! He took both of those and nothing?!" Ren gasped, eyes wide.

"Guys, look out!" Pyrrha warned, using her Semblance to just barely manage to pull them both out of the way when Machinedramon countered with his Infinity Cannon, causing the area to tremor violently from the explosions.

"This is bad! We need to do something!" Salamon frowned.

"But what can we do? He's taking their attacks like they're nothing!" Palmon asked frantically.

As if to answer their question…

"Dynamic Entry!" came a familiar voice, as Machinedramon was promptly ran over by a train. Literally.

They all had to take a moment to process the scene they just saw "Was… was that Pierce sticking his head out of GrandLocomon and shouting at the top of his lungs?" DoruGreymon asked, blinking several times.

"I… think it was." Ruby said slowly, being carried by Weiss and Nora at the moment as she was feeling too tired to properly power her crest.

"Follow them!" Pyrrha said quickly snapping out of her confusion as the large group quickly followed after them all.

"I don't know how to feel about this, walking right into danger like this." one of the Numemon said nervously.

"If you want to turn back, go ahead, we won't hold it against you for being afraid of Machinedramon." Weiss said, glancing at the small army of slime Digimon that were following them.

"Keep in mind, we're about to fight a ruthless Ultimate Level Digimon. There's no shame in choosing life," Ren assured.

The Numemon looked uncertain, but ultimately...they realized where they stood in a battle. "Thank you. We'll never forget this," they said as one before they turned and left.

"There they go," Nora said.

"It's better this way," MetalGarurumon said. "If they'd joined us, they likely wouldn't have survived…"

"Now then, we'd better go help the others. There's no telling how long before…!" Tentomon started, but…

An explosion happened, and GrandLocomon was thrown through the wall, landing on the ground with a skid. "Owww…." he groaned.

"...that happens…" Tentomon finished lamely.

"Before you jump into that melding pot, word of advice...watch out for the claws...and the cannons…" GrandLocomon said dizzily. "I'll jump back in just as soon as the room stops spinning."

"We'll keep that in mind…" GrandisKuwagamon said as they all sweatdropped, before quickly turning to the fight and running towards it.

When they got there, they were met with the sight of AeroVeedramon and HolyAngemon evading a barrage of cannon shots, while Andromon soon tried to attack Machinedramon...only for him to throw him aside, as while the Perfect was holding his own remarkably well...not quite enough.

However, when he tried to strike again, Andromon held one of his claws down. "Now!" Andromon shouted, before his allies unloaded their attacks on Machinedramon, causing explosions to cover the Dark Master...only for him to emerge unharmed.

"What the hell is that armor made of?!" Pierce growled.

"A futile effort. Unlike my comrades, I actually bother to upgrade myself. Aside from my Chrome Digizoid armor, this new coating of Adamantium metal serves me well," Machinedramon said. "You cannot defeat me."

Pierce let out a rather loud… and long lasting groan after hearing those words "Dammit Marvel!"

"Wait, you know what that is?" Weiss asked.

"It's a metal from a comic book, one of the characters in them has his skeleton coated in the stuff, and it makes him just about impervious to bullets." Pierce explained, his annoyance clearly visible on his face.

"...why the heck are fictional metals appearing here?" Salamon couldn't help but say...before it clicked. "Oh...right...data from both worlds…"

"So, how do we beat that kind of metal?" Pyrrha asked.

"Well...there were a few ways from the comic including…" Pierce trailed off before he slowly looked at Pyrrha...with a rather wicked grin on his face.

"Uh...why are you looking at me like that?" she asked a little nervously while GrandisKuwagamon and MetalGarurumon had joined in the fight, and were only just barely holding Machinedramon back.

"Adamantium can be affected by magnetism. A villain with Magnetic abilities pulled the coating out in one story," Pierce said.

"Okay...gory image aside, you want Pyrrha to do that?" Ren checked.

"Yep," Pierce nodded.

"Well...I'll try," Pyrrha said, before focusing...and soon scrunching up. "There's...a lot of metal. I can do this, but he's gonna need to be still…"

"Well, try to focus on one part of his body to make it less dangerous by pinning it down, like one of his arms, it'll make the job of keeping him still easier." Ruby suggested.

"Right, that I can do." Pyrrha nodded, before focusing her attention on Machinedramon's left arm, trying to subtly keep it pinned to his body.

However, this proved harder than expected, as after a moment or two of being pinned, the pressure suddenly increased and he broke free. "That is also pointless. I've ensured that my systems are running at optimum capacity, and with the help of my network, I've been able to get my hands on all your existing battle data. You have no way to defeat me," he said, before with a strong swipe of his claw, the Digimon that had been in the fray, were blown back, causing them all to hit the ground.

"Okay, this guys not all talk…" MetalGarurumon admitted.

"Okay...so he's strong, and he's got a brain under that armor…" Palmon frowned.

"Question is, how do we get around that?" Salamon said.

"You won't! Infinity Cannon!" Machinedramon growled, before firing.

"Heaven's Gate!" HolyAngemon countered, absorbing the cannon shots into the gate. " That same trick won't work forever!" he shot back.

"Same trick...that's it!" Weiss realized.

"You have a plan?" Blake asked.

"Yes, he says he's getting data from his network. But do you see any cables attached to him?" Weiss pointed out, and they realized that he did NOT have any.

"Is this plan going somewhere?" Waspmon asked.

"He's connecting to his network wirelessly. That means…" she continued, pulling out her scroll and began working on it faster than she'd ever done. Machinedramon seemed to notice, and moved to stop her, but the Troublemaker trio suddenly jumped him.

"Hey, didn't anyone tell you it's not nice to try and pick on a lady!" Duramon said mockingly as they started wailing on him, but all that did was annoy him, as with his coating, even Duramon's attacks weren't getting through.

Weiss had no intention of wasting the time they'd bought her. She worked on what she was doing like her life depended on it...and honestly, if she was right, then not just her life, but the lives of all her friends depended on it too. Taking everything she'd learned through her time in the Digital World, she went over the data she had, and found what she was looking for, hacking into Machinedramon's network. That's when she found the next roadblock. It seemed the network was indeed directly linked to Machinedramon...and boy was he mad that she was trying to hack into it.

"Miserable girl!" Machinedramon roared, actually getting angry...before AeroVeedramon and HolyAngemon tackled him, holding him back.

"Okay, I think it's safe to say we need to buy Weiss time for this. Everyone, go Perfect!" Tentomon said, as everyone who hadn't already evolved (save Weiss who was fully focused) quickly did so.

"Floramon, you stay back. I'll try to help however I can!" Deramon said, before running to the side and pelting Machinedramon with his Royal Nuts, but never staying still lest he make himself an easy target.

While this was happening, Weiss continued to frantically work, making her way through as many security systems in as little time as she could, using every bit of information she'd gathered up till now to decode and break through security. All the while the battle raged, Machinedramon hell bent on squishing her like a bug before she could crack the system, but the Digimon weren't letting him get an inch, even as they got knocked into the walls and ground time and time again.

"I hope whatever you're doing is gonna turn the tables, cause he's wiping the floor with us!" Angewomon groaned after getting blasted back.

Weiss didn't say anything, completely focused on the task at hand. She had to make this work. She had to get through the system, had to cut off one of the key parts of Machinedramon's power. As long as the system was feeding him data to counter them, they wouldn't be able to win. If she didn't...what the heck was she gathering all this knowledge for if it couldn't even save her friends?!

At that moment, her Crest started to glow, and her fingers began working even faster, and before she knew it. She was in. "I'm in!" she shouted, before she immediately pulled the plug on the extra power and information that Machinedramon was getting the only way she knew would be permanent. By destroying it all.

At that moment, several explosions happened through the city, and a backlash soon happened as Machinedramon roared in pain as his body was covered in sparks and his vision danced due to the abrupt and destructive loss of his network. "He's lost his Network, and any boosts he's been getting from it! He's down to his own powers now!" Weiss shouted.

"GLAD to hear that," DoruGreymon groaned as he shook his head to get the dizziness out.

"Impossible! How could a mere human crack my systems?!" Machinedramon growled.

"You're right, if it was just me, I probably wouldn't have succeeded," Weiss said. "But this wasn't just me. I've been learning so much since coming here, and I've met people who've taught me so much. Everything I've learned, its went into breaking through that defense you put around yourself. You're not going to have your way anymore! Put up as many defenses as you want. I'll use everything I've learned and tear them all down!" Weiss declared, and at that moment, her Crest shone brighter than ever, as a pillar of purple light shot out of her and into the sky, the Tag floating up before shattering, the Crest flying into her body and the light all focusing into her hand, quickly taking hold of her D-Core, changing it into a D-Crest with a purple grip "Tentomon!"

"Way ahead of you!" Tentomon said as he flew ahead, Weiss aiming her D-Crest at him.

 **(Play Brave Heart)**

The Crest of Knowledge appeared on the glass covering, before the light erupted from the D-Crest, the Crest flying out with the beam, before flying into Tentomon who turned the same color as the Crest. "Tentomon, Warp Evolution!" Tentomon called out as he did a backflip and released a burst of light from his body. The beam soon revealed Kabuterimon, who released another beam, revealing AtlurKabuterimon, before releasing one final beam. The form that emerged was without a doubt an evolution of Kabuterimon, and compared to his Perfect form, he was gigantic, sporting both stag beetle pincers and rhino beetle horn on his head, a golden shell quickly to started to flash into existence all over his body, starting with his legs, followed by his arms, his body, and finally his head, before a golden carapace appeared over his back, bearing the Crest of Knowledge, and splitting open to reveal his wings as Tentomon's green eyes flashed for a moment through the holes in his new form's helmet. Lightning arched off his body and into the air around him, suddenly leaving him in the middle of a storm cloud with thunder cracking overhead as he let off a huge discharge "HerculesKabuterimon!"

Machinedramon, actually losing his composure at the insolent girl's words, roared in anger...only to be tackled and thrown aside by the newly evolved Digimon.

"Woah...he just lifted that guy up like he was nothing…" Mamemon said in awe.

"That's cause he's HerculesKabuterimon now," Weiss couldn't help but grin as she looked up her partner's new form.

 _Digimon Analyzer: HerculesKabuterimon_

 _HerculesKabuterimon. Vaccine Type. An Ultimate Level Insectoid Digimon. A Digimon carrying data from both the Kabuterimon species and the Kuwagamon species, granting him all the perks with none of the flaws. Having regained the wings he lost as AtlurKabuterimon, he now sports a higher range of mobility, and is said to be able to travel the Digital World at supersonic speed. His special attacks are Giga Blaster, firing an extremely powerful beam of lightning energy from his main horn and Horn Buster Kai, ramming the energy with his electrified horn._

"So you've reached Ultimate as well," Machinedramon said as he got up, but didn't seem the least bit worried. "It won't make a difference," he growled.

"We'll see about that! Horn Buster Kai!" HerculesKabuterimon flew forward, ramming into Machinedramon, the Dark Master grunting as he braced against the attack, getting pushed back, and electricity surging through him, but slowly the momentum slowed, and he managed to push the attack aside, to which HerculesKabuterimon quickly regained his distance.

"That armor is STILL holding up?!" MetalGarurumon growled in disbelief.

"Adamantium is REALLY sturdy…" Pierce admitted.

"There's gotta be SOMETHING we can do…" came AeroVeedramon's words as he and HolyAngemon landed nearby and reverted back to their Child forms out of exhaustion.

"Sorry we couldn't do more though…" Patamon said apologetically, to which Blake just picked him up and smiled reassuringly

"So I guess we really DO have to get that coating off of him," Pyrrha frowned. "But we need to hold him still!"

"I got this!" came a familiar voice as GrandLocomon was now charging at full tilt, aiming right for Machinedramon.

The Dark Master didn't have a chance to evade or move, as he was forced to brace once again, GrandLocomon slamming into him, and pushing him back considerably, before HerculesKabuterimon slammed him from behind, the Dark Master finding himself pinned between the two Ultimates.

"Pyrrha! Do it now!" HerculesKabuterimon roared.

"Right!" Pyrrha nodded before she focused once more. This time she focused on trying to get rid of the metal coating. The metals were very well melded, to the point it wasn't easy, but slowly but surely she could feel it falling under her control. However, as she pushed as hard as she could, the metals only slowly started to separate, starting with the claws, the metal coating coming off of his main body bit by bit. However, no doubt Machinedramon wasn't about to let her do this unimpeded.

Growling, he continued struggling, but the two Ultimates held tight, before he suddenly jerked his head back, slamming into HerculesKabuterimon, forcing him to let go a little, before he stopped fighting, causing GrandLocomon to accidentally push him right into the larger Ultimate, sending him back, before regaining his footing, and soon stopping the train shaped Digimon again.

 **(Stop Song)**

"Your efforts, while plentiful, will only result in one outcome." Machinedramon said, before using his right arm to grab hold of GrandLocomon and lift him upwards, surprising the locomotive Digimon.

"Let him go!" Mamemon shouted as he and Andromon ran forward to save their friend, the same with GrandisKuwagamon and MetalGarurumon, but at that moment Machinedramon turned to them and with a roar, used GrandLocomon as an impromptu bat, knocking them all away, the two Ultimates reverting to their Baby forms after they landed, having stayed too long in their current forms.

"I'll admit, you've all caused me quite a lot of trouble. But your luck ends here," Machinedramon said coldly, his cannons extending and aimed right at GrandLocomon's head. The others who still could fight tried to run to help, to stop what was about to happen...but all they could do in the end was watch as the cannons charged up.

"Finish this for me, okay guys?" GrandLocomon managed to say, looking one last time at his comrades before glaring at Machinedramon defiantly, right before the cannons were fired. The force blew holes right through his head and body before he shattered into data shortly after.

"No…" Nora whispered in horror, Ren looking on with grit teeth.

"Bastard." Weiss growled.

"How dare you…" Pyrrha muttered, trembling, before her head snapped up at Machinedramon with a glare. "How dare you kill him!"

"And what of it?" Machinedramon said coldly. "It was only a matter of time before he met his demise, the same holds true for the rest of you. You may have defeated MetalSeadramon and Puppetmon, but the same won't happen three times. Your luck has run out, Chosen Children."

"Run out?" Pierce muttered, before his eyes snapped open, and if looks could kill, Machinedramon would be molten scrap right now "It hasn't run out you bastard! Because we make our own luck!"

Right as he said that, Pyrrha's hands glowed brighter than usual, and she _pulled._

Machinedramon barely had time to let out a roar of pain, before his Adamantium coating was completely ripped off his body. However that seemed to take a toll on Pyrrha too, as she soon fell to the ground unconscious, to which the others quickly took her back to safety before the Dark Master could regain his bearings.

Seeing an opening, HerculesKabuterimon roared in anger, before he rammed his horn into Machinedramon, and this time, the Dark Master was sent flying, causing him to crash into a nearby wall, groaning as he got up.

"Still gonna call that luck?" Pierce dared as he looked the cruel Digimon in the eyes. "That's why you're going to lose here! You think every win we've scored was just us getting lucky, when we've made our own luck. You're not just fighting us! You're fighting anyone and everyone who has the will and wish to see you and all the other Dark Masters dead and dust! THAT is why we're not going to lose to you! And once we're done, we'll send Piedmon right after you too!" he shouted, his Crest exploding into a pillar of golden light around him while the Tag shattered apart and the crest sunk into his skin, the light quickly focusing down on his hand as he grabbed his D-Core, changing it into a D-Crest with a golden grip "Let's kick his ass Veemon!"

"Right!" the blue Digimon shouted as he jumped to his feet and Pierce aimed his Digivice at him.

 **(Brave Heart restart)**

The crest of Miracles appeared on the glass covering, before the light erupted forth, sending it flying out and into Veemon who turned the same color as the crest. "Veemon, Warp Evolution!" Veemon called out, as a beam of light was released from his body, revealing Veedramon, who turned and released another burst of light, revealing AeroVeedramon who repeated the process one more time. The resulting body was humanoid in shape with a draconic head that sported four horns pointed backwards, before pieces of blue and silver armor started to appear on his body, starting with shoulder pads, then gauntlets, armored boots, and proper chest armor. His body became colored in at that moment, in shades of blue, silver and gold armor, while his eyes were the same red as Veemon. A pair of silver bracelets appeared on each wrist, followed by a pair of wings shooting out his back, appearing similar to a cape, and finally, a large golden V shining into existence on his chest. The area around him finally settled into the middle of a tornado, the raging winds whipping around him while the Crest of Miracles appeared on the back of his right hand, followed by an energy saber shooting out from his silver bracelet as he swung it to the side, the tornado dissipating from around him to reveal clear skies "UlforceVeedramon!"

"Woah!" Pierce breathed in awe as he looked up at his partner, he was actually tall enough that he could stand on his shoulder.

"I think we've officially hit overkill." Ruby muttered from where she was.

"You have no idea how right you are." Weiss said as she looked down at the Analyzer.

 _Digimon Analyzer: UlforceVeedramon_

 _UlforceVeedramon. Vaccine Type. An Ultimate Level Holy Knight Digimon. One of thirteen Royal Knights said to uphold order in the Digital World, UlforceVeedramon possesses the highest speed amongst them, capable of reaching hypersonic speeds in a matter of seconds. His armor is fashioned out of Blue Digizoid, a more lightweight version of Chrome Digizoid that allows the user to be even faster than normal, and he wields the V Bracelets on his arms, capable of forming any weapon he wishes out of pure energy. His special attacks are Shining V Force, firing a ray of energy from the V on his chest, and Ulforce Saber, cutting his opponents to pieces with swords created from his V Bracelets._

Machinedramon was just getting to his feet again when both of the Ultimates landed before him...and boy did they look PISSED.

"Wanna open up this tin can?" HerculesKabuterimon growled.

"With pleasure," UlforceVeedramon agreed.

"Insolent upstarts! Don't think you will defeat me so easily!" Machinedramon growled, before lashing out with his clawed left arm, something that UlforceVeedramon met head on, igniting his V Bracelets that formed a pair of sabers made of light. A flash occured, and Machinedramon roared in pain as his left arm went flying, the sabers cutting through his armor as if they were butter. "Impossible! Even without the Adamantium coating, I'm still made of Chrome Digizoid!"

"For a guy who thinks he's so smart, you're sure acting dumb right now," HerculesKabuterimon chuckled.

"Doesn't matter how hard your armor is. My blades are made from pure energy, perfect for cutting right through armor like yours," UlforceVeedramon smirked.

"You bastards!" Machinedramon roared, before charging up his cannons. "Infinity Cannon! Full Blast!" he roared, his cannons practically bursting with energy, before he fired them in a constant stream.

"Not this time," UlforceVeedramon growled. "Shining V Force!" he called out, firing a V shaped beam of energy from his chest armor.

"Giga Blaster!" HerculesKabuterimon added, firing his best attack, the two attacks meeting the cannon beams head on, the attacks struggling against each other, before the attacks slowly overpowered Machinedramon's attack, sending the energy back and into his cannons, which promptly exploded from the overload.

Machinedramon roared in agony as more of his armor was ripped off from the explosion, the Dark Master stumbling back.

"Its over. You've lost," Weiss said simply, catching the Dark Master's attention.

"Over?" Machinedramon repeated, as if trying to comprehend her words. "No! This is NOT over! I will NOT be defeated by the likes of you!" he roared, as his eyes glowed red, and his body started to glow. "If I will die here, I will take you all WITH me!" he roared. "You will all die to my most powerful attack! Catastrophe-!"

He didn't get to finish, as the two Ultimates were already upon him. "Take this somewhere else! Horn Buster Kai!" HerculesKabuterimon roared as he slammed his horn into Machinedramon, and with a might swing, sent him flying up through the ground and out into the sky above.

However, Machinedramon barely had time to register what happened as a blur shot up past him, before coming down again.

"Ulforce Saber!" UlforceVeedramon called out as several flashes went through Machinedramon's body, and time seemed to stop for the Dark Master.

"T-this can't be!" he managed to roar out before he was diced up like an onion, his body falling in a hundred pieces which soon shattered into data.

 **(Song End)**

UlforceVeedramon didn't wait, zooming back down and landing at the same time as HerculesKabuterimon "Everyone climb on, we have to leave before the city disappears!"

Right as he said that, the ground started shaking around them.

"Come on!" Pierce said quickly, climbing up to his partner's shoulder, while a few of the others got in his hands, everyone else not capable of flight climbing on top of HerculesKabuterimon's head as they took back off into the air, soon watching as the third section of Spiral Mountain disappeared.

"GrandLocomon… his sacrifice will forever be honored in our memory." Andromon said sadly as Mamemon was sat on his shoulder.

"That's three down now." Pierce said, before glaring at the top of the mountain "Only one left. Wait for us Piedmon, we're coming for you."

* * *

 **Only one Dark Master remains now.**

 **Hope you're all looking forward to the coming climax of the Adventure Arc, because...**

 **The Adventure Evolves.**


	46. 45: Light & Darkness! Mastemon!

**Here it is everyone, the next chapter of the story, get ready, because the arc is almost over.**

* * *

 **Light & Darkness! Mastemon!  
**

* * *

The ground shook as the city receded. "3 down, one more to go," Gyro said, watching using his goggles. "All that's left is Piedmon."

"Good riddance to all of them," Ogremon snorted. "But do we really need to be doing this? I mean, aren't what we already have good enough?" he asked.

"Maybe, but we're about to fight the leader of the Dark Masters. I think we can all agree its better to be over prepared than under prepared," he said.

"He does have a point," Dinohyumon admitted.

"I think we should do that, but if I may, we should make our way to Piedmon now," came Frigimon's voice as she walked up to them. "If the others have defeated Machinedramon, odds are they will be going to Piedmon now."

"It would be ideal to have all 10 Chosen Children gathered before you face Piedmon," Centarumon nodded.

"They've got a point," Jaune nodded as he, Gomamon, Yang, Biyomon, and Agumon came up.

"Right. We'll keep looking for more help, but we'll do it along the way," Gyro nodded.

"Alright then, let's go everyone," Yang nodded as the group soon rejoined with Grizzmon, Leomon, Chuumon, Gekomon, and Otamamon who were on lookout duty for now.

The group walked for a while, before someone spoke up. "You know…"Agumon mused. "The other Dark Masters all had some unique looking areas they controlled...but why would Piedmon make his area a wasteland?"

"From what we know, it's because he directly controls the forces of darkness, his troops are even called the Nightmare Soldiers, rather fitting considering we've seen mostly demonic Digimon as part of them." Centarumon explained.

"Don't remind me." Gomamon groaned as he remembered the various small pockets of demonic Digimon they had encountered from time to time.

"So basically he doesn't want anything BUT darkness, hence why his entire territory is the most depressing landscape we've ever seen," Biyomon summed up.

"Sounds about right," Chuumon nodded.

"Well that sucks. Not to mention is really ironic seeing as he's basically a clown," Gyro mused. "Then again, clowns can be plenty evil, so I guess it works in a strange way…"

"Well...guess this is more reason to deal with him faster," Jaune mused.

"Why do you say that?" Grizzmon asked.

"Cause if this is all that's left of Spiral Mountain, the Digimon living here will starve," Gomamon commented, looking at the surroundings that while were forested, seemed more dead than alive.

"...good point," everyone else admitted as they continued to walk. However, as they did, they noticed the landscape started to change...and become softer.

"Huh?" Gyro blinked, before testing the ground. "The ground is softer somehow…"

"Well...that's not surprising…" Leomon said with a frown.

"I guess we're close to the Primary Village of Server…" Chuumon said sadly.

"So… even this place huh?" Yang asked after a moment.

"Yeah, pretty much everywhere, even the Primary Village of File is damaged and corrupted, no clue on what the situation is for Folder and WWW though." Ogremon said with a sigh.

"So, every landmass has its own Primary Village then?" Jaune asked.

"That's correct, after all, it would be rather cumbersome if every single Digimon all came from File." Centarumon said with a nod.

"Yeah, that makes sense. Heck, I'd feel sorry for Elecmon if he had to take care of every single Digimon that hatches in the world. He may be super nanny, but even he's gotta have a limit," Yang snickered, remembering the caretaker of the Primary Village of File.

The group couldn't help but picture the image of Elecmon and a nanny's outfit...and snicker at the mental image, enjoying the moment of mirth in the otherwise bleak environment. However, that was when they heard the sound of a nearby bush rustling.

"Who's there?!" Biyomon shouted as everyone had their weapons trained on the source of the sound.

"D-don't shoot! We give up!" came a voice, as slowly from the bush came out two Digimon.

The first of the two was a small bipedal cat with orange fur and several black markings on the fur, with a tuft of white fur around its neck, and two long scarf like appendages coming out the back of its neck while it had a large bushy tail, her green eyes bearing slit shaped pupils.

The other was a tall black and brown dog with a large spiked collar, blades on its heels, long claws, and small red jewels on its shoulders and thighs.

"Ok… so who are you two?" Gyro asked, still not lowering his weapons.

"I'm Meicoomon, and this is Dobermon." the orange cat said in a female voice.

"We come in peace?" Dobermon tried hesitantly with a male voice.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Meicoomon_

 _Meicoomon. Data Type. An Adult Level Beast Digimon. Despite what it may look like, her small claws are actually rather long and just hidden by the amount of fur on her paws, and are much sharper than they appear. The two scarf like appendages are used not only to hide her face, but also act as actual scarf in cold weather. Her special attack is X Scratch, slashing the enemy with her claws in an X pattern._

 _Digimon Analyzer: Dobermon_

 _Dobermon. Vaccine Type. An Adult Level Beast Digimon. A Hunter Digimon that started life as a Virus before being converted to a Vaccine after a strange mutation. He excels at tracking his enemies, no matter how far they get, and will chase them down until capture. His special attack is Grau Larm, a roar that seals the opponent's power._

"Well...you don't SEEM like the Digimon Piedmon would have in his employ," Jaune mused.

"Or are you…?" Gomamon pressed, as the Hunters had pulled out the analyzer...and noticed the Dobermon WAS in fact part of the Nightmare Soldier family...though he was also part of the Nature Spirits family too.

"No we're not!" Dobermon angrily barked. "Don't you even DARE suggest we're working for that monster! We'd sooner throw ourselves into acid than so much as spit in his direction!"

"Well… disturbing imagery aside… I think we can trust them." Agumon said after a moment.

"Personally, I totally agree with them." Chuumon added idly.

"Well...I guess that's more or less proof they're not working for Piedmon," Frigimon said with a sweat drop.

"...yeah, I guess that's a good enough one," Ogremon shrugged.

"Alright, so if you're not with Piedmon, what ARE you two doing out here?" Dinohyumon asked.

"We were looking for survivors," Meicoomon said.

"We've been going around, looking for anyone lost and helping them find safety...something that's ironically become harder since the other 3 Dark Masters were defeated," Dobermon sighed.

"So you're kinda like rescue workers then?" Gyro mused.

"Yeah, that sounds about right," Dobermon nodded. "So, what are you all here for? You guys look armed to the teeth."

"We're heading to the top to deal with Piedmon. Our group has kind of been split up, but the others have already taken down two of the Dark Masters, and we managed to take down one as a whole group." Jaune answered.

"Wait… so you guys are the Chosen Children then? The ones from the stories?" Meicoomon asked hopefully.

"That's us yeah." Yang answered, even though it was strange to think there were stories and legends about them.

Meicoomon and Dobermon looked to each other, before nodding and turning back to the group "Take us with you, please. If you're really on your way to defeat Piedmon, we want to be there." Dobermon requested, with Meicoomon nodding in agreement.

"Well, can't say no to that, the more help we have, the easier things'll be." Gyro said with a nod.

"But the fact remains we don't actually KNOW you two," Centarumon said.

"So yeah, nothing personal, but if you turn out to be secretly working for Piedmon and are doing some elaborate scheme to trick us…" Agumon left the obvious threat hang. "Clear?"

"Transparent!" the two of them squeaked.

"Then we're all in understanding. Welcome aboard," Gomamon said cheerfully as if they didn't just threaten them.

"...these guys are the Chosen Children?" Dobermon couldn't help but sweat drop.

"It helps keep them, and us for that matter, alive," Leomon shrugged.

"...fair enough I guess…" Meicoomon sighed.

"So...since you two are searching for survivors...anyone nearby?" Yang asked.

"Oh, uh...no, there aren't anymore nearby. From what we found today, between here and the edges of the Dark Masters' castle, there isn't anyone," Dobermon said.

"Good to know, then our next course of action is set," Gyro nodded.

"Full speed ahead. Next stop, Piedmon's castle," Jaune nodded.

"Hope you're ready clown boy, cause we're coming for your ass," Yang grinned as she punched her fist into her hand.

* * *

Meanwhile, further ahead…

"Alright guys, this is it…" Ruby gulped.

"Up ahead should be Piedmon's castle. We can begin now," Andromon said as he had a cable connected to Weiss's scroll.

"Right. Please begin," Weiss nodded as Andromon sent out a sonic ping through the ground, and soon they were able to map out the mountain AND the nearby area, giving them a layout of what lied ahead.

"Awful empty for an Overlord's castle. Guess he's not big on natural terrain," Pierce mused watching over her shoulder.

"Guess that means when we meet the clown, it's nowhere to run or hide…" Dorugreymon frowned.

"You say that like we wanted it any other way," Duramon smirked.

"Fair point," the red dragon chuckled.

"Well...that is both good and bad," Blake frowned.

"Right, once we go past this point, we either win...or we die trying," Pyrrha nodded.

"...think we should wait for the others to come? I mean, they're definitely on the way, right?" Nora asked.

"Probably for the best." Ren said with a nod "It's likely they know of the progress we've made and are heading for the top as we speak."

"It'll be good to see them again, we've been on the road for a few days after all." Wormmon commented.

There were a few sounds of agreement before… "...huh, the universe must be feeling generous today…" Hisyaryumon commented, as the sound of wing beats were heard...followed by a familiar red humanoid bird flying in the air...followed by several familiar and unfamiliar Digimon as well.

"And they've brought the others too," Mamemon grinned at the familiar Digimon approaching.

When Garudamon landed, she took a moment to let everyone else get off, before reverting to Biyomon… right as Yang and Gyro were both bowled over by a red blur "Well.. .this feels oddly familiar."

"You're telling me." Palmon said with a laugh as she went up to her and the two friends hugged each other.

"Sorry we took so long," Jaune chuckled when he got down. "We were getting reinforcements...and from the looks of it, so did you guys."

"I can't really see anyone because I got a facefull of Ruby's cape." came Gyro's voice as Ruby was hugging both him and Yang.

Eventually Ruby calmed down and they could get up, to which the group soon began catching up. However, little did they know, they were being watched.

* * *

"So it seems they've finally regrouped," Piedmon mused as he watched from a monitor as he was drinking a beverage, honestly looking not the least bit concerned despite the fact his fellow Dark Masters met their end at the hands of this group. "I think I should reward them for making it this far," he mused.

"This is fortunate for us my lord. We can strike them all down in one fell swoop." answered a deep voice from the darkness.

"Impatient as always, I see," Piedmon chuckled. "But very well, be sure to treat them to our finest hospitality for making it this far," he said, as the owner of the voice stepped into view. It was a tall being with a mixture of goat like and demonic features, his legs and forearms covered in maroon fur, with large ram horns and wings that were slightly small for his body. "I trust you will not disappoint, Mephistomon."

 _Digimon Analyzer: Mephistomon_

 _Mephistomon. Virus Type. A Perfect Level Fallen Angel Digimon. A Digimon born from the lingering data of a powerful evil Digimon, and follows a principle of extermination. He practices black magic and is endlessly cruel to his opponents. His special attacks are Black Sabbath, either chanting an incantation, or firing a dark shockwave from his hand, and those affected by it will soon die, and Death Cloud, creating a cloud of darkness that corrodes everything beneath it._

"It will be done, my lord," Mephistomon bowed. But just as he turned to leave, another figure appeared in the shadows. "Oh? You wish to join in welcoming them?"

"I'll allow it. The more the merrier," Piedmon waved off, not even bothering to let them ask the question. It really didn't make any difference to him after all.

With that said, Mephistomon and his new companion soon left the fortress, ready to 'welcome' the Chosen Children to their domain.

* * *

"Alright everyone, this is it," Gyro said, pacing in front of the group, looking like a general briefing his army for war. "Once we go forward, there is no turning back, and we will not rest until we make it so that nobody will ever want to say the words 'Dark' and 'Master' in the same sentence without wincing. Any questions?"

"Just one, do we go for kill, or overkill?" Pierce asked with a raised hand.

"Overkill obviously." Gyro answered easily, being met with several eager grins. It should also be noted that the partnerless Digimon of the group were the ones EXTRA eager for this...for understandable reasons.

"Alright, looks like we're all in agreement. Time to go break that clown in half," Yang said as they all turned to where the castle was in the distance and began marching...or they WOULD have if not for something happening.

"Death Cloud!" a new voice called out as the area was suddenly covered in a literal cloud of darkness, and from the cloud, purple lightning struck the ground, causing it to start corroding, though the group narrowly managed to avoid that.

"Guess clown boy got tired of waiting for us," Pierce sweat dropped. "Cause looks like he sent the welcoming committee."

"Well well, isn't this an honor, the Chosen Children, strolling up to my master's doorstep. I'm glad I could be the one to 'open the door' so to speak." they all looking up as they heard the voice, seeing Mephistomon (which Weiss identified quickly) looking down at them with a taunting grin as he performed a bow.

"Okay...you know what, I think we're just gonna put this one straight," Jaune sighed. "We got business with your boss, so unless you want to end up like the OTHER guys who got in our way of kicking your bosses off their thrones, I suggest you move. We REALLY want to fix the world they messed up now."

"I think you already know my answer to that," Mephistomon smirked.

"Eh...worth a shot," Blake shrugged. "Don't say we didn't warn you."

With that they all reached for their Digivices, intending to completely vaporize this guy by going Ultimate...if he didn't have a trick up his sleeve.

"Death Cloud! Black Sabbath!" Mephistomon called out, chanting a spell in an ominous language, as the clouds above gathered, and a burst of darkness filled the air.

"Okay, don't know what he's doing but I don't like it," Ruby frowned, before pointing her D-Crest at Palmon. It lit up, and fired a beam of light at Palmon.

 **(Play Brave Heart)**

"Palmon, Blast Evolution!" Palmon called out, before her voice became confused at the words she just said, as her form soon shifted into that of Togemon, before The Crest of Purity appeared over her, and moved downward, passing her body through it, revealing the large flower which soon bloomed to reveal Lillymon. "Lillymon!"

"Wait, what?" Lillymon blinked as she looked herself over.

 **(Record screech)**

"Huh? But we were aiming for Ultimate. What happened?" Ruby asked in surprise as she looked at her D-Crest.

"Okay...that doesn't look good," Weiss frowned, before pointing her own D-Crest at Tentomon.

"Tentomon, Blast Evolution!" Tentomon called out as he too soon transformed into Kabuterimon, before the Crest of Knowledged appeared over him and passed through him, his form shifting into that of the outline of AtlurKabuterimon, which soon gained color and definition. "AtlurKabuterimon!"

"Okay, something's not right here," AtlurKabuterimon said, as he KNEW they'd intended to go Ultimate as well.

"Don't bother trying to reach your Ultimate forms," Mephistomon laughed. "As long as my Dark Cloud is covering this area in its power, your lights won't be strong enough to give the power you want," he smirked.

"Oh… shit, that's a pain in the ass." Gyro said with a frown "Well… at least we're finding out about this Blast Evolution thing though." he said, before aiming his Digivice at Agumon, who nodded in understanding.

 **(Resume Song)**

"Agumon, Blast Evolution!" Agumon called out as he transformed into Greymon, before the Crest of Courage appeared on top of him and moved down, his form shifting into an outline of MetalGreymon, which soon gained color and definition "MetalGreymon!"

"So we're stuck at Perfect, huh? No biggie. We just have to kick your ass so the Dark Cloud disappears, sound about right?" MetalGreymon chuckled.

"That's assuming you can do it," Mephistomon smirked, before he surged forward, MetalGreymon soon meeting his charge. The two Perfects clashed, claws meeting and a few shockwaves being made by the impact.

"Giga Destroyer!"

"Black Sabbath!"

The two attacks met and exploded, sending both combatants skidding back.

"Alright everyone, rush him!" Ren said as he grabbed his D-Crest.

"I don't think so. Black Sabbath!" Mephistomon said, firing his attack...aiming it at Nora and Salamon, who were caught surprised.

"No!" Ren shouted, pushing them out of the way...but ended up getting hit himself.

"And now the stage is set," Mephistomon smirked as he took to the skies again, while the group ran to where Ren had fallen.

"Ok, what the hell?" Pierce muttered as Mephistomon flew up, but decided to focus on Ren, who was groaning as he slowly stood up.

"Where were you hit?" Jaune asked as they helped him back to his feet.

"My stomach I think." Ren said, before clutching said area with a pained groan.

"That's not a good sign." Blake said in worry.

"Open your shirt Ren, we should see how bad it is." Gyro told him, with Ren nodding as he undid his shirt, and when it was open…

"Oh… that's REALLY not a good sign." Yang said with a wince as they saw the black mark on his stomach, and it seemed to be ever so slowly moving.

"Anyone who is hit by my Black Sabbath is doomed to die. Once that mark reaches his throat, his life is forfeit!" Mephistomon laughed. "Not even the Holy Powers can break my curse!"

"Gee, thanks, now we've got even MORE reason to rip you in half," Salamon growled.

"A pointless effort. Even my death won't undo the curse," Mephistomon smirked. "However...I suppose it's possible for it to be removed," he added.

"If you're going to make a demand, spit it out already," Wormmon glared daggers at the demon. If looks could kill, Mephistomon would have a large gaping hole in his body by now.

"It nothing 'I' want. But something my associate wants. She has...unfinished business with you all," he smirked, right as a familiar barrier suddenly formed around all of them.

"What's going on?!" Ogremon gasped, as they'd also been trapped in the barrier.

"This is...oh come on…" Lillymon groaned.

"What is SHE doing here?!" Biyomon groaned in agreement.

"My, I'm flattered to know you still remember me," a familiar voice was heard, as Witchmon suddenly appeared from a portal already sitting on her broom. "It's been awhile, Chosen Children," she smirked.

"Of course you survived." Gyro said with an annoyed groan "So, what, when Myotismon kicked the bucket, you decided to change to another team?"

Witchmon laughed at his words "Of course not, I was ALWAYS on the winning team, we just needed Myotismon, he could give us some advantages after all." she chuckled. "But with that in mind, we've got some unfinished business to attend to," she frowned as she glared at them. "However, I'm in a...charitable mood. So...let's play a little wager," she said. "One of you against me. One on one. Win, and we'll TRY to remove the curse. Lose...well...then we'll just keep cycling through your group till either one of you wins or all of you are dead," she smirked cruelly.

"You say that like we have a choice," Weiss seethed.

"Splendid~!" she clapped joyfully. "Well then, let's begin immediately. Who wants to go first?"

"We'll go," Nora immediately said, she and Salamon glaring at the two Nightmare Soldiers.

"Salamon, Evolution! Gatomon! Super Evolution! Angewomon!"

Angewomon was soon in the air, while Nora stood by, acting as moral support for her partner, as this was supposed to be one on one.

"Now then, let's begin. But first...allow me to slip into something more...comfortable…" Witchmon chuckled before a seal of sorts appeared on the palm of her hand, and slowly shattered to pieces as her body was covered in darkness "Witchmon, Evolution!" she called as her body morphed slightly, her broom disappearing, before the darkness receeded back into her body, leaving her in her new form. It featured some exposed pale skin, while the rest of her body was covered in a black leather outfit that seemed to be stitched together with several chains hanging off her outfit, a pair of torn up wings on her back that looked more like a scarf of sorts, a piece of cloth floating up from her shoulder, featuring a smirking face on it, her left arm ending in a large clawed hand with long red nails, while her face was covered by a black mask, save for her mouth, and her long white hair spilling out the back "LadyDevimon!"

 _Digimon Analyzer: LadyDevimon_

 _LadyDevimon. Virus Type. A Perfect Level Fallen Angel Digimon. A Powerful evil Digimon with a noble like presence, acting as if above others and without fault. Her dark powers are among the strongest for Perfect Levels, with only a handful of Digimon having more than she does. Her special attacks are Darkness Wave, releasing a swarm of bats within a small cyclone at her opponents, and Darkness Spear, turning her left hand into a spear to stab her opponents._

"I'd say I'm surprised, but honestly I'm not," Angewomon frowned.

"Awww, don't be like that," LadyDevimon smirked. "Now then, shall we begin?" she chuckled.

"Let's," Angewomon frowned, before the two charged forward, before flipping, and countering each others kicks. Immediately both flipped out of it and landed a pair of chops against each other, the attacks once again countering each other, forcing them back. "Okay...that's a little annoying," Angewomon frowned. "Why are we literally copying each other's moves?"

"...cause according to the Analyzer, you're basically the same Digimon," Nora blinked as she read up on the info. "I'm not kidding, she's basically a high level angel that fell into the Dark Area, so…"

"Right, that makes sense," Angewomon frowned. "Then I'll use something she can't copy! Holy Arrow!" she called out, shooting her arrow.

"Too slow!" LadyDevimon smirked, evading the attack, and lashed out with her claw, forcing Angewomon to block it with one of her wings, minimizing the damage a little, but still wincing at the cuts. However, she quickly repaid it with a swift kick to the gut, sending LadyDevimon back, the two glaring at each other.

"You'll pay for that! Darkness Wave!" LadyDevimon called out, sending forth a wave of bats and dark energy.

"Saint Air!" Angewomon countered, spreading the holy energy, causing the two moves to cancel each other out again when they met. However, the two soon dashed forward while keeping their attacks up, the energy coating their bodies before they impacted, creating a sizeable shockwave from both the energies clashing, resulting in tearing up a section of the nearby area, and even causing damage near where Nora was standing, to which she'd already evaded.

"Well… that was destructive." Pyrrha said nervously after a moment, glancing at the section that was completely torn up.

"Tell me about it, it's like a whole other kind of overkill." Gabumon added.

"Hope the fight doesn't drag on if that's what's happening," Jaune gulped.

Back to the fight, the two had disengaged, and were now taking shots at each other as they flew through the air, Angewomon firing Holy Arrows, while LadyDevimon countered with her Darkness Wave when she thought she had a good shot. So far neither were giving each other any openings and seemed to be more or less evenly matched.

Growling in annoyance, LadyDevimon suddenly lunged forward, seemingly right for a Holy Arrow. "Darkness Spear!" she called out as her left hand shifted into a spear, going right through the Holy Arrow, forcing Angewomon to evade, but not before the spear managed to nick her in the side, forcing her to get some range. However, LadyDevimon proved to be quite relentless as she grinned and went after her with the spear again and again.

Angewomon was put on the defensive as she had to focus on avoiding the spear, before in a close call, brought up one of her Holy Arrows to try and block. The two attacks clashed, and unsurprisingly, the arrow snapped, but it DID buy her enough time to avoid getting impaled, and kicked LadyDevimon in the gut again, pushing her back. "Gotta do something about that spear," she frowned, before she looked at an arrow she had formed...and got an idea. Creating two more, she started melding the energies together, thinking about something that would help her in this situation, and before long, she had a sword made out of light, created from her Holy Arrows. "This should help," she mused, right as she brought up the sword to deflect another strike from LadyDevimon.

"Give it up, you clearly can't defeat me!" LadyDevimon smirked as she put more pressure into her attack.

"Sorry, but giving up isn't in my vocabulary!" Angewomon growled back before rearing her head back, and ramming her helmet into LadyDevimon's face.

LadyDevimon grunted in pain as she was forced back again. "That was a rather cheap shot for an angel," she growled.

"Does this face LOOK like I care?" Angewomon shot back, as she lunged forward with her new weapon, and the two were soon clashing again.

"Couldn't tell with that helmet on, but two can play THAT game!" LadyDevimon growled, before she soon returned the favor in the next clash, forcing Angewomon back.

"Okay, now you're REALLY getting on my nerves!" Angewomon growled.

"Oooh, poor princess, need a bandaid for that boo boo?" LadyDevimon laughed. The next thing she got was a hard slap on the face. "...oh you're asking for it now!"

"Bring it on, bitch!" Angewomon growled at the two of them lunged at each other again.

What followed was...

"Well… this is… a thing." Gyro said awkwardly as everyone watched in morbid curiosity as the fight between the angel and devil quickly turned into a slap fight… which then became a catfight.

At this point the hunters found themselves in a rather...awkward...position…

"What is it about a catfight that makes us want to stare so much?" Jaune couldn't help but ask as he tried to look away.

"I know, and my brain is telling me how wrong it is considering who's fighting" Pierce admitted, gulping thickly.

In response, Yang patted him on the cheek "I'll forgive you because even us girls can't help but stare."

"Kick her ass Angewomon!" Nora cheered as she pumped her fists in the air.

Angewomon was all too happy to oblige as she landed a sharp kick to LadyDevimon's face, knocking her off balance, before following up with a slash from her improvised sword, which was blocked by her spear, but this time the spear was cut off, causing LadyDevimon to shout in pain as she took a slash of holy energy.

"Damn you…!" LadyDevimon growled. "Don't think you've won! Even if I fall here, you'll never defeat Mephistomon! And even if you do, you'll never defeat Lord Piedmon!" she growled.

"You say that like it'll stop us from trying, and we'll come out on top just like all the other times!" Nora shouted.

"That's right! We'll NEVER surrender until all of you are defeated!" Angewomon agreed.

"Then I'll ensure you'll be fighting forever!" LadyDevimon roared. "Even if you defeat me, I will be reborn someday, and when that happens, I vow that I will keep coming back till all of you are dead!"

"Is that your final decision?" Angewomon frowned.

"What do you think?! Darkness Wave!" LadyDevimon roared, launching her attack, but Angewomon threw her sword, which exploded against the wave of dark energy, slowing it down.

"Then you leave us no choice. Prepare yourself!" Angewomon declared as she glowed with holy light, and clapped her hands in front of her. "Heaven's Charm!" she called out as an arc of holy energy formed, before spreading her arms to the side, creating a cross which fired forward as a beam, overcoming the Darkness Wave, and hitting LadyDevimon dead on, stopping her movements, before the rest of the cross was launched forward like a shockwave, hitting LadyDevimon head on, causing her to scream in pain before she shattered into data.

 **(Song end)**

"And now…" Angewomon took a deep breath "To make sure you don't come back." she said, holding her hand out towards the data. This was something all Digimon knew how to do, but very few really practiced. A method that was normally viewed as a faster way to get stronger, but not one that was normally practiced unless the Digimon was THAT desperate to grow stronger, or for whatever reason, REALLY didn't want to have to deal with the Digimon they just defeated again. The ability to 'Load' the data of the defeated Digimon.

Slowly, the data flowed towards her, disappearing into her skin as it touched her, shivering in disgust as she felt LadyDevimon's power add to her own.

And when the last piece of data entered her… she started to shout in pain.

"What's wrong with her?!" Blake asked in confusion.

"Hold on, maybe I can use the Analyzer to figure it out." Weiss said, tapping away on her scroll, trying to scan Angewomon as she trashed around "It looks like… LadyDevimon's fighting her from the inside."

"That's possible?!" Nora asked in alarm, VERY worried about her partner.

"Normally no, but well...I think its to do with her state of mind. She REALLY hated us when she was deleted, and well…" AtlurKabuterimon frowned. To say this was irregular would be an understatement. While it was possible for some will to influence data, not to this extent, especially not when it had already been loaded.

However, before they could do anything, a familiar shape loomed over her. "So it seems LadyDevimon has failed. So be it," Mephistomon said coldly, before his arm ignited with dark power, and he simply, almost casually, backhanded Angewomon, causing her to cry out in pain as she reverted to Salamon and was soon falling.

"Look out!" Lillymon shouted as she quickly caught her teammate before she hit the ground. "I got you!" she said, before quickly flying back and depositing the still twitching and groaning Salamon in Nora's arms.

"I suppose I'll have to deal with you all myself then," Mephistomon snorted.

"Oh, so he's not going to uphold that wager they talked about? Shocker," Pierce growled sarcastically. "Let's waste this guy."

"Wait," Gyro said, stopping him. "Keep in mind, as much as we'd all like to waste him, we're still going to be fighting Piedmon next. We can't afford to tire everyone out before that."

"Gyro's got a good point," Weiss admitted. "Then perhaps everyone already in Perfect should fight. The levels are the same, so we SHOULD still have the advantage."

"That said though, we should hurry," Ruby said with a frown, looking at Ren.

"I told you that killing me won't have an effect," Mephistomon said simply.

"Won't know unless we try. Sides, not like you can actually prove that, unless you've died before and seen your curse still be in effect!" Jaune shot back.

"...fair point…" Mephistomon couldn't help but admit after blinking for a moment.

"Well then, let's get to it," MetalGreymon growled as he, Lillymon, and AtlurKabuterimon stepped forward.

"Yes, let's," Mephistomon smirked. "Dark Cloud!" Once again the lightning rained down, forcing them to dodge, before they began their counter attacks.

"Horn Buster!"

"Flower Cannon!"

"Giga Destroyer!"

The three attacks flew towards him, forcing him to dodge, while countering any that got too close with his Black Sabbath. Overall, the fight seemed more or less even, as Mephistomon was clearly the stronger one, but the three quickly made up for it with their teamwork, covering each others' backs where it was needed and doing what they could to support each other. Likewise, their partners followed as well, doing whatever they could to keep Mephistomon off balance.

However, that was probably among the farthest things from Nora's mind, as she was understandably very worried about the state of her partner and her boyfriend. Ren had been alright at first, but as the marks started to progress further, it was clear he wasn't doing so well, his body becoming feverish, and unable to stand up, hence why he was leaned against a rock, while Wormmon looked in worry, wishing he could do something more to help his partner, but as things were, he could only put his faith in his friends.

Likewise, in Nora's arms, Salamon continued to twitch and groan, the data she'd absorbed continuing to war within her. Nora frowned deeply. She wanted to do something. She HAD to do something...anything to help them. She wouldn't lose those she cares for, not now, not again!

At that moment, her Digivice started to glow, and when she looked at it, her world suddenly went white, and when it subsided...she found herself back in the Digilab, with Mirei sitting on the terminal before her.

"Welcome back, to the Digilab," Mirei said with a smile.

Nora blinked several times at that "Uh… how did I get here?" she asked, utterly confused.

"You aren't truly here, your body is still where it last was, I merely called your consciousness here. Think of it like a dream in a sense." Mirei explained.

"Oh… yeah, that makes sense now." Nora said with a nod, much less confused with that explanation. "But...why am I here? The others are in trouble and Salamon and Ren...ah! Can you help them?" Nora asked.

Mirei held up a hand "Take a deep breath Nora, it's best you keep a calm mind in these situations."

Nora looked at her for a moment, before doing just that, breathing in through her nose, and letting it out slowly through her mouth "Alright… Yeah, I think that helps me a bit."

Mirei nodded "As for Salamon and Ren, first, let's focus on Salamon, as I know exactly what we can do for her."

"Alright, so, what is it?" Nora asked, eager to help her partner get better.

"First, you remember the legend regarding your Crest yes? How it was unclear what Digimon would emerge from its full potential?" Mirei asked to start.

Nora nodded "Yeah, Wizardmon said there was 3 different options at least."

Mirei nodded "Correct. Usually, only the first two are the attainable ones, and which one it is depends on if Salamon has her Holy Ring or not."

"Ok, Salamon has hers, so what's her Ultimate Level then?" Nora asked curiously.

"Her Ultimate Level would have been Ophanimon, a celestial angel of great power, and should she have lost her Holy Ring, her Ultimate form would have been Holydramon, a dragon with divine abilities." Mirei explained simply.

"Wait… 'would have been'?" Nora repeated in confusion.

Mirei smiled as Nora caught her wording "Correct, Salamon has met the requirements for her third, and most powerful, Ultimate Level."

"How did she do that?" Nora asked, not knowing what Salamon did that was so special.

"She absorbed LadyDevimon's data. You see, her third Ultimate form is normally a fusion of Angewomon and LadyDevimon, but, in your partner's case, she absorbed the data of the other Digimon required." Mirei explained.

"But...the data is causing her pain! Are you sure this is right?" Nora asked.

Mirei nodded. "There is no mistake. The problem lies with the remnants of LadyDevimon's evil will. That is where you can help her," Mirei said with an enigmatic smile.

"How do I help?" Nora asked without hesitation.

"Use the light of your Crest...and erase everything that is LadyDevimon from your partner, leaving only her power to be harnessed," Mirei said.

"Wait, what?" Nora blinked. "By erasing...you mean…?"

"Yes. Everything that was LadyDevimon save her power, it all must be gone. A being like her is better erased completely from this world," Mirei said.

Nora listened to her words, her face blank for a moment, before she took a deep breath and "No."

Mirei rose an eyebrow "Oh? Why not?"

"There's a line between killing someone, and making it like they never existed. I'm not going to cross that line." Nora answered firmly.

"But if you do not do so, then not only will your loved one die, but I cannot guarantee your partner's survival," Mirei said.

"Even so...there HAS to be another way. Even if I did that to save them...I know they wouldn't look at me the same, cause then...even if I saved them, I'd be no better than the monsters we're fighting!" Nora shot back.

Mirei was silent for a moment...before she smiled. Like a mother proud of her child. "Well done," she said simply.

"Wait, what?" Nora blinked.

"You are correct. In the battle between good and evil, it is easy to forget the fine line that separates what is necessary...and what is in itself evil. You have passed the test, and with it, earned the greatest power of your Crest," Mirei said as the Crest of Light began to shine. With that, she opened her hand, revealing a black cube with a pair of white rings floating around it in an almost nebula-like manner. "Take this. It will seal away the evil will of LadyDevimon, and thus allow you and your partner to harmonize the power of light and darkness."

Nora took the item and nodded. "Thank you. We won't let you down."

Mirei just smiled and nodded as the world around her turned white, and suddenly Nora found herself back in the battle.

"Nora! Are you alright?" Pyrrha asked.

"You kinda...zoned out there for a bit," Gomamon said.

"I'm okay," Nora said. "Let's just say…" she started as she opened her hand, and revealed the cube she'd gotten from Mirei. "Mirei called to give us some help." With that, she looked at Salamon, who was still twitching, and held the cube over her, which began to glow brightly, and once again Nora's world turned white, as she found herself in a void of sorts, with a number of 0s and 1s floating all around, and she also saw a core of some kind in what appeared to be the center. She also noticed what appeared to be a shadow in a familiar shape seemingly trying to attack the core. Seeing that, she frowned. "Nope," she said simply, before throwing the cube at the shadow. The shadow seemed to notice...too late, as the cube shot out chains of energy, binding the shadow, and causing darkness to leak out of it, but she could tell...it was only darkness. Nothing more, nothing less. The shadow itself was soon pulled into the cube, before the cube turned white, and began orbiting around the core, which released a powerful light, the darkness released soon swirling around, and the two began to circle around in harmony. Seeing that she smiled as the light once again covered her vision, and she was back in the battlefield.

"N-Nora?" Salamon asked, suddenly feeling much better. "What did you-?"

"A little present from Mirei," Nora said with a smile, before it became determined. "And she said we can go Ultimate now too."

"Wait… really? Alright then, how?" Salamon asked as she got up, surprised, but she quickly accepted it if Mirei said it.

"Well…" Nora started...then blinked, cause now that she thought about it, her Digivice hadn't changed, and her Crest was still here. However…

"Ren!" came Wormmon's worried voice as Ren had collapsed against the rock, and by now the marks were DANGEROUSLY close to his throat. There wasn't much time!

At the same time…

"Black Sabbath!" came Mephistomon's voice, as Agumon, Palmon, and Tentomon landed on the ground. The demon looked rather winded, but the fact remained...he'd managed to beat the three of them.

"I don't know, but all I know is we gotta get in there and stop him first! We won't let him take away anything we hold dear!" Nora said, earning a nod from Salamon, before the two ran to the fight. Along the way, Nora's Crest began to glow, as she was soon glowing with its light. As she skidded to a halt, the light exploded into a pink pillar around her, cutting through the Death Cloud, her tag floating out of her clothes and shattering into pieces before the crest flew into her body and the light focused down to her hand, already grasping the D-Core which quickly changed into a D-Crest with a pink grip.

"Ready?" she asked as she aimed it at Salamon.

"Always." was the reply as light started to shine forth.

 **(Play Brave Heart)**

The Crest of Light appeared on the glass covering, before the beam of light erupted from the D-Crest, sending the Crest of Light flying out and into Salamon, who turned the same color as the Crest and did a backflip. "Salamon, Warp Evolution!" she called out, releasing a blast of pink light, revealing Gatomon, and by her side, a faded image of Witchmon, colored black. The two soon turned and released a blast of pink and black energy respectively, revealing Angewomon and LadyDevimon, before repeating the process one last time, as the two energies intermingled and became one. Emerging from the light was a female being covered in armor, with long hair tied into a ponytail, and two braids falling across her shoulders. Suddenly, a short skirt with long lengths of cloth hanging from it appeared around her waist. Following that, twelves small metallic pieces appeared floating behind her back, before 6 pairs of wings suddenly shot out of them, the wings on the right being white angelic wings, and the wings on the left being black demonic wings. Joining them were another, smaller pair of wings that shot out the edges of her visor, the one of the right angelic, and the one on the left demonic. Her finally became colored in after that, her hair revealed to be blond, the right of her armor being white with glowing blue lines and crystals coming out of it, while the left half of her armor was black with pink glowing lines and crystals coming out of it, the blue eyes of Salamon being visible behind her visor for a moment while the Crest of Light engraved itself onto her right thigh. Suddenly she floated up and spun on herself, holding her hands out as the world around her faded into space, with stars twinkling in the distance, while orbs of light and darkness appeared in her hands, snapping them shut after a moment "Mastemon!"

"Wow…that's really something," Gyro said in awe as he looked up at the new Digimon.

"Hang on, I'm looking her up," Weiss said, before finding what she was looking for...and she nearly dropped her scroll. "Its Mastemon...a REALLY powerful Digimon at that."

 _Digimon Analyzer: Mastemon_

 _Mastemon. Vaccine Type. An Ultimate Level Angel Digimon. A Digimon formed from the union of two complete opposites, an archangel and a fallen angel, said to only be possible in times of great crisis. It possesses the power to travel through dimensions at will, thus bearing the title of the Tactician from Another World. Her special attacks are Chaos Degradation, fusing the energies of light and dark within her hands and opening a gate to another dimension, from which she can then trap an enemy within and destroy it, and Unison Raid, firing spheres of light and dark energy at her enemies that detonate on contact._

"I-Impossible! How could you break through my Death Cloud?!" Mephistomon gasped.

"Heh, for an elite warrior you sure didn't do your homework. Don't you know? Nora is the bearer of the Crest of Light, of course HER light would be able to break through your little barrier," Mastemon chuckled.

Mephistomon growled. "It won't make a difference, all of you will die here!" he roared...and was easily, almost casually backhanded to the side by Mastemon.

"Maybe it's a bit of LadyDevimon's data talking, but I'm honestly a little disappointed my big debut is against a Perfect level rather than Piedmon himself. But, I'm in a hurry, so I can't afford to play around with you," Mastemon huffed.

"Bitch! Don't you dare underestimate me!" Mephistomon roared.

"Don't underestimate you? Okay, you asked for it," Mastemon chuckled as she gathered light in her right hand and darkness in her left hand, before joining them together, creating a powerful new power. "Chaos...Degradation!" she called out, as a dimensional gate opened in front of her.

Mephistomon grunted as he tried to resist, but it was no good as he was being pulled forward. "No..nononono! Not like this!" he roared as he was pulled into the Dimension Gate, which compressed and promptly exploded.

With Mephistomon dealt with, Mastemon quickly flew down, going to where Ren was. Focusing her powers, she flowed them into the mark, and after a few moments, the mark shattered, and Ren's breathing soon became more normalized again.

 **(Song End)**

"That...was more tense than we'd expected it to be…" Pierce sighed, as Ren slowly got up...only to be tackle hugged by his girlfriend, while Mastemon and Wormmon watched in amusement.

"At least we got another Ultimate out of it," Blake chuckled, before idly pulling out her Tag, noting that she and Patamon were the only ones who hadn't reached Ultimate yet. Oh well, she figured if she did, it'd probably be a good trump card against Piedmon when the time came.

"Now then, is everyone still okay?" Ruby asked.

"We're good," Agumon, Tentomon, and Palmon all said. Sure they'd taken a beating, but they'd gotten more and more used to fighting like this, so they weren't as tired as they'd normally be. It helped they'd only been in Perfect form.

"That's really good to hear," Jaune frowned. "Cause look over there."

Everyone turned to where he was pointing, and gasped, as they could see a familiar clown-like Digimon making his way towards them.

"...guess the final boss decided to come to us," Gyro frowned as everyone readied their weapons. It was time to end this…

* * *

 **Cliffhanger~ Hanging from a cliff~**

 **Blame Phoenix for that one.**

 **Anyway, yeah, THAT'S how Mastemon is obtained, we figured it would make sense if we went this way.**

 **Also, Blast Evolution, basically an evolution from Child to Perfect, and the animation for it is the style that was used in Tri.**

 **Anyway, hope you'll stay, because...**

 **The Adventure Evolves.**


	47. 46: Final Hope! Seraphimon!

**Welp, this is it everyone, the finale of the arc.**

 **So everyone knows right now, the story will now go on a short hiatus so I can put some work into a few other stories.**

 **Don't worry, we'll be back within the month.**

 **Hope you all enjoy this chapter at least!**

* * *

 **Final Hope! Seraphimon!  
**

* * *

"Okay guys, quick plan. We've probably got like 10 minutes before we're gonna fight the head honcho. What's the game plan?" Yang said seriously as they saw Piedmon approaching.

"Quick recap. Every Dark Master so far has had some kind of gimmick to them. No reason Piedmon won't be the same. I don't think we should attack en mass just yet," Gyro said quickly.

"Then maybe one of us should 'test the waters' to try and make him tip his hand," Mastemon suggested. "I volunteer."

"You sure? You JUST evolved. You might have the same problem as WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon did the last time they fought him," Nora asked worriedly.

"Well it's either that or revert to Nyaromon. I've still got a lot of energy, so I might as well put it to good use. Besides, we're all together and he's alone. I'm not afraid knowing you all got my back," Mastemon reassured.

"Alright, we're counting on you. But if things get hairy, don't be afraid to tag out," Jaune said after a few moments.

"Got it. Let's go, Nora," Mastemon said, as she picked Nora up and the two soon flew forward to face Piedmon.

* * *

The moment they got close, Nora had jumped off, and Mastemon immediately began attacking. There was no point for words anymore, as they'd gone this far. That and it's easier to avoid tipping your hand if you stay silent. The only problem…

"Heh, haven't you kids learned anything?" Piedmon chuckled as he easily evaded Mastemon's attacks as she was lashing out with a blade of blue energy from her right arm, and a blade of reddish pink energy from her left hand, but the fast clown was easily evading all of them, at least until she managed to land a kick on him, sending him flying back and into a nearby wall. However, Mastemon kept up her guard cause they were under no illusions that that was anywhere close to enough to stop him. True enough…

"Honestly, I'd have thought you'd learn by now that sending a newly evolved Ultimate is pointless against me," Piedmon chuckled as he stepped out of the dust, looking not the least bit harmed. "Now then…" he started pulling out his weapons. "Trump Sword!" he called out as he threw the swords at her.

"Holy Desire!" Mastemon countered, knocking two of the swords away with a blade of light from her right hand. "Dark Despair!" she followed up, countering with a sphere of darkness from her left hand, deflecting the remaining two swords, though the first two she deflected suddenly came back, forcing her to dodge, though one did nick her leg, causing her to grunt in pain.

"Mastemon!" Nora called in alarm.

"I'm alright," Mastemon reassured, before glaring at Piedmon. "But he certainly lives up to his position as leader of the Dark Masters."

"You're only realizing that now?" Piedmon laughed. "Toy Wonderness!" he called out, sending a gust of wind and boulders flying at them.

"Whoa!" Nora gasped, quickly pulling out Magnhild as she and Mastemon defended against the move, breaking up most of the large rocks, but still taking some hits. "Okay...that wasn't pleasant…"

"There's more where that came from!" Piedmon laughed as he sent more and more flying at them, causing them to gradually take more damage. After a few rounds…

"Okay...maybe this wasn't such a great idea…" Mastemon groaned. "Nora?"

"Waaay ahead of you," Nora groaned, already going for her scroll. "Uh...guys…" she started.

"Toy Wonderness!" Piedmon shot out once again.

"Chaos Degradation!" Mastemon countered, causing an explosion to happen, sending her and Nora flying back.

"Not to sound rushed but...SAVE US! SAVE OUR SORRY BUTTS!" Nora shouted into the scroll as the two were flying in the air.

They didn't even get to hit the ground when UlforceVeedramon caught them. "Easy there you two, take five," he said.

"I think I'll take twenty," Mastemon groaned as she reverted to Nyaromon. "I don't think I'm gonna be any good for a bit."

"We'll handle this part first," Vikemon said as he joined them as well.

"Heh, doesn't matter how many of you come. It won't make a difference!" Piedmon laughed. "Trump Sword!" he called out, throwing his weapons...only for them to be sent flying back...in the form of being frozen in a block of ice then thrown back.

"You were saying?" Vikemon smirked, right as Piedmon evaded...only to get kicked in the back by UlforceVeedramon who had gotten behind him.

"In case you didn't notice, you're the one with the number disadvantage now," he smirked.

"Don't get conceited!" Piedmon growled as he lashed out, slashing UlforceVeedramon with a sword he'd conjured up, pushing him back...but quickly had to evade when Mjolnir was shot towards him.

"Oh we're not conceited. We're just confident," the two of them smirked.

"Speaking of which, mind your head," Vikemon said mockingly, to which Piedmon was forced to do a rather impressive limbo maneuver as GrandisKuwagamon's Gran Killer sailed pass where his head used to be...which left him open when a whip lashed out and wrapped around his neck, pulling him up, right into a heavy wing slap from Phoenixmon, sending him crashing into the ground.

"You're experienced, we'll give you that. But do you REALLY think you can fight ALL of us at the same time?" Rosemon chuckled.

At the same time, their respective partners had met up with Nora, to which Nyaromon was now scarfing down a number of rations they'd been carrying. "Eat up Nyaromon, we'll get our rematch once you're feeling better," Nora smiled...right as an explosion hit, as HerculesKabuterimon, MetalGarurumon, and WarGreymon fired their attacks, forcing Piedmon to evade, though he was notably singed...before crying out in pain as HolyAngemon hit him with his excalibur. "...provided they leave anything for us," Nora amended, to which Nyaromon just shrugged...though how an armless creature could shrug was beyond her.

Back at the fight, things were...going very well for the Chosen...not surprising as it was literally 8 Ultimates and one Perfect with Holy Powers against one Ultimate.

"Aren't you heroes supposed to fight fair?" Piedmon growled.

"What kind of idiot fights fair when the fate of the world is at stake?" WarGreymon deadpanned.

"You're surprisingly villainous you know that?" Piedmon deadpanned.

"Nah, this isn't villainous," Rosemon said, right before her leg came up from behind him...and hit him...let's just say Piedmon let out a VERY girlish scream at where she hit. "Now THIS is villainous," she smirked. "And there's a LOT more where THAT came from after the shit you've done to this world!"

"This...proves...nothing!" Piedmon squeaked as he got some range… while clutching his lower area in pain.

"Like we care," MetalGarurumon snorted. "Face it Piedmon, its over! You Dark Masters have lost!"

"Over? No...not by a long shot," Piedmon growled, before he pulled out a white cloth...which was promptly incinerated by Phoenixmon.

"What the?!" Piedmon gasped shaking off the flames.

"Did you REALLY think we were gonna give you time to pull whatever trick you had planned?" Phoenixmon deadpanned.

"No," Piedmon admitted, before smirking. "That's why I had the REAL trick, right here," he said, opening his left hand, revealing a familiar black stone.

"That's!" they all gasped, before a faded image of Myotismon appeared next to Piedmon.

"Surprised? Why do you think I had Witchmon infiltrate Myotismon's ranks? He was but an upstart, but he was a powerful upstart. He was bound to make something useful," Piedmon chuckled, as the powers of darkness began to radiate from him. "Now I'll put his final legacy, and his power, to good use!" Piedmon declared as dark tentacles wrapped around the image of Myotismon that actually began to struggle, before he was pulled into Piedmon's chest, the clown laughing as he was for all intents and purpose, 'eating' the other Digimon.

"Okay...that's just sick…" HerculesKabuterimon said.

"Oh, this is just the beginning," Piedmon smirked as he was radiating with energy, darkness covering him. "Piedmon, Slide Evolution!"

"Quick translation about that kind of evolution?" Yang asked Weiss who was already looking through the Analyzer.

"Same Level, but different form from the looks of it." Weiss said urgently, knowing it would likely be a lot more powerful than his last one.

"BoltBoutamon!" came Piedmon's voice as the darkness removed itself from his new body.

His build was roughly the same, if not a bit taller, but his outfit now had more of a corsair theme to it, wearing golden armor on his chest, with shoulder plates shaped like skulls with horns, he wore a golden face mask that exposed his eyes and a cruel smirk on his lips, a large hat with a red feather sticking out of it sitting atop his head. A Red cloth hanged around his neck, falling down the back and into a pair of strangely shaped wings, though the main oddity had to be the extra pair of arms that came out from just behind his main pair, these new ones being long and skeletal with clawed fingers, finally, sheathed at his hips were a pair of rapiers with skull shaped guards with a pair of pistols holstered just above them.

"Okay...that doesn't look good," Ren frowned, before turning to Wiess. "How much trouble are we about to deal with?"

Weiss went through the Analyzer and groaned. "A LOT if the Analyzer is correct. That's BoltBoutamon."

 _Digimon Analyzer: BoltBoutamon_

 _BoltBoutamon. Virus Type. An Ultimate Level Demon Man Digimon. A Digimon known as the Malevolent Fist, born from the forceful combination of Piedmon absorbing data of Myotismon. He wields the Spiedini swords and Ala di Pollo guns in his quest to eradicate all sources of light from the Digital World. His special attacks are Palazzi Valzer, multiplying the amount of swords he carries with him and sending them flying off in all directions, and Quarzione, firing bullets that, when they make contact with an enemy, enter their body and start moving around to damage them from within._

"You'll never defeat my most powerful form!" BoltBoutamon laughed.

"Like we haven't heard THAT one before," Phoenixmon rolled her eyes.

"And like all the others, we're not gonna lose!" WarGreymon glared.

"Eager to meet your end? Very well, I'll at least prepare for you a fitting final stage," BoltBoutamon smirked, as he snapped his fingers, and suddenly a barrier encircled them, while also keeping out anyone else, leaving the partnerless Digimon who'd just arrived to be stuck outside.

"Hey, what's going on?!" Chuumon's voice spoke up as he had been once more hiding in Jaune's hoodie...before he was suddenly levitated...and thrown out of the barrier, fortunately Frigimon managing to catch him.

"I don't have the patience to deal with vermin," BoltBoutamon snorted, before the ground started to shake, and the area surrounded by the barrier started to rise up into the sky.

"Ok… that's bad." Ogremon said as he watched the Chosen be lifted up into a makeshift arena.

"It just got worse." SaberLeomon said with narrowed eyes after evolving quickly, watching ahead at the swarm heading towards them.

"I have no time to deal with you fools, but since you also came this way to die, I'll leave you to my personal army," BoltBoutamon laughed as he summoned the Nightmare Soldiers to tear the resistance apart.

"Well…" Centarumon started, slight nervousness creeping into his tone "I guess this IS the final battle now."

"And it's a final battle we're going to win." Frigimon added as she put her fists up.

Ogremon grunted as he took off his sling, twisting his arm a bit and winding it up "Damn right we will. The kids helped us to get here, so let's return the favor and clean house!"

By then the Arena was getting higher in the sky, but still enough for the Chosen to hear.

"Heh, you hear that? Everyone here isn't going to stop till your reign ends, so come at us bone head! We'll smash you into the ground!" Gyro said, earning shouts of agreement from his team.

"Cling on to that belief while you can!" BoltBoutamon growled, as the team charged forward.

The first to charge forward were GrandisKuwagamon with UlforceVeedramon, the two faster Digimon seemingly blurs as they charged forward, and managed to land a few hits on BoltBoutamon, but the armor was a LOT stronger than what Piedmon once had, thus the damage wasn't as significant as it would have been, and after a few hits, the two came in for another shot with their special attacks...but…

"I see you!" BoltBoutamon roared, as his extra arms lashed out, and grabbed both of them out of the air.

"Hang on guys!" WarGreymon said as he and MetalGarurumon went to help their friends...only for BoltBoutamon to promptly throw them at them, causing the four to end up in a heap.

"In retrospect, we probably should have expected that…" MetalGarurumon groaned as he was was currently under GrandisKuwagamon.

"He's fast. Well, let's try this!" Vikemon said as he exhaled a powerful blast of cold wind, soon encasing BoltBoutamon in thick layer of ice. "Now let's smash him!" Vikemon said...right as the ice shook and promptly exploded, forcing them back with a small hailstorm. "...or he can do that…" Vikemon sweatdropped.

"Out of the way boys, cause fire is about to land in this hole!" Phoenixmon shouted as Rosemon was riding on top of her.

"Forbidden Temptation!" Rosemon called out as she fired her best attack, pelting BoltBoutamon with a flurry of flower petals, but he managed to block them with his extra arms.

"And what's this supposed to do? I honestly feel like you're not even trying," he laughed.

"Cause she's not. Starlight Explosion!" Phoenixmon followed up, igniting her feathers near BoltBoutamon, and being in the middle of a storm of petals...well...her attack had some extra fuel to burn.

"Huh, you used Rosemon's attack to power up your own," HerculesKabuterimon noted. "Nice."

"Question is, is it going to work?" HolyAngemon frowned. True enough, BoltBoutamon stepped out, looking rather singed, but overall he seemed like he didn't take any heavy damage.

"...think we can stuff him into the Heaven's Gate?" GrandisKuwagamon suggested.

"We can try, but somehow I'm not sure he's going to make it easy," WarGreymon deadpanned, to which HolyAngemon formed the gate anyway.

"Cool, we got the gate, now then…" Rosemon glared at BoltBoutamon before lashing out with her whip, wrapping it around him, to which all of them grabbed hold.

"GET OVER HERE!" they all roared as they pulled.

"Pierce?" Gyro started.

"Yeah, bro?" Pierce asked.

"Am I the only one feeling so proud that they used THAT classic line?" he asked.

"Right there with you," Pierce chuckled at the gaming reference.

Too bad while the plan on paper worked pretty well, namely BoltBoutamon was thrown towards the gate, but the problem was….

"...okay, first order of business, either we break those arms, or we RIP them off," HerculesKabuterimon deadpanned, as once again, BoltBoutamon's extra arms had actually stopped another of their plans, namely he was keeping himself from going into the gate using them, before he took out his sword and cut the gate, causing it to shatter.

"I am THIS close to shoving Excalibur where the sun doesn't shine." HolyAngemon muttered.

"Uh… you gonna be ok?" MetalGarurumon asked him in worry.

"I will if I can finally get that attack to work again." the angel shot back.

"Dude, easy there. You're literally the only guy fighting here who's got an instant kill move. The universe NEVER makes those moves easy to pull off," WarGreymon reassured.

"Besides, the move should work once we do something about those arms," Rosemon added.

"So yeah, time for the arms to come off!" UlforceVeedramon said, igniting his blades.

"Sounds good to me!" WarGreymon nodded as they once again renewed their assault.

* * *

Meanwhile, down below, the resistance were also fighting for their lives. So far while they were grossly outnumbered, the fact they had an Ultimate on their side in the form of SaberLeomon. Speaking of which, he grunted after he finished deleting an Orochimon that had tried to take a bite out of him.

"There doesn't seem to be any end to them!" Centarumon grunted as he kept shooting, Chuumon on his back.

"Please don't say that! This is terrifying enough as is!" Deramon shot back as he fired Royal Nuts after Royal Nuts, Floramon by his side helping however she could, even if mainly watching his back.

"These guys ain't so tough! We can take them!" Duramon roared as he cut an enemy apart.

"You said it!" DoruGreymon grinned as he hit several with a Metal Meteor.

"Let's do this guys!" Hisyaryumon agreed.

"Yes, do not be deterred! We have fought this far together, and together we will gain victory!" Andromon said as he fired a Gatling Missile.

"You said it buddy!" Mamemon agreed as he deleted several of the attacking soldiers.

"Don't let up! The Chosen Children are fighting as we speak! We have to hold out at least until they defeat Piedmon!" SaberLeomon said, though inwardly he was glad he'd gotten that tablet from Nora and Ren all those years ago. Had it not been for the data in the tablet, he'd no doubt be stuck randomly transforming back…and THAT would have been really bad right now.

"Yeah, well that aside, I don't feel like losing to a bunch of kids in the ass kicking department!" Ogremon added as he caved a Devidramon's head in, before throwing his club. "Watch your back!" he shouted as he clubbed a Fangmon that was chasing after Meicoomon.

"Thanks!" Meicoomon shouted at the assist, before turning around and using her special move to delete her would be attacker.

Ogremon caught his club, right before a shadow loomed behind him...or it would have if the Wendigomon didn't suddenly have its head blown off by Waspmon. "Keep your own advice in mind!" he chuckled...right as a Troopmon who was about to shoot him came running while shouting in pain, with Dobermon firmly biting him on the rear, allowing for Waspmon to shoot him too.

"Enough with the banter! Focus on covering each other's backs!" Dobermon barked, earning nods of agreement from them.

On the side, Frigimon had just turned a Musyamon into a popsicle, while Kyukimon and Pandamon just finished taking out an Astamon who had been trying to shoot her. "And to think I thought I'd go back to WWW to help with the frontlines," she couldn't help but chuckle, while Gekomon and Otamamon were on her shoulders, doing what they could to give support fire.

"Yeah, if anything THIS is the frontlines," Kyukimon and Pandamon chuckled at the irony of her statement as they continued to cut through the incoming enemies.

"Don't die now!" Kyukimon said.

"I could say the same to you! I'd rather not have to tell Kotemon you bit it!" Pandamon smirked.

"I think it's safe to say all three of us have a very good reason to get out of this alive," Frigimon said as she pummeled another Wendigomon to the ground.

However, right as they said that, a large figure rushed at them...or would have if they weren't suddenly impaled on SaberLeomon's Kaiser Nail. "Everyone, stick together! They can't pick us off if we guard each other's backs!" he called, while tossing the dissolving MadLeomon he'd just impaled to the side. The others didn't hesitate to move to group up, while Andromon and Mamemon did their best to cover for anyone coming back, as their tougher defenses proved to be quite hard to penetrate.

Along the way, Centarumon was suddenly rushed by a group of Vilemon and Boogiemon, knocking Chuumon who had been on his back off.

"Hey! Leave him alone! Cheese Bomb!" Chuumon shouted, but the Boogiemon nearby simply impaled his attack like it was nothing.

"Hey guys, get a load of the pipsqueak who thinks he can fight!" the Boogiemon laughed. "Run along little rodent, before you get hurt," he taunted.

Chuumon growled "I may be small… but I'm not going to just stand by and do nothing!" he practically roared.

"Oh yeah? What are you gonna do? Nibble on my feet?" the Boogiemon laughed.

At this point Chuumon felt his anger reach a new peak as all the feelings he'd been forced to bottle up ever since losing Sukamon came back with a vengeance. And at that moment, something inside of him clicked. "Chuumon, Dark Evolution!" he roared as a grey light exploded off his body, which suddenly shot up in size to roughly the height of a human adult, wings appearing on him, and his tail gaining a spade tip, before the light faded off, revealing a red skinned demonic Digimon with a black outfit that had a rather high collar, the wings connected to his shoulders and looking to be part of his outfit, he sported two horns on his forehead, a mohawk of hair, and a short goatee. He then snapped his fingers, and a pitchfork appeared in his hand "Phelesmon!"

 _Digimon Analyzer: Phelesmon_

 _Phelesmon. Virus Type. A Perfect Level Fallen Angel Digimon. A Digimon who in olden tales is said to snatch away the souls of anyone who calls upon it to grant their desires. When not engaged in battle, Phelesmon is usually known to the perfect picture of an aristocrat. His special attacks are Demon's Shout, releasing a scream at his enemies that drives them to insanity, and Black Statue, striking the enemy with it's pitchfork and turning them in a statue made of onyx._

The Boogiemon looked up at the new Digimon, and it was at that moment he knew...he'd fucked up big time. "Ahahaha...about that pipsqueak thing...funny joke, right?" he tried to salvage the situation...only to get punched in the face and be sent flying right out of the battle field and slamming into the bottom of the arena in the sky.

"Demon's Shout!" Phelesmon called out, bombarding the Digimon attacking Centarumon with his shout which left them screaming as they clutched their ears as the scream tore at their sanity...before they ran into nearby boulders in a frenzy.

"Okay...I'll admit I didn't expect to see that happen, though I'm glad you seem to have retained your sanity," Centarumon said.

"You go on and join the others. I got over 10 YEARS worth of repressed emotions I need to offload," Phelesmon said, glaring at the army still gathered before them.

"Don't overextend," Centarumon merely cautioned, before leaving Phelesmon be.

"Right," he nodded, before glaring. "Now then…." he started, before raising his pitchfork over his head and letting out an unintelligible war cry as he ran pitchfork first into the fray, and started carving out a bloody swath as he tore apart at the Nightmare Soldiers both physically AND mentally.

"...remind me never to piss off that guy ever again," was all Ogremon could say at seeing Phelesmon go medieval on the army.

"Only if you remind US to not do it too," Meicoomon sweat dropped.

* * *

Meanwhile….

"WHAT THE HELL ARE THESE ARMS MADE OF?!" was the angry shout as Vikemon was ramming Mjolnir into BoltBoutamon's extra arms, which were raised defensively, yet SOMEHOW they were holding up against not just HIS weapons, but also the Gran Killers AND the Dramon Killers, along with the blades of the V Bracelets.

"Why don't you just give up while you still can?!" BoltBoutamon taunted, before unsheathing his sword. "Palazzi Valzer!" he called out as his swords suddenly multiplied till there were….a LOT…

"That… looks a lot like what Emerald does in canon." Pierce said after a moment.

"Yeah, but this time it's real!" Yang said urgently.

"Brace for impact!" MetalGarurumon shouted as all the Digimon immediately huddled up in front of the hunters as the attack hit, shielding them with their bodies. When it was over, they were left groaning on the ground.

"Okay...that wasn't fun at all…" UlforceVeedramon groaned.

"It's probably gonna get a lot LESS fun if we don't do anything about it soon…" HerculesKabuterimon added, seeing as he noticed HolyAngemon, who in the rush, had been in a position to take a good number of hits, reverting to Patamon from the damage he took.

"How many times do I have to say it? You can't win!" BoltBoutamon laughed.

"And how many times do we have to say that we DON'T quit!" GrandisKuwagamon shot back.

At that BoltBoutamon laughed. "You really ARE idiots! Try and try as you might, you can't defeat me! No one can defeat me anymore! Not even Yggdrasil himself! So stop clinging to your false hope, and accept your demise!"

"Shut up!" was the response he got, followed by a small hail of bullets. The source revealed to be Blake. "Who the hell gave you the right to decide?! To do whatever you want!" she growled. "We're not done yet, not by a long shot, so it's FAR too early for you to be claiming victory!"

"And what can you possibly do?" BoltBoutamon laughed. "I've taken all of you on and I'm still here just fine!"

"No you haven't," she said dangerously. "Everyone who's dead because of you, we won't let their sacrifices be in vain. We'll make sure to finish this fight, so that the Digital World can finally find peace! So give up on making us give up!" at that moment, her crest started to shine brightly, as a pillar of yellow light released into the sky, breaking through the top of the dark barrier set up around the piece of land "Today… is the day this all ends." Blake said in a tone that left no room to continue, as her tag floated out of her clothes and shattered, the crest flying into her body as the light gathered into her hand, grabbing hold of her D-Core, which changed into a D-Crest with a yellow grip "Patamon, are you ready?"

"I am!" was all Patamon said as he flew upwards, Blake aiming her D-Crest at him.

 **(Play Brave Heart)**

The Crest of Hope appeared on the glass covering, before the light erupted from the Digivice, shooting the Crest out, which flew forward and into Patamon, who turned the same color of the Crest, and did a backflip. "Patamon, Warp Evolution!" Patamon called out, releasing a burst of light, which revealed Angemon, who turned and repeated the process, revealing HolyAngemon who did the same one more time. From the final burst of light came a being covered in armor, wearing a helmet with wings attached to the side that covered his face completely. He then extended his arms out, the gauntlets gaining a second plate of armor over the first one that was blue in color with a golden engraving of a Fleur-de-Lys. The rest of his armor then gained color, revealing it to be silver in color with gold highlights, with the knee guards, ankle guards, front piece and helmet being blue in color, the front of the helmet sporting a golden four point star while the wings on its sides were silver, a long piece of cloth then appearing dangling from the front of his armor between his legs with Digicode written onto it. Large blue shoulder pads then appeared over his bare shoulders, followed by 10 golden angelic wings shooting out of his back, his silvery blonde hair falling out of his helmet and across his back a moment after. The Crest of Hope then engraved itself on his stomach armor, as Patamon's blue eyes shone from behind the helmet for a moment, before he cast his arm to the side, breaking up the area around him and turning it into an area that could be described as heaven, as he then let out a brilliant explosion of light from his body "Seraphimon!"

"Well… that's bright." Ren said after a moment, squinting his eyes to look up at Patamon's Ultimate form as it let off a large amount of light, almost like a sun shining bright.

"And I think it's just what we need." Pyrrha added.

"I'll say, look at him!" Jaune said as he pointed at BoltBoutamon, who recoiled away from the light, trying to cover himself from it while his body let off wisps of smoke.

"I guess that's the downside of absorbing a vampire." Ruby realised what his problem was after a moment.

"Then it gives me the perfect chance." Seraphimon spoke, crossing his arms in front of himself "Final Heal!" he said before spreading them across, as a soft glow of light covered all of the Chosen and their partners.

"I can feel my strength coming back to me." WarGreymon said as he got back to his feet, looking better than new. Not just him, as everyone soon looked better than ever, even Nyaromon who had evolved into Salamon again, Nora quickly pulling out her D-Crest, and soon Mastemon was among them too.

"Seraphimon… he's really powerful." Weiss said as she looked at the Analyzer.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Seraphimon_

 _Seraphimon. Vaccine Type. An Ultimate Level Seraph Digimon. A powerful angelic Digimon, the highest ranked one at that, said to rule over all of them as one of the Three Celestials. It is told that should Seraphimon descend from the heavens to combat evil, he will purify all traces of darkness from the world. His special attacks are Seven Heavens, firing seven orbs of holy energy to destroy evil, and Divine Breaker, sending forth a ball of crackling lightning from his fist._

"I-it doesn't matter! One more of you won't make a diff-" BoltBoutamon tried to say...if Seraphimon didn't surge forward and land a haymaker charged with holy power to the side of his face, sending him flying till he collided with the edge of his own barrier.

"You were saying?" Seraphimon couldn't help but smirk.

"Tch…! Don't get overconfident!" BoltBoutamon roared. "Quartzione!"

"Divine Breaker!" Seraphimon countered, destroying the bullets as the ball of lightning plowed into BoltBoutamon, pushing him back.

"In that case...Palazzi Valzer!" BoltBoutamon followed up.

"Forbidden Temptation!" Rosemon countered, her attack hitting the many swords, causing them to disappear from the damage, while also cutting into BoltBoutamon who was now feeling the damage.

"I-Impossible! How am I losing to you all?!" he gasped.

"Shouldn't it be obvious?" Yang grinned.

"You've been drawing your extra power from Myotismon's malice, and his powers amplifying your original power," Weiss said. "But in doing so you absorbed his weakness too!"

As if to emphasise the point, Seraphimon called forth a powerful holy light, which Mastemon added to as well, shining it onto BoltBoutamon who recoiled when it made contact with him.

"T-this can't…!" BoltBoutamon growled, before his eyes widened, and at that moment, he realized how badly he'd messed up. In provoking the bearer of Hope, he'd triggered the very Crest they needed to turn the tables. The realization made him angered beyond anything, and in a frenzied roar, he discarded any semblance of defense and charged forward. If he could kill the Digimon of Hope, he could still win this!

"Hold it right there! Seven Heavens!" Seraphimon called out, before launching the seven orbs of holy light, which plowed right into BoltBoutamon's body, causing him to cry out in pain as he was pushed back. However, he didn't impact the wall this time, seeing as UlforceVeedramon had gotten behind him.

"Don't forget about us!" he grinned before he kicked BoltBoutamon in the back, sending him flying towards Phoenixmon. "Play ball!" he grinned.

"Oooooh!" everyone grinned at that, before Phoenixmon used her wing to knock the hapless Dark Master towards HerculesKabuterimon, who used his horn to knock the 'ball' away towards MetalGarurumon who rammed it towards Rosemon, who grabbed it with her whip, before flinging it at WarGreymon who hit it with a mighty kick, straight for GrandisKuwagamon, who joined his hands, and did a volleyball pass to Mastemon, who flipped upside down and kicked it towards Vikemon, who had equipped Mjolnir to his hands, and was rearing up like a baseball batter, before hitting the 'ball' in a way that sent him flying upward.

"Gather, O Holy Power!" Seraphimon called out as he flew upwards, the lights from the Digivices coming to him and gathering just over his joined hands, which he raised up, forming a MASSIVE sphere of holy light...and bringing it down on the ascending Dark Master, slamming down on him as he roared in pain at the holy energy wreaking havoc on his power, which sent him CRASHING down into the ground, and he didn't stop there. He hit the ground...and kept going till he'd broken right through the bottom of the arena and he was STILL going.

"I hope THAT hurt, clown boy!" Jaune shouted down the hole.

"Hey...if he's gone...what's holding this arena up?" Nora suddenly spoke up as the barrier faded.

"...oh…" everyone barely managed to say as the Digimon grabbed their partners, before the Arena fell from the sky.

* * *

Back down below, the resistance had managed to make a BIG dent in the Nightmare Soldiers...before Waspmon noticed something. "Hey guys...what's that?" he asked, right as the object crashed into the ground...followed by the arena falling out of the sky...and they were still kinda close to it too.

"Everyone run!" SaberLeomon shouted, and they all did just that, getting out of the way, leaving the Nightmare Soldiers, and BoltBoutamon who was still embedded in the little hole, to look up and see the arena coming down.

"...I HATE those kids…"BoltBoutamon managed to snarl before he and his army were promptly crushed.

A few moments later, a fist punched out of the ground, as the battered Dark Master pulled himself out of the 'wreck'.

"Knew you were still alive. Which is really good," came Gyro's voice. "Cause a LOT of people right now want a piece of you," he said, to which BoltBoutamon realized he was now surrounded by not just the 10 Ultimates, but also the entire resistance...and boy did they look ANGRY.

"Don't you dare look down on me! I can still-!" he didn't get to finish as the Chosen aimed their Digivices at him and bombarded him with their light, causing him to shout in pain, before the Abyss Stone was forcefully ejected from him and shattered, reverting him to Piedmon.

"All yours, everyone!" Ruby said, giving the Digimon a thumbs up.

"Knock him dead!" Pierce said with a small swing of his arm.

"WITH PLEASURE!" the Digimon all roared.

"Uh...parley?" Piedmon asked pathetically.

"...you wrecked our continent, killed our friends, made our lives a living hell," Phelesmon deadpanned. "WHAT DO YOU THINK IS OUR ANSWER TO THAT?! LET'S GET HIM GUYS!"

"Lullaby Bubble!"

"Allergy Shower!"

"Crush Symphony!"

"Hunting Cannon!"

"Absolute Zero Punch!"

"Turbo Stinger!"

"Fist of the Supreme King!"

"X Scratch!"

"Grau Larm!"

"Royal Nuts!"

"Demon's Shout!"

"Blade Twister!"

"Animal Nail!"

"Spiral Sword!"

"Smiley Bomb!"

"Metal Meteor!"

"Tenryu Suishoukyu!"

"Blindead!"

"Infinity Arrow!"

"Gaia Force!"

"Cocytus Breath!"

"Starlight Explosion!"

"Forbidden Temptation!"

"Arctic Blizzard!"

"Giga Blaster!"

"Shining V Force!"

"Grandis Scissors!"

"Chaos Degradation!"

"Seven Heavens!"

The attacks all hit one right after another, Piedmon trying to guard the barrage at first, but as they kept coming, they broke through, making him take the full brunt of the onslaught, and well...let's just say there probably wasn't ever and probably never will be a more THOROUGH deletion than what followed, judging by the bright light and the mushroom cloud that literally everyone who happened to be looking at Spiral Mountain's peak could see no matter where they were.

 **(Song End)**

Back at the peak, everyone was on their backs from the sheer force of the explosion they'd made.

"I think we just redefined the meaning of 'overdoing' and 'overkill'," HerculesKabuterimon noted. "Great job everyone."

"Totally worth it!" everyone agreed.

"And just to confirm that yes, he's gone, the scans we put up are showing the last parts of the Mountain disappearing," Weiss confirmed. "We did it! We won!"

"We won…" Blake breathed, almost not believing it.

"WE WON! WE SAVED THE DIGITAL WORLD!" Nora cheered as she pulled Ren into a bone crushing hug.

The group soon devolved into cheers of excitement before…

"So...now what?" Pyrrha asked. "Is everything supposed to go back together by itself, or are we supposed to...do something else?"

"That's...a really good question," Gyro admitted. "Oh well, when in doubt, we all know what to do...or try to do anyway."

Everyone, even their Digimon who had all reverted to Baby form by now, chuckled before they all agreed. "Call Gennai."

"Only one problem...we don't know where his house is right now…" Ren mused.

"Not to worry, I'm right here," came a familiar voice as a Mekanorimon suddenly landed.

"We're not even going to complain about how convenient that is." Pierce chuckled as they went up to the Digimon as the top opened and Gennai got out slowly with his cane in hand.

"So, what's next?" Yang asked. "We've beaten the Dark Masters, Spiral Mountain is gone, so...what do we do now?"

"What YOU all need to do is…" Gennai said, gaining their attention. "Nothing."

At that they face faulted. "You did that on purpose," Blake accused.

"Guilty," Gennai chuckled. "But seriously, there's literally nothing more you all need to do at this point. Well...except one last thing. My boss wants to talk to you. Nothing bad obviously, but still important."

"Wait, did you just say they're about to get an audience with Yggdrasil himself?!" the resistance members all gaped.

"Wow...we're getting an audience with a god...I have no idea how to react to that…" Weiss blinked.

"Normally I'd say freaking out is a good option, but I think we're all too tired for that right now." Motimon said, to all around agreement.

"So… where would we meet Yggdrasil?" Koromon asked.

As if to answer their question, a beam of light suddenly came down from the heavens as they were all being slowly pulled upward.

"I'd say right here, right now," Gennai snorted.

"Does he have to do it rapture style?" Pierce deadpanned.

Gennai just shrugged.

Once they reached a certain height, the light flashed bright around them, before they disappeared from the area.

* * *

Once their sight returned to them, the group were treated to an area that appeared to be a large room, that seemed to be made out of an almost crystalline liquid, the floor rippling beneath their feet.

"Well… even for the Digital World, this is new." Jaune said after a moment.

"You're telling mE?!" Bukamon started, his voice turning to surprise as he and all the other Baby levels suddenly evolved back into Child.

"Ok, not that we're ungrateful, because having working limbs is nice, but what just happened?" Wormmon wondered.

"A small gift if you will," a new voice said. It was regal in tone, and one that just listening to you could tell demanded respect despite the notable lack of any arrogance in the tone. They also noticed that the voice seemed completely gender neutral, as in there was no way of knowing from the voice alone if the owner was male or female.

Turning to the source, the center of the room, they were met with the sight of a figure slowly rising up from the ground.

The first thing that was noticed was that the figured had a clear lack of legs, its body instead being made up entirely of crystal armor, with only the arms and face being normal, or as close to normal as they could, seeing as they were white as snow and lacked any distinctive features save for a nose, a mouth, and a pair of completely white eyes on the face, along with long white hair coming out the back of the crystal helmet. "Welcome, Chosen Children," the figure spoke. "I am Yggdrasil."

"Well… meeting with god… this isn't how I thought the day would end honestly." Gyro said after a moment.

"I can imagine it was not." Yggdrasil spoke, clear amusement in their tone.

"So, what's going to happen now? We've defeated the Dark Masters, shouldn't we be fighting the great evil Gennai said they spawned from?" Pyrrha asked.

Yggdrasil was silent for several moments before finally speaking "No. You are not yet ready to fight it."

"In what way?" Yang asked, a bit annoyed, but figuring the literal god would have a good reason.

"A few reasons. For starters, you've still not fully realized your full powers yet," Yggdrasil started. "Though you defeated the Dark Masters, it still takes much more time than you've all had to fully master the Ultimate level. Furthermore, when I sealed the great evil, I sort of...I suppose you could say I damaged its stability. It currently does not have a fully physical form, as such there is no telling what it may do in this state if you were to fight it now," Yggdrasil cautioned.

"So, it's like with a bomb, one wrong move, and everything goes south." Nora summed up with a frown.

"An apt description yes. Keeping it restrained is proving difficult, but I will endeavor to do so for as long as it takes until you are ready to properly destroy it." Yggdrasil said, showing how much faith they had in the Chosen.

"Alright...so...what happens now?" Blake asked.

"For now, you all may return to your world. You have done your part, now I will do my part and fix the damage the Dark Masters have wrought on this world," Yggdrasil said. "Once that is done, I think it's time to finally restore the time dilation of the worlds."

"Wait… that was you?" Ruby asked after everyone took a moment to process his words.

"Not the original effect, but I managed to make use of it to my advantage, though when your mother first fell into this world, I had to make sure to grind it to a halt as much as I could so you would have a chance to meet again." Yggdrasil explained as he turned his head towards Ruby. "It was only after the Dark Powers began spreading did I start...tweaking...the time difference so as to give you all more time when you inevitably came. And before you ask, the reason why young Keenan's arrival and time in the Digital World was so strange, is an unintended side-effect. He came when I was still adjusting the time, so he ended up 'in the past' so to speak."

"That explains a lot…" Weiss sighed. "So...are you going to send us back, or…?"

"There is a gate in File that I'd kept hidden for a while. The secret, is the tram you all spent a night in when you had to fight Seadramon," Yggdrasil said. "At the moment, time is still unsynchronized between the two worlds, so you do not need to leave just yet. The Tram is a gate that will open during an eclipse, which normally would only happen once in a LONG time, but for this situation…" Yggdrasil trailed off, before an orb of light appeared and a stream of data went into Weiss's Scroll. "This is a one time use program to trigger an eclipse. Use it to return to Remnant."

"That is… rather interesting how a program can just trigger an eclipse like that." Tentomon said after a moment as he looked at Weiss's scroll.

"So, what happens now?" Biyomon asked.

"Now? I will deposit you on File, the majority of the island was still intact, only its edges had been absorbed into Spiral Mountain." Yggdrasil stated, earning nods from them.

"What about all the other Digimon that died because of the Dark Masters?" Palmon asked with a frown.

"Worry not, their data is not lost forever, and I will make the Primary Villages my top priority, they will all return in time." They stated, earning relieved looks from the Chosen.

"Wait, so, when we leave, what's going to happen exactly?" Ren asked curiously.

"All Digimon without partners that are on Remnant will be brought back to the Digital World while I work on fixing the data. However, know that it is impossible for me to stop tears from opening between the two worlds, so you will likely find Digimon still leaking into your world for a long time to come. As such, your partners will return with you, to help keep your own world safe, just as you kept this one out of evil's hands." Yggdrasil explained, the group making sure to keep a mental note of it. "Now then, I believe I've kept you long enough. I will send you all to the Primary Village of File Island, along with the Resistance group you've all gathered together. I think you've all earned a little rest," Yggdrasil chuckled at the end, before everything was covered in a bright light.

* * *

When the light subsided, a familiar soft ground met their feet, as the colorful blocks and gentle sounds of Primary village could be seen.

"Well, this is nice to see after all the fighting." Blake said with a small smile after a moment.

"Tell me about it." Patamon added with a light chuckle.

"The fighting's finally over, for now at least." Veemon said with a relieved sigh.

"Yeahp, we can finally rest." Pierce added as he took a deep breath and let it out with a smile.

Everyone nodded in agreement… before they all fell backwards onto the soft ground.

"Oh dear Oum I'm so freaking tired." Jaune groaned.

"I can't even move my claws." Gomamon groaned right along with him.

"I hate adrenaline crashes." Gyro muttered.

"Tell me about it." Agumon added.

"I Think we can all agree to...just lie down here for a while…" Pyrrha said, getting several sounds of agreement in response.

* * *

The next few days went by in a blur. The group had decided to take the next few days to just...rest...after the adventure they'd just been through. However, as fun as it was, they knew they couldn't stay forever. As such, it wasn't long before they were now gathered near the tram they'd spent the night in all that time ago.

"Well, looks like this is it," Pierce chuckled. "One heck of a crazy adventure we had."

"And it's far from over too!" Veemon added, earning a chuckle from his partner.

"I know what you mean," Yang laughed.

"But if we could go back, we'd do it all again," Biyomon added, to which everyone nodded in agreement.

"Hey...has anyone seen Gyro?" Agumon asked.

"Oh, he said he was gonna get something. He should be here soon," Jaune said.

"Not like we're pressed for time anyway," Gomamon commented.

"Doesn't mean I'm going to make everyone wait longer than they should." Gyro said as he flew down towards the group, landing behind them and putting his blades away.

"So, what were you getting?" Ruby asked curiously as Gyro reached into his pouch.

"These." Gyro said, pulling out wrapped up ice cream bars from his pouch "The icing on the cake."

"Oh nice, what flavor?" Yang asked as Gyro handed one out to everyone present.

"You'll see." was all Gyro said as they all opened them, noting the pale blue color, though Pierce was the only one who blinked in recognition before smiling.

The first one to take a bite was Nora, who hummed as she tasted it "Salty… and sweet."

"That's a thing?" Jaune asked, blinking in confusion.

"It is, this is Sea-Salt ice cream. I don't know if you have it on Remnant, but we do have it on Earth, though it was made popular because of a work of fiction, a game franchise called Kingdom Hearts." Pierce answered with a smile as he bit into it, humming in content "Damn, now I know why Roxas and Axel liked it so much."

"Tastes like victory." Gyro said in agreement after swallowing a bite.

"It sure does. Feels like a real job well done," Ruby nodded as they all ate. Eventually, they finished up their ice cream and were now ready to board the tram. However…

"Hey!" came a shout, just as Weiss activated the app to trigger a one time solar eclipse. Turning to the shout, they saw all their friends on File together.

 **(Play Butter-Fly: Digimon Adventures Opening)**

"You guys?" Ren blinked.

"Why are you so surprised? It's only natural to want to see a friend off," Leomon said with a grin.

"Thanks for everything you did for us!" BlueMeramon said.

"We won't ever forget it!" Waspmon added.

The group in the tram blinked, then chuckled. "Don't say that like this is goodbye forever! We'll be back eventually! If you guys ever need a hand, holler and we'll come running!" Nora said as they all waved, the tram starting to move as the gate was opening.

"The same goes for your kids! If you ever get in over your heads, we'll run over and help!" Ogremon hollered proudly.

"And remember! You'll always be welcome into the Digital World!" Phelesmon added with a grin.

By now the tram was moving faster, as their friends chased after it to a degree, waving all the way, the chosen and their partners waving back, as slowly but surely, the tram began to lift off the ground. Once they couldn't follow anymore, the group smiled as they watched the tram leave.

Inside the tram, the chosen and their Digimon were soon seated, some of them wiping tears out of their eyes, though others tried to hide it. "Don't worry guys," Gyro said, wiping off a tear. "This isn't the end. Not now, not ever," he grinned, before pulling out a photo. A photo of them and all the friends they'd made.

Everyone nodded, grinning with him, as the tram finally faded into the eclipse.

* * *

 **Yep, BoltBoutamon, that was the idea we came up with to make Piedmon a more possible threat.**

 **Thank Next Order for introducing him to the franchise.**

 **And yes, Chuumon CAN end up evolving into a Phelesmon, and him becoming a Perfect had been the plan since the start of the arc.**

 **The reason for him not going mad despite being a dark evolution is because he focused all his hate on the Dark Masters and their soldiers.**

 **Also, yeah, no Apocalymon, not yet anyway, this group will fight him at later date, because as Yggdrasil said, right now would be far too dangerous.**

 **As for when the next big Digimon related events will happen, well... you'll see, after all, it's like I always say.**

 **The Adventure Evolves.**


	48. 47: The Day Remnant Stood Still

**We're back~  
**

 **That's right people, the hiatus for Digital Story is finally over, and we're getting back into the swing of things!**

 **First things first though... let's see what happened while our heroes were saving the world, shall we?**

* * *

 **The Day Remnant Stood Still  
**

* * *

 _6 Hours following departure, Vale…_

Azure sighed as he looked at the scroll he was working on. Had it really only been 6 hours since his brothers and their friends left to fight the root of the problem? His analysis had been finished, and with it, his input of data resulting in his D-Core now turning into a D-Ark with a Dark Blue color scheme. A sound of something impacting glass was heard, before he quickly got up and ran to the source. When he got there…

"Thunder Cloud!" Wizardmon called out, electrocuting several Goblimon. They'd been trying to get into the mall, but fortunately that was avoided. All around the mall they and all the remaining people of Vale were manning various points, helping each other keep the Digimon out.

Ever since 6 hours ago, Digimon had been pouring into the real world by the dozens, some in the same strange state as the Kuwagamon, others fully physical like those Goblimon. Ever since it started, him and anyone else with a partner Digimon had started keeping the civilians safe, though even some people without partner, like Winter, were lending a hand, seeing the seriousness of the situation, and as such they were all hunkered down in the mall, doing what they could to maintain something of a stronghold. At least this was helping to give experience to those were new with partners, and letting Azure get adjusted to his upgraded Digivice, honestly still a bit surprised his analysis was what allowed it to evolve.

"How are things so far?" Lisa asked as she and her partner came up to him, and Monitamon had went through a bit of a change.

He was just a bit taller than Lisa now, garbed in black with red gloves and a backpack, his head now a flat screen TV with a golden antenna standing on top of it, and a two pronged stick like weapon in it's hand. This was his Adult level, Hi-VisionMonitamon.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Hi-VisionMonitamon_

 _Hi-VisionMonitamon. Data Type. An Adult Level Cyborg Digimon. Known as the Black Electromagnetic Wave, unlike his previous form, he's a far more capable fighter. The weapon in his hand is known as Denjimaru, able to turn the blocked long range attacks of opponent into energy particles that surround it. His special attack is Film Buster, unleashing the gathered energy particles onto his enemies._

"So far it's just Child level Digimon, so nothing we can't handle. Just pray no more Perfects show up," Wizardmon said, idly looking at a few holes that had been hastily patched up. Proof from when an Okuwamon came knocking, though that one was dispatched by Taomon easily enough.

"How are the people doing?" Azure sighed tiredly.

"We're holding up. The fact we're getting a lul is giving the volunteers a chance to rest, and while the people ARE scared...there's been some unintentional advantages from the Digimon outside," Hi-VisionMonitamon said, as they idly noticed a Nevermore up above...before it was caught in the pincers of a Kuwagamon and soon fell to the ground a headless body.

"At least no one is seeing young miss Amitola while she's… raging." Lisa commented awkwardly.

"She's still angry? It's been at least 4 hours since she called those two." Wizardmon pointed out with a blink.

"Considering what those two are like, I'm not surprised," Azure sighed, remembering he had helped Ilia ask the right questions to get enough information, and when she had hung up… let's just say he got out of the way fast.

At least her partner had evolved when she got a bit in over her head.

He blinked as he turned his head, seeing Ilia run across into a store, chasing a SnowGoblimon, and trailing behind her was a round, metallic Digimon in knight like armor, and an extra coat of leather armor over the chest… it looked a bit ridiculous with how round it was, especially while swinging it's two swords around. This was Gladimon, Kotemon's evolution.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Gladimon_

 _Gladimon. Vaccine Type. An Adult Level Warrior Digimon. A knight like Digimon that is always eager to head into battle, to the point some like to refer it as stab happy when in the best mood for battle. Despite this strange quirk, it has as much honor as any other knight Digimon. Its special attack is Wheel Rush, spinning on itself like a top with its sword held out to slice enemies to pieces._

"At any rate, we need to hold out until Gyro and the others defeat the Dark Masters," Wizardmon sighed.

"But how long will that take? And…" Lisa trailed off, honestly worried.

"Have faith that they can do it," came Summer's voice as she walked up to them, Renamon behind her. "The moment we lose faith, then we've already lost."

Lisa sighed "I know… I guess it's just so strange to be in a borderline apocalypse scenario."

"We'll get through it… we have to." Azure said after a moment.

Lisa smiled and nodded...before a thought crossed her mind. "You know...I wonder how the other Kingdoms are handling this. I mean...if the two worlds are so close now, wouldn't that mean the Digimon are leaking through to other Kingdoms too?"

Summer blinked...before paling in realization. "Yes...they likely would...we just happen to be the MOST concentrated since this is the thinnest area…"

* * *

 _6 Hours following departure, Mistral…_

"Hold on! More are coming!" a monkey faunus with spiky blonde hair, wearing an open white shirt and jean shorts, wielding a pair of gun-chucks, shouted as several students were fending off a small army of Pteramon that were swarming all over Haven Academy.

"Doing the best we can, Sun!" shouted a boy with blue hair and a pair of yellow goggles over his eyes, a red vest over his torso with some dark blue pants that had armor on the thighs, holding a silver rifle in his hands. "But dunno how long we'll last if more keep coming!"

"We have to last for as long as we can!" a boy with green hair and dark skin added, wearing a long white coat that was left open at the front, showing off the wing tattoos on his pectorals and the roman numerals around his neck, a gold pauldron over his right shoulder as he swung a large sword around.

"Would be easier if we weren't fighting freaking armored dinosaurs!" shouted a red haired boy with his hair covering one eye, wearing a simple white shirt and pair of pants with a gray scarf around his neck, though hanging off his shoulders was a red captain's coat, holding a cutlass in one hand and a flintlock pistol in the other, as he ducked underneath a low flying Pteramon with a panicked shout.

All around them it was chaos as the other students were fighting against the creatures of various shapes and sizes, the teachers helping as well. However, among the chaos, some of them couldn't help but notice and ask a big question. Where was the Headmaster?

Funny they should mention it, as currently the Headmaster was...hiding in his office. Even as the sounds of battle raged outside, Leo couldn't bring himself to do anything other than stay in his office. He'd SEEN what these Digimon could do….and it terrified him completely and utterly.

And it certainly didn't help that he had… company.

"Leo… what exactly is going on?" came the voice of the woman he feared the most from the small, jellyfish like Grimm that floated in front of him.

"I… I'm not entirely positive ma'am, I'm still confused myself after what happened in Vale, everything is just happening so quickly after all." Leo said, cowering for his life as he hoped the answer would be sufficient.

Salem frowned at that, but nodded. "Very well. Now what of Summer Rose?" at this her frown deepened.

"I…I honestly didn't know. I'd thought she was dead just like everyone else!" Leo said quickly. "But I do know that she was in the world these...Digimon...come from!"

"Is that so?" Salem said "Curious… do you think these Digimon could be of use to me Leo?"

"I don't know! All I know is the Digimon that had appeared in Vale were intending to take over Remnant under their leader, Myotismon...before those Digimon that were dubbed 'the Rebellion' destroyed him!" Leo looked close to having a panic attack as he replayed the memory of the destructive powers these creatures possessed.

"I see… and this Rebellion was led by Summer Rose, correct?" she asked for clarification.

"From what I understand, yes," Leo nodded. "Though she was rather tight lipped about details. Even towards Ozpin for some reason."

"Interesting… there's likely more to it then." Salem mused "Tell me Leo, how would you rate the strength of a Digimon? Full honesty."

"That...depends on which ones. The ones I've seen so far are maybe between a decent Huntsman and a powerful Grimm...but those last three...that VenomMyotismon and the two that destroyed it...They'd destroy hundreds, maybe THOUSANDS or more of Grimm in a single attack," he shivered violently, remembering the destructive power that leveled a portion of Vale.

"I see… keep gathering information Leo, and if possible, try to capture one of these Digimon, without arousing suspicion of course." Salem ordered him.

Leo looked out the window and saw an explosion. "Easier said than done," he sighed.

Back at the fight…

"Yeeehaw!" Sun grinned as the monkey faunus was...riding on the back of a Pteramon...who was trying to shake him off, and ending up attacking the others in the process...don't ask HOW he managed that.

So far he'd actually managed to start to make a dent in attacking creatures...and pointedly ignored the part where they burst into fragments when that happened. However, that was when he looked forward...and his eyes widened when he saw what looked like a missile with arms and eyes going right for him. In a reflexive move, he shifted...and soon ended up under his 'mount', the Pteramon all too happy to renew its efforts to shake him off, while ANOTHER missile was coming for him.

"Well… shit." Sun summed up his situation as the missile headed for him.

And then a red, flaming blur jumped into the air and started going from one Pteramon to the next, and rammed into the missile, kicking it away, while the flames died down enough he could see the short, child sized figure.

It reminded him of a lion, albeit bipedal, with red fur, and a yellow tuft on its chest, bracelets around its wrists, the tip of its tail on fire, and a circlet on its forehead, the yellow gem in the center letting out a soft flame. The lion flipped in the air after knocking the missile away, and landed on top of the Pteramon he was holding on to. "You might want to get ready to let go soon. Cause we're about to go down," the lion said, before… "Corona Knuckle!" it called out as it rained rapid flaming fists on the back of the Pteramon's head, causing its eyes to go swirly and start to fall from the sky.

"Crashing!" Sun shouted as he let go of the Pteramon once he was a few feet of the ground and tucked into a roll to land.

"And another one bites the dust!" the small Digimon, because what else could he be honestly, shouted as he landed on his feet, while Pteramon crashed on the ground, knocked out. However, he couldn't enjoy his mirth for too long, as suddenly several guns were aimed at him. "...what?" the Digimon blinked.

"Woah! Woah there guys no!" Sun said as he got between the guns and the little Digimon "Little dude just saved my life, we ain't hurting him."

"You sure man? Cause so far these things have been tearing apart everything," Neptune asked cautiously.

"Not to mention why this one suddenly decided to help. It might be trying to get inside for some reason," Sage added.

"Nah, I don't have any reason like that. I just like guys who can do cool things like what he did," the Digimon grinned, seemingly not worried in the least about the guns.

"You're a cocky little fella aren't you?" Scarlet said dryly.

The Digimon shrugged "Monkey boy is your leader right? Would you go against an order?"

"Only when he's being an idiot." Sage said, giving Sun a look.

"Which is often." Neptune added in deadpan.

Sun stared at them in deadpan "You dudes are harsh sometimes, you know?"

"So...about the Pteramon that want to bring down the building for some reason?" The Digimon said, reminding them of the issue at hand.

THAT got their attentions. "Right, those are still there," Sun said, before looking at his teammates. "Here's the deal, we've got literally bigger things to worry about, so let's put off worrying about the little-"

"The name's Coronamon," the now named Coronamon piped up.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Coronamon_

 _Coronamon. Vaccine Type. A Child Level Beast Digimon. Born from the fusion of sun watching data, he has a strong sense of justice, making him rather sincere. Though a novice, he is quite capable of manipulating flames to empower his attacks. His special attack is Corona Flame, shooting a fireball from the flame on his forehead._

"...Coronamon, until after Haven is safe. Okay?" Sun finished.

His teammates looked at each other, before shrugging. "Fair enough," they conceded before they returned to fighting off the attacking Digimon.

* * *

 _12 hours after departure, Atlas…_

General Ironwood was NOT having a good day.

First the trouble happening down in Vale, that had made him lose contact with Ozpin for a short while, and then when things finally cleared up, what do they see but a massive monster destroying the city.

It was a wonder the Grimm hadn't came barging through their doors with how worried people were.

Though, that situation soon explained itself, when the Digimon were found just, arriving out of, well, everywhere honestly! Right now Atlas was in chaos as the creatures were pouring in, attacking from land, sea, and air. Fortunately Atlas's natural defenses of weather and location made the threat mainly land based as flying Digimon had a hard time maintaining aerial superiority in the freezing wind, while aquatic Digimon still had to scale the frozen landscape to get close to the walls. However, that didn't mean things were going well. Case in point, he felt the base he was in shake, as a Paladin had just been thrown into the walls, falling to the ground in pieces as one of the larger Digimon had picked it up, ripped it in half and then thrown it. Then there was the gorilla-like Digimon roaring from a tower as it held the crushed body of an Atlesian knight, while pounding its chest and firing with the cannon mounted on its arm.

The Specialists were doing their best, as were the students of the Academy, but as it was, the Digimon outside the walls were slowly advancing, while the ones that got inside, were steadily increasing in numbers even with the ones they'd managed to destroy, while the Atlesian Knights were barely holding them off, evident by a few that were trampled under heel by large elephant-like Digimon, said creatures barely slowing down.

However, as if just to grate at his nerves more, a call was coming from the console...revealing it to be from the Council. "Great…" Ironwood groaned in annoyance. He just hoped other Kingdoms were doing better than they were.

However, among the various personnel working frantically, and generally practically panicking over the situation, one person was not. A rather lanky man with a face that just made you want to punch him, wearing small round glasses, his brown hair having a slight green tint to it, wearing a labcoat over a yellow turtleneck sweater and simple black pants with black dress shoes. Unlike the others he was looking at the Digimon, at the destruction and chaos with what could only be described as wonder. "What marvelous creatures…" he said, before his face twisted into a grin that spoke of a less than sound mind. "Why...if there could be a way to harness them...to put them towards our own goals…" he grinned as ideas and plans began forming in his mind...

* * *

 _18 hours after departure, Vacuo…_

The sound of battle could be heard throughout the sand covered lands of Vacuo as huntsmen both fully fledged and in training alike, were fighting hard against the Digimon that moved through the sand and dunes.

"Come on girls! Look alive!" shouted a girl with purple hair and wearing a mostly grey outfit, wielding a sword that she shifted into a crossbow and fired at a Veggiemon.

"Nebula, I swear to Oum, I will punt you one of these days!" shouted back a girl with long dusty blonde hair, wearing a green dress, using a spear as her weapon.

"You have WAY too much energy!" added a girl with long red hair, wearing a blue top with a burnt orange skirt, using a dagger as her weapon.

"We all know what she does with the excess." a girl with short black hair in ringlets said dryly as she threw some throwing knives.

"Come now, you all shouldn't be fighting among yourselves. Not when there are so many enemies to play with," came a new voice, as a small black blur sped through the group and attacked several of the Veggiemon, cutting them to shreds. The blur soon flipped into the air and landed on Nebula's shoulder revealing itself to be a BlackGatomon, grinning proudly as she overlooked the Veggiemon she had downed.

"We're not so much fighting as their complaining I have too much energy." Nebula said with a laugh.

"Sounds like a dumb thing to complain about when you still have THAT to deal with," BlackGatomon pointed out with an amused chuckle, gesturing to the rather large number of Digimon that were swarming the area and headed towards Shade Academy.

Nebula grinned like a maniac "Oh yeah. Bring it on!" she shouted, and was about to rush at them… were it not for another figure beating her to it.

And when they got into the middle of said swarm… it promptly blew up, figuratively, as several Digimon just went flying off in all directions.

Normally, they'd wonder who did that. However, the small pillar of fiery orange aura that came up from that...made it painfully clear who it was. "Looks like Diamond's at it again," Nebula sweat dropped. "And yes Black, we are QUITE sure he's human," she added, BlackGatomon closing her mouth before she could say the question.

"If you're sure… seriously this is like, the fifth swarm of Digimon he's sent flying in just as many hours." Black muttered.

While they were staring at the destruction that had just been wrought, the perpetrator had already moved on to another swarm. He was a young man with brown hair that went slightly pass his neck, a small amount of it tied into a ponytail, green eyes on his face, wearing a sleeveless red and white jacket over a black tank top and dark green slacks with red combat boots, a military-style dog tag hanging off his neck, while over his hands he wore a pair of red metal gloves. His expression was that of an excited grin, one that only became more noticeable when he punched a Mekanorimon. In the face. With enough force that it was now flying off the battlefield. Not slowing down in the least, he continued to mow his way through the lines of Digimon, until he came upon an...unexpected sight. What SHOULD have been the next swarm he was going to fight...had already been beaten. And standing in the middle of it, having beaten up the last Digimon, a Nanimon, was a yellow reptile, which at first glance appeared to be an Agumon, except it was slightly bigger, and had red leather bands on its hands.

The Agumon noticed him, and soon got into a ready stance. "Who are you? You looking to fight too?"

Diamond blinked, before smirking. "Don't you know it's common courtesy to introduce yourself first before asking another person their name?" he smirked as he got into a ready stance too.

The Agumon matched the glare. "GeoAgumon. The strongest street fighter of the WWW continent."

"That so? What a coincidence. The name's Marcus Diamond. Strongest fighter in Shade Academy," Marcus grinned. "Why don't we put it to the test?"

"Bring it," GeoAgumon glared before the two charged at each other, fists meeting faces as they clashed.

* * *

 _18 hours after departure, Vale…_

Ozpin sighed as he overlooked Beacon from his office. For now, it seemed the Digimon that had gotten through had stopped their assault...though he was sure they'd try again soon enough. That was how it had been the few other luls before as well. So far the students and teachers had been able to defend Beacon well enough, but with the Digimon swarming Vale, it had left the two parts of the city cut off and isolated. Sighing as he took a sip of his coffee, he couldn't help but think and wonder. It was obvious that once the day was over, the world would never be the same, but would it be for better? Or for worse?

Hopefully, it would be for the better, and that thought could only be solidified as he watched some of the Digimon interacting peacefully with his students, some even seeming friendly. If there was one good thing about this incident, it seemed it may have just opened a possible new path for the world. After all, unlike the Grimm, the Digimon could be reasoned with, and in some cases, seemed quite happy to help. He just hoped the rest of the world would see that.

Funnily enough, a similar thing was happening not too far away.

"Huh...is it just me, or do we have more Digimon on our side?" Azure couldn't help but ask.

"Nope, seems several more Digimon bonded with partners," Keenan said simply as they watched the scene from a higher floor. Several Digimon and humans and faunus were busy patrolling the windows and openings, driving away any hostile Digimon that were trying to break in, and even taking out any who did manage to get in, helping one another. Likewise, on the more central areas, he saw several kids playing with Digimon they'd befriended, bringing a small smile to their faces that even in these hard times, kids could find a way to smile, and do it alongside their new friends. Of course, that smile soon turned into sweat drops, when a small commotion was heard...and they noticed a young boy with a blue hoodie and grey pants, wearing a pair of yellow goggles with blue lens and pale brown hair on his head, trying to tug a red, reptilian Digimon out of the dumpster bin it had been digging through.

"...that one's not the brightest light is it?" Azure deadpanned.

"Nope," Keenan deadpanned as well. Despite that he still had a smile. Despite all that was happening...maybe this was a first step to a world where the two worlds could co-exist...AFTER they navigated the inevitable fallout that would happen once the crisis was resolved.

* * *

 _18 hours after departure, Mistral…_

While the main cities and academies seemed to be hot spots for Digimon emergences, that didn't mean places that were out of the way were safe either….though generally they were seeing less dangerous Digimon. Case in point…

"Out out out!" came a shout as a Gazimon was sent flying out of a farm with a new goose egg on its head, courtesy of a shovel being held by a young boy with a tan and freckles on his face, messy black hair atop his head, and green eyes with just a tint of orange in them, wearing a rather simple outfit of a white shirt and greenish grey pants held by orange suspenders, simple brown boots and orange gloves on his hands. Once he was sure that was the last of them, he sighed as he planted the shovel into the ground. "I think that's the last of them!" he called out to his Aunt.

"Just a minute, Oscar," she called back...right as a Gizamon was kicked out of the house. Through a window. From the second floor. "Now that's all of them...I think."

"Guess we'd better check one more time then," Oscar sighed as he went in...and heard something from his room. "Okay, looks like we missed one," he said, holding the shovel at the ready, but when he got to his room, he was met with...an odd sight. Namely a white and grey reptilian Digimon, that appeared to be made out of armor, a sword shaped horn on his snout, a red hood hanging off his shoulders, with the hood pulled up over his head, shadowing his golden eyes a bit… and he was reading a book. Oscar blinked, looking at the Digimon...who looked up...then went back to reading...and then looked up again. "If you're gonna use that, I don't recommend it. My armor's pretty hard," the Digimon said simply before going back to reading.

"...okay?" Oscar blinked not really sure what else to say. "You're...not like the others who got in here…"

"I don't make it a habit to cause people trouble for no reason," the Digimon shrugged. "And since we're talking, the name's Huckmon. Who are you?" Huckmon asked politely.

"Oh, uh...I'm Oscar. Oscar Pine. It's...nice to meet you?" Oscar said awkwardly, honestly not sure what the heck was going on now.

* * *

 _24 hours after departure, Vacuo…_

The fighting had stopped rather abruptly. For six hours the fight had stalled as the combatants were too busy staring. At what? Why it was the human and Digimon fighting a one on one fight...that had been going on for SIX hours STRAIGHT. By now both Marcus and GeoAgumon were sporting numerous bruises, but neither of them were giving an inch, countering each punch thrown with another and another, before they skidded back from another clash. Glaring at each other, they let out war cries as they charged forward, and ended up punching each other in the face. Their cross counter remained for a moment...before both fell to the ground completely exhausted.

"Dear Yggdrasil, FINALLY!" BlackGatomon said in exasperation.

"I know right?" Nebula sighed. "I thought they were going to keep going forever."

"The scary part, we could actually believe it if that happened," her teammates groaned as well.

"Hey, is something happening up there?!" came a surprised shout from some of the other combatants as they looked up and noticed a bright light starting to shine in the sky, as a wave seemed to go through the world.

However, as it did, not everyone was focusing on it. On the ground, Marcus was talking to his opponent.

"You're...pretty good…" GeoAgumon admitted through his tired breathing.

"You...threw some good punches yourself…" Marcus admitted as well, before he noticed GeoAgumon raising his arm, not in a fight, but in a peace offering.

"Let's call it a draw then," GeoAgumon laughed a bit.

Marcus blinked, before smiling at taking it. With that, GeoAgumon got up. "So what now? Boss?"

"Huh? Boss?" Marcus asked in surprise as he got up.

"Yeah, you're the first person who's matched me blow for blow in a fight before, so that makes you the boss. From now on I'll be your follower!" GeoAgumon grinned.

"Follower, huh? Well, you're a pretty weird looking guy, but I guess that's okay," Marcus chuckled before the two shared a fist bump...and a light shone from his hand. Pulling it back in surprise, he opened it up to find a D-Core resting in his hand.

"Seriously? Him too?" Nebula asked incredulously as she instinctively pulled out her own D-Core and looked at it.

"Probably with good timing." One of her teammates said, making her look to see the Digimon that they had been fighting starting to get pulled up into the sky, with the exception of BlackGatomon and GeoAgumon.

"Oh… oh thank Oum that's a relief, that was actually starting to get pretty long to be honest." Nebula said with a sigh.

* * *

 _24 hours after departure, Atlas…_

General Ironwood sighed as the battle had finally ended. While Atlas had been damaged, it wasn't anything too severe that couldn't be repaired. More importantly, he was looking at where the sky seemed to be sucking up the Digimon, hopefully to send them back from where they came. After a few minutes he turned around and walked through the facility. Opening his scroll at the same time, he dialed in a number without looking, not even having to wait a second for someone to pick up "Damage report."

"Sir! The city has taken heavy damage in multiple sectors, firefighters are being sent out to deal with any flames, and wounded are being brought to the hospital by the paramedics." the one who picked up answered him.

"Any casualties?" Ironwood asked with a light tone of worry.

"None at all sir, everyone is alive." the soldier answered in obvious relief.

Ironwood let out a breath at that, glad for at least SOME good news. "And what of the Digimon?" he asked.

"So far it seems they're gone, but we're still checking for any remainders," the soldier answered...before Ironwood's scroll started ringing, revealing another caller and he shifted focus.

"Yes? What? It's where?!" Ironwood gasped before his eyes narrowed. "Have a team ready and meet me there. But be careful. We can't afford any damage," he said before hanging up, and soon went to his destination. However, when he got there…

"Alright… even I think you all exaggerated about the situation." Ironwood said with a sigh as he watched a small purple and yellow Digimon lying on the pod of a very familiar resting girl… and in said girl's hand was a device, similar to what Lisa Lavender had shown in an earlier report a few hours ago.

* * *

 _24 hours after departure, Mistral…_

"Well… that was probably the most hectic day of all time." Sun said after a moment, as he looked at the D-Core in his hand while Coronamon sat next to him.

"I'm just glad its over," Neptune sighed. "Though...not complaining, but why aren't you all also being sucked up into that?" he asked, referring to how the attacking Digimon were now being sucked up into the sky...save for several Digimon who had been fighting alongside his team and various other students.

"Maybe it's cause of those Digivices," came the voice of a small frog like creature with an orange fin shaped like a mohawk as it rested next to Neptune.

"That or everything is glitchy." said a green, monkey Digimon with a top knot, wearing a leopard patterned robe, brown gloves, and holding a rather large slingshot as it hung off Sage's back.

"I'm gonna bet on the first one banana breath." came the dry female voice of a small, and I do mean SMALL, human shaped Digimon, that had the body of a teenager but she was smaller than a newborn baby, she had blonde hair tied in a ponytail with a green ribbon, a simple outfit that consisted of a teal colored top and green shorts along with boots and gloves that had spikes attached to them, while she held a red spear in her hands… oh, and she had four glittering wings on her back, like a pixie.

"Break it up you two. Point is we got through this in one piece," Coronamon said.

"He's right," Sun chuckled slightly. "Only question is...what now?" he couldn't help but ask. Even he knew nothing would be the same after this…

Meanwhile, in his office, Leo was thinking a similar thing. The battle was over and everyone had survived, while the Digimon were being pulled into the sky by some unseen force...save for several that seemed to have...bonded...for lack of better words, with some of his students...something that didn't sit well with him since that would make Salem's request...difficult…

 _Just ignore her…_ A voice in the back of his mind whispered.

But she'll find out, she ALWAYS finds out.

 _She won't, not this time… not when you can use everything you know against her…_

That would be almost impossible though, she'll realised he tricked her.

 _Not if you're subtle about it. That Cinder girl of hers, the one who's planning on masquerading as a Haven student, send her to Beacon for the Vytal Festival… send her to her doom…_

But how would that be the end of the False Fall Maiden?

 _Because the Digimon in Vale are numerous, and many are allied to humans, the Rebellion will be present, and they won't stand by and let her have her way… they'll destroy her without any hesitation…_

Leo slowly blinked, unable to believe it, because… the voice was right! If he just played the part Salem intended for him, Cinder would die, and that would be one less force for the witch to use against him, and she'd be none the wiser. And for the first time in quite a while...he let an honest smirk grace his lips. Yes, this could work...all he'd have to do is play the part as instructed...and let the Digimon tear Salem's forces apart. Oh yes...he could grow to like these creatures…

* * *

 _24 hours after departure, Vale…_

"Jeez, even you have a partner now?" Azure asked with a raised eyebrow as he looked at the person in front of him.

"I'll admit, this was certainly not how I expected things to go." Winter said, looking at the D-Core in her hand, before looking at the small Digimon next to her.

It looked somewhat like a rabbit, with two ear shaped appendages pointing upwards, but it also had two larger ones drooping down the side of its head, a long strand of… she wasn't sure what honestly, sticking out of her forehead, right over a crescent moon shape… in fact, there were several crescent moon shapes on the Digimon's pinkish hued body, with the tip of the rabbit ears and the hair like appendage being blue, and a pink ribbon around its torso.

"Neither did I truth be told, but I'm sure this new arrangement will prove to be advantageous for the both of us." the small Digimon said in a female voice as she looked up at Winter with a smile.

Despite herself, Winter couldn't help but smile. "I feel the same way, Lunamon."

"Everyone!" Keenan and Falcomon shouted, suddenly coming out of the shadows.

"Heart attack dammit!" Azure shouted at the boy suddenly popping out of the shadows.

"Your heart can wait! You'll want to see this!" Falcomon said urgently, but the grin he had proved it was good news.

"What is happening?" Winter asked.

"They did it! They won!" Keenan cheered.

"Wait, seriously?!" Azure asked with a grin.

"That is… certainly good news." Wizardmon added with his own grin.

"How do you know?" Winter asked.

"Come up to the roof and you'll see," Keenan said, as he grabbed them and pulled them through the shadows. When they emerged on the roof, they found Summer, Renamon, Taiyang, Lisa, Monitamon, Ilia, Kotemon, Willow, and even Zwei looking at the sky.

When they joined in observing as well, they could see all the Digimon returning to the Digital World, but also a bright light of an explosion in what looked like a wasteland.

"Well, that's one heck of a way to finish things," Wizardmon chuckled, as once the last of the Digimon flew up into the sky, the image of the Digital World slowly but surely faded away and before long the sky was back to normal.

"Well… I gotta say, I'm proud of them." Summer said with a grin after a moment.

* * *

Ozpin let out a sigh as he watched the sky finally return to normal, after a full 24 hours of those Digimon pouring in and another world being visible when one looked to the stars.

"I gotta say, I was almost worried there for a minute." Qrow said as he looked out the window as well while leaning on a wall.

"I have to admit… it was certainly a… unique day for Remnant. Creatures from another world, besieging our cities, yet others like them, becoming our friends and allies. Some might call it a miracle… others might call it the beginning of the end… but personally… I think this is the start of something new." Ozpin said after a few moments of thought.

"Let's just hope this new thing turns out to be a good thing," Qrow sighed. "And that no idiots end up doing something that ends with us having a race that make Grimm seem like puppies want us gone."

"Agreed, we can only hope human stupidity doesn't push them too far." Ozpin said with a sigh.

Back in Vale, the people had ventured out of their shelter. For a moment they were cautious...but eventually it hit them that it was indeed over, and the cheers soon started.

That's when everyone noticed a tram appearing in the air, seemingly riding on air… before gravity asserted itself and it fell to the ground.

Inside said tram… well…

"I… hate gravity…" Jaune groaned.

"I think Yggdrasil may be a bit of a troll…" Ruby added.

"Well… we're in one piece… that's something…" Gyro said, before groaning.

"Killer headaches and a rough landing though…" Agumon said, and somehow in the landing he ended up upside down.

Well… there were certainly more heroic ways to come back home.

* * *

 **And there we go!**

 **So, did you see all the cameos and get all the references? See all the little future events setup?**

 **Yeah, we used this chapter to introduce a lot of characters, and to make sure you lot don't question things too much when they appear later.**

 **Now, for those curious, Sage and Scarlet's partners, Koemon (because calling it Monmon is stupid) and Tinkermon (yes, literally Tinkerbell)**

 **Oh, and GeoAgumon is literally the 2006 redesign of Agumon but made into a subspecies just to make it less confusing.**

 **Anyway, hope you enjoyed our return, because...**

 **The Adventure Evolves.**


	49. 48: Dawn of Adventure

**Here's the next chapter everyone!**

 **And this one includes our new intro, so let's get right to it!**

* * *

A silhouette of Agumon is seen before it lets out a roar

 _Wanna be the biggest dreamer Zensokuryoku de mirai mo ima mo kake nukero_

The scene fades out to reveal teams RWGBY and JNPPR standing together as the scene gradually reveals the group standing atop Beacon Tower, overlooking Vale, as their D-Crests shine brightly, while several points of light appear through the city below.

 _*Music*_

The scene then changes to show shots of Takato, followed by shots of Sun, and finally shots of Penny. The scene then changes to show the title being formed from fragments of data. 'THOR Alter: Digital Story - Vale Adventures'

 _Sou boku wa ki zuitan da zutto shukudai wasureteta_

The scene changes to show the Chosen walking through the bustling streets of Vale, before they look ahead to several buildings with slight frowns as the shadows of several Digimon are seen against the buildings, the group and their Digimon standing at the ready.

 _Sore wa hitotsu no nazo nazo nazo "Boku wa dare nan darou?"_

The scene once again shows the streets of Vale, with Takato and Guilmon waving at the screen, followed by a shot of Sun and Coronamon sitting on a lamp post, and finally a shot of Penny and Monodramon watching the crowd from an alleyway. The last scene shows Azure and Wizardmon who look up into the sky as the scene pans away.

 _SLIDING shite surimuketa hiza itakutatte ne_

The scene changes to show several hands holding up D-Cores, which glow before turning into D-Arks, the scene zooming out to show Takato, Sun, and Penny in front, with Summer, Keenan, and Azure behind them and many more figures holding D-Arks further behind them.

S _ugu tachiagaranakya CHANCE wa nigete yuku wakatteru sa_

The scene then changes to show Guilmon slashing through the air as an image of Growlmon roaring appearing behind him, followed by an image of MegaloGrowlmon appearing behind Growlmon followed by a large shadowed form. The scene changes again to show Coronamon on fire as he punches forward, as an image of Firamon with his wings spread appears behind him, followed by an image of Flaremon with a fist on fire, and a shadowed figure in the back. The scene changes one more time to show Monodramon at the ready, an image of Strikedramon appearing behind him followed by an image of Cyberdramon, with a large shadowed figure in the background. The scene changes to show a tear in space as several eyes and fangs are seen from the void.

 _Big and bigger, biggest dreamer! Yume miru koto ga_

The scene changes to show the silhouette of Takato and Guilmon sitting on the ground, leaning against each other in the foreground, while in the background Guilmon is seen launching a Pyro Sphere, which clears and reveals Growlmon slashing at the screen, followed by a MegaloGrowlmon slashing the screen apart with his weapons before the scene reveals a quick shot of a knight-like figure.

 _subete hajimari sore ga kotae daro_

The scene changes to show a silhouette of Sun hanging upside down with his tail, Coronamon hanging off of him as the two swing, before he accidentally loses his grip and they both fall in a heap in the foreground, while in the background Coronamon is seen firing a blast of fire, followed by Firamon igniting with flames and charging at the screen, followed by Flaremon delivering a flaming punch to the screen, before the scene reveals a quick shot of an armored figure glowing brightly.

 _Dare yori tooku e tonde miseru yo subete no asu wo tsuranuite_

The scene changes again to show a silhouette of Penny and Monodramon running together in circles as if having fun, before eventually looking like they'd made themselves dizzy in the foreground, while in the background Monodramon struck the screen, followed by Strikedramon igniting and ramming the screen, followed by Cyberdramon with his claws glowing ominously and cutting the screen apart, ending with a quick shot of an armored figure in a heroic pose.

 _Wanna be the biggest dreamer Zensokuryoku de mirai mo ima mo kake nukero_

The scene changes to show shots of Azure, Summer, and Keenan, all looking at the screen with serious expressions as the scene zooms out to reveal them standing alongside their partners as large shadows appear behind them. The final scene shows the 10 Crests flying through the air before resting within the 10 D-Crests, which the Chosen raise to the sky, as beams of light shoot out and cut through the darkness above.

* * *

 **Dawn of Adventure**

* * *

The sound of an alarm filled the room, before a hand reached out and turned it off. Yawning a bit, Gyro got out of bed, and idly looked at the date on the calendar. "...hard to believe it's already been almost two weeks after we got back," he sighed as everyone else in the room was roused from their sleep.

"There hasn't been much going on so far, a few small Digimon coming through here and there that found partners with kids in Vale." Agumon added through a yawn as he got up from next to Gyro.

"Probably the same in the other kingdoms." Patamon said from Blake's lap.

"And of course, bigots who like to complain, can't forget those ones." Weiss said with a roll of her eyes.

"To be VERY fair to them though...their arguments aren't exactly without reason. Vale IS still in the middle of rebuilding after Myotismon, and then there's what happened to the other Kingdoms in one day," Tentomon admitted.

"Doesn't make them any less annoying though," Biyomon grumbled.

"Nothing we can do but do our best to show them they're wrong," Ruby said with a smile. "And we can do that by living normally...more or less."

"Normal REALLY doesn't exist for us anymore, does it?" Yang commented idly.

"It died the moment we saw our Digivices fall from the sky," Blake snorted.

"Not that any of us would have it any differently," Gyro chuckled. In the last two weeks since they'd returned, Remnant had gone through quite a few changes. First of all being of course the presence of Digimon. It seemed in even 24 hours, enough people had bonded with Digimon that there really was no point in trying to maintain any form of secrecy regarding them. However, that came with its own challenges. Due to the chaos that they'd ended up causing, the opinions of Remnant regarding the Digimon were...mixed. There were those who were open and even quite supportive of the idea of Digimon-Remnantian co-existence, these were mainly the people who were saved or fought alongside Digimon and bonded with some. Others...wanted the Digimon either out, or worse, with them being mainly those who were attacked by Digimon, or the more petty, those who simply lost some property or were inconvenienced by that one day. Then there were those who were neutral to the whole thing. Suffice to say...it was complicated.

Unsurprisingly, Team CRDL was among those who didn't want the Digimon around and just saw them as useless animals… let's just say he ran around with a roasted behind the first time he tried to do something to Agumon, and they've been on those fours' shit list since then...not that they gave a damn about that that jackass thought.

A knock at the door brought everyone out of their thoughts "It's open!" Ruby called out while Palmon was still half asleep against her.

The door opened softly, and Ilia and Kotemon poked their heads in "Hey… Azure just wanted me to pass along a message to you guys since he saw me first." the chameleon faunus said.

"And that message would be?" Gyro asked with a raised eyebrow.

* * *

"Good morning class, welcome to the first class of Digimon Studies," Summer said as she wrote the name of the class on the board, Renamon standing by her side. Right now they were gathered in the auditorium that Glynda normally used for combat class, since Ozpin had yet to finish finalizing everything and giving Summer her own classroom.

Her request to become a teacher HAD been sudden after all… though she had taken some time to reconnect with her husband first. As it was though, Ozpin agreed that this class would be necessary, what with the growing number of Digimon, they hoped that educating people of the race would help to avoid actions done out of fear born of ignorance. With that in mind, everything was set up. "My name is Summer Rose, and I'll be your lecturer for this class. With me here is my partner, Renamon."

"It's a pleasure to be here," Renamon said respectfully.

"So, if you didn't understand with the name of the class, here, I'll be teaching you everything you need to know about Digimon, since it's pretty obvious they are here to stay, I mean, we even have some in class with us." Summer explained, nodding towards the chosen at the end who all had their partners with them, and even Ilia was in the class, sitting next to Blake.

She figured she might as well sit in on it so she could learn more about the species of her partner.

"Before we begin the lesson, are there any questions? Perhaps something you'd like to know before we begin with the basics?" Summer offered.

"Excuse me," came a familiar australian accented voice, the chosen turning to see team CFVY, with Velvet having a hand raised high, as this class had both first and second year students in it.

"Yes, miss…?" Summer started.

"Velvet. Velvet Scarlatina," the rabbit faunus said. "I was wondering… I guess, what exactly ARE Digimon? And WHERE exactly do they come from? We all saw them come out of nowhere a few weeks ago, a lot of them came from the sky even, but… we don't really know much."

"An excellent question," Summer nodded. "Before I answer though, I must admit the answer, while I guarantee is 100% true, will no doubt sound ridiculous to you. Trust me, I thought it was ridiculous the first time too…" Summer sighed a bit at the end. "Digimon, short for Digital Monsters, come from an alternate world that is connected to our own. They are life forms made of data, while still having their own wills, emotions, and pretty much everything else we have, and hail from the aptly named, Digital World," she said. "A name so on the nose, it's hard to believe, I know," she added with a light chuckle, earning a small smirk from Renamon and a few students.

"So… the Digital World… it's inside scrolls and computers and all that?" asked the leader of team CFVY, Coco Adel.

"Yes and no," Renamon spoke up. "A friend of ours looked into it once, and while he theorized it would be possible to make a 'gate', our world is not literally inside the network of your world, even if its connected to it," she explained.

"If you want more info on that theory, go find Professor Azure Vermillion, the one who made that theory is his partner, Wizardmon." Summer said, and she could see some of the students planned on doing just that.

She then noticed what she assumed was another member of that team raise their hand, the dark skinned boy with orange hair and white eyes "Yes?"

"What exactly does a Partner mean in terms of Digimon?" the boy, Fox Alistair, asked.

"Digimon have a very unique trait. When they encounter a human or faunus, if the two are able to form a bond or connection with each other, they may become that person's Partner Digimon," Summer smiled. "When that happens, the person and Digimon become symbiotically linked to one another, with the Digimon gaining strength from their partner, while their partner gains a guardian, a friend, and for both, someone to help each other grow emotionally and as people," she said. "A key sign of a bond being formed is the appearance of a Digivice Core for the person. I'm sure some of you know what I'm talking about."

As if on cue, several students held out their D-Cores for all to see.

"There ARE other models of the Digivice though, thus why the basic model is known as a Core." Summer said, before going to Gyro and he got the message, lending her his Digivice, and she also borrowed Ilia's own, placing them on a table with her own Digivice, and using the screen of the auditorium to zoom in on the three so everyone could see them "As I just stated, the small, pager version is known as a Digivice Core, or D-Core for short. The variant I have is known as a Digivice Ark, D-Ark for short, Professor Vermillion and my disciple Keenan each have one as well. As you can see however, there is a third variant, one that I'm not quite sure how it comes to form, and I haven't found a name for it yet." she said, giving a blatant lie at the end just to make sure the word Crest didn't end up drifting all the way to Atlas, one never knew after all. "Any other questions?"

The class seemed to think about it for a minute… before they quieted down, signifying they had no more questions.

"Alright then, as I explained, the Digimon come from the Digital World and are the dominant species of that world. Being born of data, they have a rather...different...life cycle than us," Summer started, before pulling up a picture on the board of a field of eggs. "These, are Digi-Eggs. All Digimon start their existence as these."

There was a long silence in the class, with the chosen and their partners trying not to laugh at the faces of the other students, with Blake snapping Ilia out of it and confirming Summer wasn't pulling their leg.

"Yes, I know, it sounds strange, but that's how it is. Trust me, if I could have brought a Digiegg that was close to hatching to prove it, I would have." Summer said with a light grin. Following that, she quickly changed the picture to show…

There was a definite sound of 'Awws' from most of the girls in the class, as well as a few boys who didn't care for the looks they got, as the picture was of various Fresh stage Digimon. The chorus continued when the picture was shifted to various Baby stage Digimon.

"These are the first two stages of a Digimon's life. Fresh and Baby respectively. In these forms, Digimon usually don't fight and are normally at their most docile," Summer explained.

"Of course, there are always exceptions to the rule, so some Babies can show more aggressive behavior," Renamon added. "Of course those are quite rare...though if you DO find one, do watch out for when it evolves. Those usually yield more…violent...Digimon."

"Violent how?" asked a random student that she couldn't really find in the section their voice came from.

"Remember Myotismon from a few weeks back? Basically that." Summer answered, getting a few shivers of fear from the students.

"Moving on," Renamon quickly said. "The next stage of a Digimon's life cycle is the most common one. The Child level, which I myself am at," she said, changing the image to a number of larger but still relatively small Digimon.

"The Child level seems to be the most common level for a Partner Digimon, as you can see various examples in this class alone." Summer said as she gestured towards the Chosen's partners, and a few others including Kotemon.

"Though there is nothing stopping a higher level Digimon from forming a partnership with a human/faunus. Case in point, Professor Vermillion's partner, Wizardmon, is of the Adult level," Renamon added.

"Which brings us to said stage," Summer said as she switched the image, now showing more varied Digimon in terms of size, though many were quite large, and quite menacing at that in some cases. "This is the Adult stage, which is the most common final stage that a Digimon can reach by themselves."

"It's also that stage that most partner Digimon would reach without a proper catalyst for anything higher." Renamon added. "So don't expect that all of you will suddenly have a partner strong enough to crush a city."

There was a dejected 'Awww' that came from the class, along with some mutters of 'Damn it'.

Summer and Renamon had huge sweat drops at that, a sentiment shared by the Chosen gathered, though eventually they just shook it off and chalked it up to the novelty of having a monster friend...and probably one too many monster cartoons and movies.

"Moving on," Summer quickly said. "While it's not the strongest a Digimon can get, an Adult Level Digimon can vary in strength and abilities, from well...VERY weak…" she said, as the image of a Numemon came up, earning a few disgusted sounds from the the class at the rather dumb looking slug creature, "To obviously formidable," she continued, showing the picture of a Greymon, earning a few whistles from the male half of the class cause who didn't love a dinosaur, "To deceptively powerful," Summer continued, showing the image of a Gatomon, earning more sounds of 'Awww' from the girls at how cute it looked.

"In short though, unless it looks something like this," Renamon started, showing pictures of Numemon-family Digimon, and generally Digimon that looked like them. "Don't underestimate one no matter how cute or harmless it looks, as the average Adult is roughly as strong as a trained Huntsmen give or take."

Several students made a point of writing it down. They'd rather NOT have to some day admit they had their butts kicked by what looked like a stuffed animal.

"In fact, why don't we make a demonstration of how strong an Adult level is?" Summer said with a smirk, before disappearing and reappearing 5 seconds later in a burst of white petals, though when she came back, she had a cage with her, and inside of it was an Ursa. And judging by how beat up the cage was, it had a LOT of fight still in it. Heck, if someone didn't do something soon, that cage looked like it was going to break. "Now then, who to choose?" Summer mused as she looked at the Digimon present in the classroom, before grinning "Ren, Wormmon, come on over here."

Ren blinked, before nodding "Alright." he said as he stood up and Wormmon got off his own chair "So, are you going to explain Evolution to them first or after?"

"I think it's best to do so first," Summer nodded, before addressing the rest of the class. "Before we begin, I understand if there are a few misunderstandings in regards to 'Evolution'. For a Digimon, Evolution is a fast process where a Digimon goes from its current level to a higher one. It's actually akin to the evolution of a caterpillar into a butterfly," Summer explained.

There were a few murmurs from the students, some looking in wonder, some in interest, and others...skeptical.

"I believe it would be best to just show you all. Ren?" Summer nodded to the boy.

"Right," Ren nodded, before grabbing his D-Crest, and holding it out, with Wormmon facing the cage right as it was opened, the Ursa bursting out, and at that moment, the Digivice gave out a bright light, which caused the Ursa to suddenly recoil. Ren's eyebrow quirked a little, but he quickly ignored the odd sight. "Let's go, Wormmon!"

"Right!" Wormmon nodded as the light glowed brightly and his body glowed. "Wormmon, Evolution! Stingmon!"

The dropped jaws of many students in the classroom where rather satisfying if Ren were to be completely honest, as evidently, none of them expected Wormmon's evolution to be so radical.

Summer chuckled slightly. "As you can see, a change from one stage to another can be quite massive," she said. "There is no EXACT rule as to what a Digimon's next evolution form will be, as while many do seem to keep some of their previous form's traits, there are also many who seemingly have no relation to their previous forms."

By then the Ursa had shaken off whatever made it recoil, and lunged forward...only to stop when Stingmon slammed his hand down on it, pinning it to the ground. He didn't even hesitate, knowing the nature of these creatures, and squeezed his hand in a way that yielded a sickening 'crack', the Grimm going limp from a snapped neck.

Once again, a stunned silence descended on the class, none of them expecting the fight to be more of an execution, as the Grimm's corpse faded away into darkness.

"As you can see, against a single Grimm like this, the average Adult Stage has no problems whatsoever in fighting them," Summer said. "Furthermore, some are stronger or weaker than others. Are there any questions so far?"

There were DEFINETLY a few questions, as nearly every student started talking over one another while Stingmon turned back into Wormmon, with Ren grabbing the Digivices Summer borrowed earlier and handing them back to their holders as he sat back down with his partner.

The next few moments was Summer answering as many questions as she could. Eventually, she managed to quiet down the class after answering their questions, and the lesson could continue.

"The next stage following the Adult stage, is known as the Perfect stage," Renamon started. "Any stage beyond Adult is rather difficult to reach, partner or no partner," she said.

"Perfect stage Digimon include the ones that were interviewed back before Myotismon properly struck." Summer said, reminding everyone of Lisa's interview. "This stage is often named that because it takes what made the Adult level powerful...and refined that further. An army of Grimm could fight one of these and still lose completely," she said to emphasize the point.

There were several impressed sounds at that, clearly that got everyone's attention.

"As I said earlier though, don't expect to achieve this so easily, Perfect requires a catalyst, which changes from person to person, and Digivice to Digivice as far as we know, and D-Core users can't reach Perfect." Renamon said, though privately added in her mind 'At least not without a Crest.'

That earned a few disappointed groans. "What if we borrowed another Digivice?" a student asked.

"That would not work," Summer shook her head. "A Digivice is a physical representation of the bond between a specific Digimon and Human. It won't work for any other human/faunus or Digimon."

"And that is about it for the main stages of a Digimon's life," Renamon said...before someone raised their hand. "Yes?"

"But what about those three that were fighting in Vale?" one student asked, and Summer and Renamon sighed knowing what they were talking about.

"Those three...are a level we call 'Ultimate'. Its a level that goes beyond Perfect," Summer explained with a sigh. "However, it's so rare a level that in normal circumstances, it's VERY unlikely you'll encounter a Digimon that high on the power scale. In fact, only a handful have ever been known to exist among the billions of Digimon that exist in the Digital World."

"But how powerful would they be?" a student asked in wonder.

"Tch! They can't be THAT tough," came the arrogant voice of Cardin, who to anyone who noticed, seemed to be getting increasingly agitated since the start of the class, even going so far as to deliberately sit away from anyone with a Digimon Partner.

"You're kidding, right?" Gyro couldn't help but deadpan at his comment. Seriously, he knew Cardin had a massive ego, and didn't care much for the Digimon...but this was just stupid to the max.

"No! I mean, what's so great about those animals?!" he said… and just had time to blink before he had a fist in front of his face that was struggling to move forward, making him fall backwards.

"Say that again you bastard, I fucking dare you." Gyro growled darkly as Ruby was holding him back with some considerable effort.

"Why do you care? It's just some stupid pet people like you have following them around," Cardin snorted.

At this point even Ruby was glaring, before she looked at her boyfriend...and let go.

Gyro managed to land one solid punch on Cardin at least, before Renamon came in and grabbed his fist "One is all you get." she said simply.

Gyro continued to glare at Cardin, but nodded as he returned to his seat.

Or he would have if Cardin didn't growl angrily and look ready to lunge for him...only for Renamon to stop him too. "That's quite enough," she said sternly, pushing him back into his seat.

"Why should I?" Cardin growled in what he probably thought was a threatening matter.

"Because you deliberately caused him to attack you, so you don't get to attack him back." Renamon said, as if explaining it to a child. "As for an answer to your question," she continued, before Summer played a scene of the three Ultimates fighting, the destruction that followed, and a live feed of the current rebuilding attempts. "Be very VERY glad Ultimates are as rare as they are. They are NOT something either side wants running around too often," Renamon said, giving the boy a sharp glare, before she was soon by her partner's side again.

* * *

The class went by...relatively well after that, and before long it was time for lunch, so the students were now gathered in the cafeteria.

"Hard to believe Mom is suddenly a teacher here, huh?" Yang couldn't help but say.

"But it makes sense to do this," Pyrrha mused. "If people understand more about Digimon, then they'll be able to know how better to work with the situation."

"And of course we can help to make the relations between the people of Remnant and Digimon better. I dunno about you guys, but I don't think we could handle it if the Digimon ended up our enemies," Jaune said nervously.

"Well, you'd have us on your side at least." Gomamon reassured him with a grin.

"Oh that we're not worried," Ren reassured. "...we're more worried about the part where humans do something stupid that makes the majority of the Digimon think we're a threat and well…"

"Between the Grimm and Digimon, Remnant is toast," Pierce sighed. "Cause seriously, human stupidity is one of the infinite things in the universe. No way idiots like Cardin would even realize how big the bite they're taking before they're choking on it."

"Well… let's hope your Semblance is feeling generous then." Veemon said a bit nervously.

"Among other things," Blake sighed. "Neanderthals at 12 o'clock," she deadpanned. The group turned, and true enough, the Four Stooges of Beacon were headed their way with the head stooge looking less than pleased.

"You know, I heard even donkeys are smart enough to NOT hit the same wall. What does that say about you?" Gyro deadpanned when Cardin came up to them. "Look Winchester, I am NOT in the mood to deal with you and your racist crap, and I ESPECIALLY am not in the mood to listen to another idiot who seems dead set on giving humans AND faunus a SECOND enemy other than the Grimm. And UNLIKE the Grimm, we wouldn't be able to win if they got high enough on the power scale."

"So do us all a favor and make like a banana." Yang added, and grinned a bit when Nora high fived her.

Cardin was, quite obviously, steaming, almost literally if how red his face was looking was a good indication.

However when he raised a hand to, probably in his mind, clobber Gyro… he wasn't fast enough.

All Cardin knew was darkness as Gyro delivered a perfect hit to his head which crumpled the taller boy to the floor… and everybody turned to Pierce when they heard a loud and echoing voice say "KO!" from his scroll.

"Cardin! You're gonna pay for that!" his teammates growled… before the Digimon got between them.

"Don't you jerks have anything BETTER to do than bother us?" Salamon growled.

"Yeah! We have enough jerks like you back in the Digital World!" Gabumon agreed.

"And like with them we're not gonna take you bothering us or our partners lying down!" Biyomon added.

"So why don't you walk away before someone gets hurt," Agumon finished, flames licking the side of his mouth.

Apparently the show of unity was a bit too frightening for the idiots, especially since Agumon wasn't the only one prepping an attack, as they picked up Cardin and ran away.

"Wow… you guys almost make this an art form." Ilia said with a blink.

"It's very impressive." Kotemon agreed with a nod.

"After the things we survived through, those guys don't even register on the 'threat' list," Weiss said dryly.

"That both impresses and scares me," Ilia sighed. "So...what do you all have next?"

"Well...there's that field trip in a week," Ruby said. "The one to Forever Falls."

"Other than that, it seems they're gonna be reworking the time tables to fit in the new class," Blake said. "Other than that, we'll have History with Oobleck and that's it for the day."

"Remember to call him Doctor, or he'll interrupt you… a lot." Gyro said with a chuckle.

"We'll keep that in mind," Ren chuckled.

* * *

"Prior to the Faunus Rights Revolution, more popularly known as the Faunus War, human kind was quite, quite adamant about centralizing the Faunus population in Menagerie," Doctor Oobleck said in his usual rapid pace, before taking a sip from his coffee mug, then zipping to in front of his desk. "Now! While this must feel like ancient history to many of you, it is imperative to remember that these are relatively recent events! Why the repercussions of the uprising can still be seen to this day!"

"Like how people will want to make sure we remember the battle in Vale a few weeks ago?" Weiss asked knowingly.

"Precisely Miss Schnee." Oobleck said with a nod, before he started on again "Now! Have any among you been subjugated or discriminated because of your Faunus heritage?" he asked, and a few students raised their hands, as well as Velvet, Blake, and Ilia, who once again was sitting in (because if she didn't occupy herself, she'd probably be trying to think of ways to skin Fennec and Corsac) "Dreadful, simply dreadful! Remember, students, it is precisely this kind of ignorance that breeds violence!" another sip, because of course "I mean, I mean, I mean just look at what happened to the White Fang!" zipping to another spot again.

"Too bad people don't get the hint earlier," Blake grumbled a little.

"Now, which one of you young scholars can tell me what many theorist believe to be the turning point of the third year of the war?" Oobleck asked, to which Weiss raised her arm. "Yes?"

"The Battle at Fort Castle!" she answered without hesitation.

"Precisely!" Oobleck nodded. "And, who can tell me the advantage the Faunus had over General Lagune's Forces?"

And Cardin chose that moment to be a dick of course, as he flicked a piece of paper at Jaune in the hopes of getting SOMEONE in trouble, and sadly Gyro was too focused on sharing his notes with Ruby to stop it with his semblance.

"Ow." Jaune said as he felt something hit him in the back of the head.

"Mr. Arc!" and Oobleck was suddenly in front of him, startling the blonde "You have the answer?"

"Uh…" Jaune was caught flat footed for a moment, glancing down to Gomamon who shrugged helplessly, before looking back to Oobleck "No Doctor, I don't."

Oobleck rose an eyebrow "Then why did you speak up?"

"I felt something sting me in the back of the head." Jaune answered simply.

"Ah… very well then, my mistake." Oobleck said with a nod of apology, mostly for putting Jaune on the spot, before turning back to the class at large "Does anybody have the answer then?"

Cardin grumbled at how that didn't go as he planned...before yelping when he felt something sharp poke him in the rear.

"Mr. Winchester! Do you have an answer for us?" Oobleck asked, to which Cardin looked surprised, so much so he nor his teammates could turn and look to see who or what did that, and as such, never noticed the small white form sneaking away.

"Well…" Cardin started before smirking and leaning back. "Well...I'm sure it's easier to train an animal than a soldier," he said.

"This guy redefines the meaning of jackass," Tentomon grumbled from where he was sitting next to Weiss. He sure as heck knew that was wrong. With that in mind… "You REALLY don't even bother to think of your own words do you?" he said out loud as he jumped onto the table in front of him.

"Oh? And I suppose you know the answer, bug?" Cardin shot back.

"It's easy when you bother to read!" Tentomon snorted.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Tentomon…" Jaune muttered under his breath.

"Oh? So what was the big trick?" Cardin challenged.

"Its night vision you dope! Faunus have better night vision than humans, something anyone with half a mind for tactics would research if they were gonna fight a faunus! General Lagune clearly didn't bother, no doubt cause he had the same bigoted thoughts as you and figured he knew everything he needed to know. Well, the end result is for everyone to see in the books!" Tentomon shouted, finally losing his patience.

There was a bit of silence in the class as several people stared with wide eyes at the Digimon who was panting after his rant, while Weiss came over and picked him up to bring him back to her seat.

"Well… anger side, Tentomon is indeed correct, the Faunus won that battle due to night vision. General Lagune, ignorant of that fact, attempted to attack them at night, and as a result was captured," Oobleck said, a bit more slowly than his usual tone, before turning to Cardin "Mr. Winchester? You can stay to see me after class, I think we need to have a chat."

"Nice one," Gomamon said, sticking his head up from under the desk...suddenly next to Tentomon.

"Where'd you come from?" Weiss blinked.

"Who do you think made that jerk yelp?" Gomamon snickered under his breath, before sliding back down… and popping back up next to Jaune.

Weiss and Tentomon both blinked at the seal Digimon, before figuring it was best they didn't question how he just got there so fast.

* * *

"Well...that went a lot better for Jaune than it did in 'canon'," Gyro commented after they'd all left class.

"Somehow that doesn't make me feel all that better," Jaune deadpanned.

"Well...doesn't matter," Gomamon shrugged. "So classes are over today? What do you guys want to do?"

"Well...it's not too late, and since the ships are running again...want to go for a quick trip into Vale?" Blake asked.

"Reason is?" Pierce asked knowingly.

Blake rolled her eyes "What? I can't just want to hang out?"

Everyone gave her a look at that "Blake… you don't just do things, you do them for a reason." Patamon answered.

"Okay, a new book I was interested in came in, and a store where I happen to know the owner, former member of you know what, said he'd try to hold on to one for me," Blake admitted.

"You're talking about Tukson right?" Gyro asked with a raised eyebrow.

Blake nodded, glancing at Ilia who looked a bit confused at Gyro knowing a former Fang member, so she decided to ask a bit more discreetly so they could explain it to her girlfriend when she wasn't asking a million questions "I assume he appears in the thing?"

Gyro blinked, before raising an amused eyebrow "Yeah, he does."

"Quick warning, we might want to get him to run away sooner than later, or Mercury might get the chance to off him," Pierce frowned.

"Who's Mercury?" Ilia asked in confusion.

"Some jerk who's an assassin, enemy of ours, he doesn't know we're aware of him, and his boss has the Fang under her thumb because Adam is an ass, so he's gonna probably try to kill Tukson since he's a former Fang member." Pierce explained.

"...right," Blake sighed. "I'll be sure to visit more often. Maybe if I can't convince him to get to safety sooner, then maybe I can be there to stop them."

"I'll help," Patamon added.

"We'll all do what we can," Ruby said. They couldn't just let someone die after all. Not when they could do something about it.

"Welp, guess we're going into Vale." Nora said with a laugh before they all went to the docks to catch a ride down into town.

"It really helps put things into perspective when you see the rebuilding efforts from up close." Pyrrha said once they reached town and observed a street and the buildings on it in the middle of being rebuilt.

"More reason to make sure the shit that's about to go down during the Vytal Festival doesn't go as bad as it would if nothing is done. Though hopefully we can try to keep damage to a minimum," Gyro sighed.

"Well...we know who to look out for, so that'd help," Agumon encouraged.

"Yeah, last time they didn't know who the enemy was. Now we do," Veemon agreed.

"Blake… what are they talking about?" Ilia asked in confusion.

Blake sighed, before turning to her girlfriend "Alright, it's like this…"

* * *

"Wait… so… a third world… really?" Ilia asked in shock.

"How did you think we felt when we found out the Digital World was a thing?" Yang asked with a snort.

"Suffice to say though, we're FULLY intending on fixing things. At the very least so the world doesn't go bleak in the span of a few days," Pierce sighed.

"I can see why." Ilia said with a sigh, she'd never thought she'd be told about a third world where Remnant existed as a show.

"Honestly, after everything that's happened so far, this feels downright sane," Jaune deadpanned. Really, sanity and normality was dead as dead could be for them.

"...so, where's Tukson's shop?" Ren asked, wanting to change the uncomfortable subject.

"Right. It's this way," Blake nodded, leading them to it.

* * *

It wasn't long before they reached their destination, a quaint little book shop called Tukson's Book Trade. However…

"Huh...is it just me or does it feel...bigger...than in the show?" Pierce mused.

"It's not just you. It DOES feel bigger than I remember," Gyro mused. "Then again...it's not like we saw details of the shop much…"

"Well… I don't know how it was in the show… but Tukson told me a while back he had a wife and son… maybe that's what it is?" Blake suggested.

"That… that would do it yeah…" Gyro said with a blink "Huh… didn't see that coming."

"Just like you didn't see us being a thing." Palmon said in amusement.

"Yeah, I guess we didn't." Pierce said with a laugh. Once the mirth died down they soon went inside. The shop certainly was well stocked with a large variety of books.

"Welcome to Tukson's Book Trade. Home to every book under the sun," came the voice of a rather large man with dark hair.

"That's false advertising and you know it Tukson." Blake called out to the man with a smirk.

"I don't need that from you too, my wife tells me every morning." Tukson shot back dryly, before laughing "Good to see you again Blake, how've you been?"

"Been doing well enough. I've made a few new friends too," she smiled, gesturing to all her new friends.

"I see," Tukson smiled a bit, especially when he noticed Blake had her ears fully exposed. Though when he passed Weiss he did a double take.

"I know I know, a Schnee being friends with a faunus, really strange, and I honestly don't care," Weiss chuckled dryly. It had been long enough that the novelty of the stares were starting to wear off.

"Well, I'm honestly glad to know that," Tukson admitted with a nod. "At any rate, I already know what Blake wants, but is there anything in particular all of you would like?"

"Mind if we browse?" Jaune asked politely, earning a small smile and nod from the larger man. With that, the group went around the shop, looking for anything interesting...save for Nora and several of the Digimon...who seemed attracted to the back of the shop.

"Something smells good," Agumon said.

"That would be my wife's bakery, since we set up shops back to back, we just attached the two buildings together into one, so if I go out the back of my store, I end up in the back of her own." Tukson explained with a fond smile. However, when he looked at the clock, he frowned a little.

"Something wrong?" Salamon asked.

"No, just wondering where my son is. He's a bit late," Tukson frowned. "He's a responsible kid, so I know he's not doing something he isn't supposed to, but that new friend of his…" he sighed.

"Any chance it's of the monstrous variety?" Pyrrha asked knowingly.

"Got it in one." Tukson sighed "Honestly, that thing is kind of like a big, curious baby… with claws and sharp fangs… and it can breathe fire too."

"Wow...sounds like a troublesome partner," Gomamon mused.

"Yeah… he likes my wife's bread though, so at least he's not too hard to handle when their inside." Tukson admitted with a shrug. "Stops us from wasting any unsold bread too."

"Yeah, sounds like one glutton of a mon," Biyomon laughed.

"But...you sure you don't maybe want us to go look for him?" Patamon asked.

"No, its fine. If there's one thing good about what happened recently, crime's been on hiatus thanks to not only much of Vale still needing rebuilding, but let's just say some found out the hard way that picking a fight with Digimon isn't a good idea," Tukson chuckled at the last one.

"Well, in that case, we'll see you around Tukson." Gyro said as those who had chosen books paid for them before leaving the store.

"So… what now?" Kotemon asked as they left the store.

"I guess we could look around and see how things are doing in town." Jaune suggested.

"We might as well." Ruby agreed.

* * *

"Vale's rebuilding steadily...and I'm happy to see there's good reason for it," Wormmon commented as they happened to walk by the places rebuilding...and saw several workers with Digimon partners helping to attach things, weld things, and generally make the rebuilding process faster.

Then they came by a park, and noticed children coming to the end of a game...but they weren't just children there.

"This really gives you hope for the future." Gyro said with a smile as he watched the kids that had been playing with their Digimon partners.

"It always starts with the children they say," Ren mused. "Maybe the Digimon like Myotismon didn't leave a good impression…"

"But with this, people can see that there's more to them than just what Myotismon showed the world," Jaune agreed.

Eventually the kids finished their game and were preparing to leave...save for one…

"That kid…" Ilia mused.

"Do you know him?" Blake asked.

"Isn't that the kid with that red Digimon from the mall?" Kotemon asked, before taking a closer look at said Digimon, seeing it had a red, raptor like body with small bat like wings on its head, a white belly, several black markings on its body, with the most prominent being… "Oh… that's… oh dear…" Kotemon started muttering, somehow managing to be visibly pale even underneath the armor.

"Something wrong?" Ilia asked in worry.

"He… he has a Digital Hazard." Kotemon managed after a moment, and all the other Digimon visibly tensed.

"I'm guessing that's a bad thing," Yang frowned.

"Well...not necessarily, but Digimon who have that tend to be more...violent…" Biyomon said.

"Not saying ALL Digimon who have that are violent. It's just they can have more violent tendencies," Tentomon added.

"You're forgetting how those that go full rage become literal global risks and can cause a meltdown of the Digital World." Gabumon added with a frown.

"So they're a walking nuclear reactor...and his partner is a kid who seems to be having a hard time keeping him in line normally at that…" Gyro said.

"...we're doomed…" Salamon moaned.

"Well… if it helps, I was looking that one up on the Analyzer, it's called Guilmon." Weiss said as she flipped her scroll around to the others.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Guilmon_

 _Guilmon. Virus Type. A Child Level Reptile Digimon. A Digimon bearing the Digital Hazard on his body, one of the most dangerous hosts of it due to a potential Dark Evolution it can take under the worst possible conditions. His saving grace is that he has the personality of a curious child, and very much tends to act like a simple dog. His special attack is Pyro Sphere, shooting a blazing red orb of fire from his mouth._

The group slowly looked over… seeing as now the boy was trying to nudge Guilmon awake, but before he could, the Digimon's eyes suddenly opened and his head shot up, almost knocking his partner over.

"Ouch…" the boy groaned, before noticing the expression on his partner who was sniffing the air. "Guilmon? What's wrong boy?" he asked.

"I smell Digimon! And they're not friendly!" Guilmon growled as his eyes gained a more feral look to them.

The air felt tense in the immediate area, before a spot near the trees sparked, and reality suddenly tore itself open, a hole in the air remaining as data leaked from it, with what appeared to be a forest being visible beyond… though the trees were moving.

What followed was what appeared to be a walking tree only without any leaves, coming out of the tear. "So this is the other world. Come on boys, this place looks like a great place to take root!" one of the Digimon said as a few more Digimon like it came out as well.

"What are Woodmon doing here?" Nora asked with a frown as they all tensed a little.

"I'd like to hope they're friendly, but I think we all heard what Guilmon said," Palmon frowned.

True enough…

"Okay, this place is gonna be our new home, so first order of business, let's clear it up," the lead Woodmon said. However…

"Hey! You can't do that!" the boy in blue said, catching their attention, Guilmon by his side.

"Takato's right! This park is for everyone, you can't just do that!" one of the kids said.

"Oh really? And who's gonna stop us?" the Woodmon challenged.

"We will!" The boy in blue, Takato said defiantly, the kids soon joining in as well as the Digimon which aside from Guilmon included a Hagurumon, Bakumon, Candmon, ToyAgumon, Elecmon (not the same one from File Island), Goburimon, Kunemon, Liollmon, Mushmon, and a Penguinmon.

The half a dozen Woodmon stood their ground. "Well, in that case you're gonna learn not to mess with us!" the lead one said, before the two sides charged at each other.

"Shouldn't we help?" Ruby asked.

"We will if we need to. Until then, let the kids protect the park," Gyro smiled. "We've learned by now when people and Digimon work together, there's a LOT they can accomplish."

True enough, the kids and Digimon were holding their own quite well against the Woodmon. Attacking in tandem, working to hold some down, and the kids helped distract the attacking Digimon too. Overall the kids were slowly pushing the Woodmon back. The biggest help was definitely Guilmon who could overpower a Woodmon by himself, and launched it into another one with his Pyro Sphere.

The Woodmon fought back, but even when they managed to knock some of the mon back, their friends helped them up and they resumed the assault. Eventually…

"Retreat! Retreat!" the lead Woodmon shouted as the six soon crammed through the portal and before long they were gone, the portal closing behind them.

With the threat gone, the kids were cheering along with the Digimon, glad that they'd managed to beat the invaders back. Eventually though it was time to go home and the group went their separate ways.

"Come on Guilmon, if you're fast enough maybe mom will have saved you some of the better scraps of bread." Takato said as he tugged his partner along.

Guilmon's ears perked up at that, his stomach starting to grumble loudly out of nowhere as he drooled at the thought of eating more bread.

As the two walked a bit, Takato noticed the chosen...particularly Ilia. "Huh? Hey, aren't you that nice girl from the mall 2 weeks ago?" Takato said when he recognized her and Kotemon.

"I'm surprised you remembered me." Ilia said, blinking in surprise as he walked up to her.

"Well, kind of hard to forget seeing someone running after Digimon while being super angry about something." Takato said with an awkward laugh.

Ilia slumped down at that "Not my proudest moment."

"So uh...I never got your name. My name is Takato. Takato Ecarlate," he introduced himself with a smile. "And this is Guilmon."

"Hi!" Guilmon said cheerfully.

"Ilia Amitola, and this is Kotemon." Ilia introduced herself and her partner.

"Wait, Ecarlate? You're Tukson's son?" Blake asked as she looked at him in surprise.

Takato blinked a few times "You know my dad?"

Blake nodded "I go to his store a lot, and I knew him back before he opened it, you weren't even born yet."

"So, you're a Faunus then? What kind of trait do you have?" Ruby asked curiously, looking him up and down.

Takato chuckled "Same as dad." he said as he lifted his hands up and puma claws came out of his fingertips.

"Well that's gotta be practical if someone tries to fight you." Nora grinned a bit.

"I guess yeah." Takato chuckled "Anyway, thanks again for helping so much during that invasion miss Ilia. I should get going now, before mom and dad start to worry. See ya!" he said as he turned and started to walk away with Guilmon.

"Bye bye new friends!" Guilmon added with a big smile.

The group waved goodbye at them in various states of amusement "He's a good kid." Weiss said with a smile.

"Yeah, and Guilmon really is like a big dog I guess… much less worrying regarding the Digital Hazard now… unless Takato ends up really hurt of course, then we're probably screwed." Gyro finished with a sigh.

"Let's… not think about that," Jaune sighed. "Let's think about something happier. Like the field trip," he suggested.

"You mean the one where Cardin will try to sick rapier wasps on us?" Gomamon pointed out.

"...think about when we turn the tables on them," Jaune amended.

"Oh yeah…" the brothers had a rather...happy look. No doubt they planned something nasty for the neanderthal.

* * *

 **And there!**

 **So, what did you think of the start of the next season?**

 **Penny's partner is now pretty damn obvious since, you know, written in the intro, Takato is Tukson's son, Ilia's in on the whole Earth thing, and we establish that Guilmon is a strong, and pretty damn scary, Digimon at times.**

 **No evolution for him just yet though, that's for another time.**

 **Anyway, let us know know what you thought, because...**

 **The Adventure Evolves.**


	50. 49: Loose Ends

**Hello everyone and welcome back to Digital Story after... about a month I think?**

 **Anyway, we're back with a new chapter.**

 **And sorry I haven't been getting them out that fast recently, I just have so much inspiration for other stories.**

 **Having a brain full of ideas is both a blessing and a curse honestly.**

 **And no, this isn't me being vain, this is just me stating a fact.**

 **It's a blessing because I get so many ideas for so many different stories, but it's a curse because it makes me indecisive about what I want to work on sometimes.**

 **Anyway, we did get some nice ideas for Digital Story, later down the line in the plot with how... certain things will go.**

 **I won't say WHAT those things are of course.**

 **For now, just enjoy the end of Volume 1.**

* * *

 **Loose ends  
**

* * *

The night fell on Beacon Academy, as many students were preparing for bed. However, in one room of the castle, the residents weren't getting ready for bed, on account of them laughing up a storm.

"Now I wish I was there to see THAT!" Ilia laughed as currently she was spending time with teams RWGBY and JNPPR in their dorms. She'd switched out her previous outfit with a more casual look consisting of a short black jacket with two tails, with a gold zipper, buckle and buttons and with a white interior. She also had a gray short top that exposes her midriff, maroon jean pants, black sneakers and black matching wristbands.

"Yeah, it really was something. I'd feel bad if it wasn't from a complete Jackass like Cardin!" Gyro laughed, the scene from their field trip replaying in his head.

The field trip had gone normally, with the two teams sticking close and gathering sap together… which was made a bit longer by Nora eating some of the jars quickly ("Oh come on, this stuff is delicious!").

Then the Digimon had overheard team CRDL readying themselves for revenge, and simply gave a small "Idiots incoming." before Gyro casually used his semblance to send the jar of sap back flying, and Pierce's semblance must have turned on at the same time, as Russel dropped the box full of VERY angry Rapier Wasps.

The show that got them had been rather entertaining as they watched CRDL being chased by Rapier Wasps while covered in tree sap.

Then the Ursa came and scared away the wasps, before chasing CRDL itself, attracted by the scent of the sap.

The teams continued to watch the show for a few minutes still, until Ruby shot the grimm right between the eyes, making it collapse and fade into smoke.

They did add an extra bit to CRDL's misery though, this one being mostly Nora's idea, as she threw what some people might mistake for a grenade… but it was something FAR more hilarious.

A rather interesting bomb that was double layered, as in, there was a second bomb hidden inside, the first layer had contained pink paint, which completely covered Team CRDL. After that, the second bomb inside went off, and covered the team in sparkles and glitter.

It had taken months for Nora to figure out how to make the bomb work, and she was damn proud of it. The end result well...it was a miracle they hadn't died laughing seeing as team CRDL had gone from neanderthal bullies to...something that would look right at home in a girly girl kids cartoon show what with them being bright pink, and having all the glitter you'd imagine coming from fairies.

Suffice to say, team CRDL would be the talk of the school for weeks to come, especially after the rounds of laughter they kept getting from everyone who saw them like that, making for a week they'd NEVER forget...and probably cementing how much they REALLY wanted their blood now. But it was soooo worth it.

"Oh man, after seeing what those guys WOULD have done, I'm honestly not sorry in the least about what we did," Jaune said with another laugh.

"Your telling me. Those jerks got what was coming to them." Gomamon said with a laugh of his own.

"We'll have to be careful though, they'll probably want revenge." Tentomon pointed out.

"Their not the brightest, so any revenge scheme would be pretty obvious to spot." Pierce said with a shrug.

"Betcha they'd try the 'bait and box' trap, thinking we'd fall for it." Veemon chuckled.

"If they actually do, I say we trick THEM into falling for it," Biyomon laughed at the mental image.

"Well, as funny as it was, what was our next 'incident' again?" Ren said with a small smirk.

"That'd be when we 'find out' that Blake is a Faunus," Gyro said, before smirking a bit. "And hey look, she's got her cat ears proudly displayed. She must be a Faunus. Shock and gasp," he said melodramatically.

"It seems I've been found out." Blake said with a smirk.

"And look at me, I'm secretly a faunus too." Ilia added as her skin changed color, playing along with the joke.

"So yeah, bla bla bla, we go looking into foreign students to 'observe' them for the tournament, White Fang did some dust robberies, Weiss does a bit of semi-justified rants on Faunus, Blake isn't too happy, cue Sun showing up, having stowed away, chase after him, meet Penny, more past induced semi-racist rants, and Blake loses her temper and blows her secret," Pierce listed off. "Naturally a good chunk of that isn't happening, though we might as well see if Sun still showed up via stowing away, then there's Penny."

"I'm honestly glad we don't have to go through that kind of drama. Really not proud of how I used to be," Weiss sighed.

"To be VERY fair, living under Jacques wasn't easy, neither was the whole 'friends and business associates going missing' bit. Hence why Pierce said 'semi-justified'," Gyro consoled.

"So, just to check again, I just have to call Penny friend and she'll want to be my friend?" Ruby asked.

"Yeah, poor girl's really starved for social interaction, so far she's only had Ironwood, her dad, and probably some students to talk with, and Atlas students all have a stick up their ass… well, most of them do." Pierce said, quickly amending that due to a mix of remembering 2 particular lively Atlas students...and the small glares from Weiss and Pyrrha who's sisters either graduated or are currently in, Atlas.

"Then there's the question of Digimon," Blake mused. "I mean, if they've showed up all over the world, then odds are students from other academies have partners too."

"Well, it SHOULDN'T be a problem, but that IS something to remember," Gyro mused. "At any rate, its probably still a month or two away, so no point in overthinking for now. Just...act natural when the time comes," he shrugged.

"Figuring out the amount of time between episodes is a pain huh?" Yang mused as she leaned back into Piece's chest, sitting between his legs.

"Yeah, volume 1 seemed to imply a few months happened in between some of the episodes, it was starting with volume 2 that time seemed a bit more crunched, since most people think Volume 2 took place within a month, maybe 2 at most, while Volume 3 was most certainly confined to a week or two." Pierce summed up.

"Well...at least that's not too bad," Jaune blinked, not sure what else to say.

"For now, we'll just have to take things as they come. Its when the Vytal Festival hits…" Wormmon trailed off, before a thunk was heard...and they saw that Gabumon had buried his horn into a rough drawing of Cinder's face.

There was a bit of silence between the group at that, while Gabumon glared at the drawing "So… anybody else would pay to see THAT?" Agumon said, nodding his head at Gabumon.

"I would." Palmon said with a nod, which spread through the rest of them.

"When you fight her...go Ultimate. I don't think the Maiden powers are beyond Perfect, but why take a chance, right?" Pierce said, earning nods from all the Digimon.

"Anyway, all that's left now is to reach the points. So...I guess that's it for today. We should probably get ready for bed soon," Ruby said. With that the group went back to their rooms and were soon turning in for the night.

* * *

Days passed by quickly after that. They were overall peaceful, with the occasional Digimon appearing, but by then, most incidents were able to be settled quickly enough thanks to the growing number of people with partners. They'd go into town when they could, and saw that restoration was going smoothly, sometimes meeting up with some friends in town like Lisa and Monitamon who even with the loss of the VNN building which was still being rebuilt, were hard at work as reporters (Lisa getting quite the promotion thanks to her coverage of the battle of Vale), and sometimes running into Takato whenever he was in town...or having to chase after Guilmon who'd often run off for one reason or another.

Speaking of Lisa Lavender, a few times whenever they'd meet her, she'd ask how Azure is doing, and other times they'd even see the two together here and there. That honestly got the brothers thinking about what happened while they were gone...but they didn't pry. If something was going on, Azure would tell them. That or they'd wait till it was painfully obvious THEN ask him.

Other than that, things went by relatively peacefully. Digimon and Remnantian relations while still rocky seemed promising overall...even if some of the anti-sentiment was becoming more...vocal...but at the same time pro-sentiments were going strong as well. Before long, it was time for the next big event.

* * *

"Good call bringing nose plugs again," Gabumon chuckled as the group were walking through the pier.

"Well, after last time, I figured we'd all rather not be busy smelling fish that SERIOUSLY needs to go into the freezer...like stat…" Gyro chuckled.

"Yeah, I usually like fish, but this stuff smells past expiration date." Blake said dryly.

"So anyway, we're on the lookout for foreign students so we can observe them," Weiss said...then noticed the Dust Store that had been robbed. "And there's the store I'm supposed to be making comments about...and I honestly don't want to anymore, so moving on," she sighed. "Bla bla bla, White Fang causing problems, wish they'd stop," she said half heartedly.

"That much I can agree with," Blake nodded in agreement. "Worse, it's getting contagious," she sighed, remembering how much the Fang had been changing over the years.

"I'm sure you'll be able to change things again someday," Patamon said in encouragement, to which Blake smiled. Then the plot hit.

"Hey! Stop that Faunus!" a voice shouted.

"Right on time," Pierce chuckled.

They all turned to the ship at that… and blinked when they saw the monkey faunus… with a Digimon following him as they ran on the ship and jumped on the railing.

"Thanks for the ride guys!" the blonde faunus said with a laugh as the red Digimon jumped onto his back before they both jumped off the ship.

"You no good stowaways!" one of the men on the boat shouted.

"No good?" the faunus said innocently as he peeled a banana.

"Us?" the Digimon added, biting into an apple.

"Pretty sure we would have been caught if we weren't any good." the faunus said with a sage nod.

"Yeahp, so that makes us GREAT stowaways." the Digimon agreed completely.

Back with the group…

"Huh… guess he has a Digimon partner… like a lot of people." Ilia noted.

"His partner is Coronamon, you mostly see them on WWW." Kotemon added.

Jaune whistled as he checked on the analyzer "Well, Sun got a decently strong partner for a Child Level then." he muttered.

By then Sun and Coronamon had jumped up to the section the group was on, and soon ran past them, but not before Sun winked at Blake, and the two were soon running into town.

"Oh he did NOT just wink at MY girlfriend." Ilia growled as she glared at Sun's retreating back, while Blake rose an eyebrow.

"If it helps, he didn't know, and would back off as soon as you told him you two are dating." Gyro told her idly.

"Enough talking, we gotta chase him to meet you-know-who!" Ruby said, to which they all started running after Sun and Coronamon, whom were already being chased by a couple of detectives. Ruby had a bit of a headstart this time around, and as a result...she was the one who ended up knocking into a certain someone when she turned a corner. "Okay...probably should have seen that coming," Ruby muttered as she sat up, right as the others turned the corner. However…

"Are you alright Penny?" came a new and worried voice. The group stopped and turned to the source of the voice, revealing a small dragon-like Digimon with purple scales, though some were golden instead, including a spot on his forehead, and he had red stripes going down his chest, with metallic looking claws on his hands and feet.

Ruby got up, looking down at the carrot haired girl she had seen in the visions of the future the mist had shown her a while back, as the girl smiled and gave the Digimon a thumbs up "I'm A-OK Monodramon!"

 _Digimon Analyzer: Monodramon_

 _Monodramon. Vaccine Type. A Child Level Small Dragon Digimon. Though he has bat like wings attached to his arms, he is unable to fly. It is said that most Monodramon can usually be found in the heart of an all out brawl between Digimon, to the point that even Ogremon is fed up with his tenacity. His special attack is Beat Knuckle, attacking the foe with his sharp claws._

"Do watch where you're going. You could hurt someone," Monodramon said with a small glare.

"S-sorry," Ruby apologized.

"Just be careful next time," Monodramon nodded.

"No need to be so hard, Monodramon, I'm alright," Penny said with a smile.

"And yet you're still on the ground. Aren't you planning to get up?" Monodramon sighed.

Penny stopped for a moment before nodded. "Yes," she said before jumping back up onto her feet, and then turning to the group. "Salutations!" she said with a smile. "My name is Penny, and this is Monodramon. It's a pleasure to meet you!" she said with a grin while Monodramon nodded in acknowledgement.

"Nice to meet you Penny, I'm Ruby, and this is Palmon." Ruby introduced herself and her partner, whom waved at the duo.

The others quickly introduced themselves as well… and there was a pause at the end "Oh, right, Pierce, Veemon, Ilia, Kotemon, Ren and Wormmon kept running after monkey boy." Gyro remembered seeing those three in particular keep on running.

* * *

"Geez, he's really fast!" Veemon said as they continued on the trail of the monkey faunus, while the detectives after him were clearly starting to get tired.

"Well he IS a monkey," Wormmon couldn't help but say. "I think they're supposed to be hard to catch."

"Too bad that doesn't help us at all," Kotemon said as she was starting to get a bit tired.

"Well, good news is the detectives look like they're getting tired, so this shouldn't last for too much longer." Ren said. True enough, the two detectives were left panting and wheezing as they just couldn't keep up with the agile faunus. The only problem was…

"So...where is he?" Ilia asked.

"Gimme a minute." Pierce said, looking around, before picking a random pebble and blindly throwing it up in the air, his crest shining briefly as he did.

The pebbled rebounded off of a window, hit a flower pot teetering on the edge of a windowsill, which fell onto a waterproof tarp below it and slid down to hit a discarded beer bottle, which started rolling till it hit a very stupidly placed brick that fell down and landed next to a cat, which jumped up in surprise with a screech, and landed in a trash can, which was followed by sounds of a struggle.

Everyone stared at the shaking trash can in deadpan "You're kidding… right?" Ilia said dryly.

"Apparently not," Veemon laughed, rolling on the ground at the sight that honestly looked like it belonged in a comedic kids cartoon.

A few moments later and the trash can tipped over to reveal Sun and Coronamon spilling out...covered in scratches, while the cat walked out with its nose in the air, looking quite proud of itself.

"Oww…" Sun groaned as he got up. "You okay buddy?"

"I'm okay. My pride hurts more than the scratches," Coronamon groaned as he got up.

"You okay?" Ren asked, catching their attention.

"Huh? Yeah, just...nobody told me the strays here could be so lively," Sun said with a chuckle. "So...seeing as you're not catching me, I'm guessing you're not with those guys I got away from."

"Naw, we chased after you mostly because we're curious… well, that and Ilia has a warning for you." Pierce, said, hiking his thumb at the chameleon faunus, who walked up to Sun and looked up at him while he looked down at her nervously.

"Don't ever wink at my girlfriend again." she said simply.

Sun blinked at that, thinking back "Oh, you mean the cat faunus from earlier? Sorry, didn't think you were dating her."

"Well, now ya know," Coronamon chuckled, before looking up at them. "I'm Coronamon by the way. The big goof here is Sun Wukong. Nice to meet ya!"

"Nice to meet ya too," Veemon said, before the group introduced themselves.

"So...when did you guys meet your partners?" Sun asked. "Me and Coronamon met during that day when the Digimon were pouring into Remnant, though gotta admit, those video lessons we've been getting from Vale were a real surprise to some of us," he said.

"Well...we met our partners a bit earlier than that," Pierce said. "It was during our initiation. A gate must have opened and well...something got through," he shrugged, telling a half truth. It wasn't wrong, they DID meet their partners during the initiation, seeing as the two months they spent in the Digital World was but a few hours on Remnant.

"I met Kotemon a week or so after that, near the end of Myotismon's invasion," Ilia said with a fond smile. Really, by now the idea of not having Kotemon by her side was unthinkable.

"So...why WERE you stowing away?" Kotemon asked, even if she already knew.

"Well...would you believe me if I said I wanted to get to Vale ahead of time?" Sun chuckled. "Truth is I'm from Haven, and me and my team are even going to compete in the Vytal Festival. I just...came ahead of time."

"Ahead from your teammates?" Ren asked with a raised eyebrow.

"They'll be fine without me for a few weeks, they got their own partners after all… although Tinkermon is just as bad as Scarlet sometimes." Sun muttered the last part mostly to himself.

"Well that's gonna end horribly." Pierce said with a laugh.

"Probably a nice chaotic scene to watch… would need some popcorn." Veemon added.

"Yeah, that sounds about right," Coronamon chuckled. Yeah, looks like they were gonna get along JUST fine.

* * *

When everything was said and done, they all soon regrouped and were going back to Beacon, and due to the odd circumstances, they had to bring Sun to Ozpin to straighten things out. That wasn't the issue though. The real issue was when Glynda put in her two cents regarding Sun's actions and well...let's just say the chosen wisely decided to bolt, not wanting to be in the way of that.

"Alright, so things went well with Penny?" Pierce asked once they were regrouped.

"Yeahp, I'm her first friend that isn't a Digimon, I was even able to convince her to give me her scroll number." Ruby said with a smile.

"Betcha 5 Lien her scroll is integrated into her body." Gyro chuckled.

"No bet." Weiss said with an amused smile.

"Now the next thing to deal with...Torchwick," Pierce mused. "Can't exactly let him get away with having all that Dust. Aside from him getting more resources to help Cinder's group and stuff, the increase in prices aren't helping anyone either."

"What do you mean?" Patamon asked.

"Well, it's like this. Dust is easily the MOST important resource on Remnant right now, so having a harder time getting it for whatever reason would hurt everyone. Forget the part where its needed to power tech and stuff, Huntsmen would have a harder time getting Dust to stock up on their weapons, and as a result, the ones who could only afford the minimum at one point won't be able to, while even the ones with more resources will find themselves only able to get less and less Dust. When that happens they aren't going to be able to fight as effectively, and thus increases the chances of...you know… From there, it'd cut down on the number of able bodied fighters, and the grief from the losses could attract the Grimm and, THEN you remember that the main defenses of kingdoms ALSO use Dust so…." he trailed off.

The Digimon winced at that, understanding where Pierce was going "Less Dust means the kingdoms would be in trouble." Salamon summed up.

"Yeah, that's pretty much it." Nora said with a nod, all of them knowing this was a major problem.

"So, our goal would be to make sure he can't get a single crate of dust, right?" Jaune checked.

"Yeah, and chances are, we'll be inviting Sun for this, he might have details we don't know ourselves that went unsaid in the show." Gyro added.

"Just be careful about where you're attacking," Weiss said. "One stray shot and we might trigger the Dust, and if he IS stealing an entire shipment…"

"Yeah, it'd blow us sky high," Yang gulped a little.

"So we're set. We'll just have to work at this carefully...and probably shouldn't evolve at all for this," Ren mused.

"More like don't have anyone who has...large firepower evolve. I'd say Wormmon and Salamon would still be okay to evolve, since Stingmon's main attacks are short ranged, as is Gatomon," Gyro mused.

"Right, so we can keep them as trump cards IF things get hairy," Blake nodded.

"Well, get ready everyone. We've got another big day ahead of us again," Pyrrha chuckled.

* * *

The next day started normally, waking up, going to classes (and finding out Sun was now attending too for the time being), and generally things went as normal...though CRDL seemed rather subdued for now, no doubt still 'licking their wounds' from the Field Trip. Of course, that was the least of their worries. When the time came for classes to end, they made sure to tell Azure of the plan, so that he could help them make sure this was done quietly without any...issues. Of course, they weren't alone in this, since they figured...a bit of extra help couldn't hurt.

"Hey Sun, want to help us crack down on some criminals that are probably planning on stealing a huge shipment of dust?" Pierce asked the blonde monkey faunus.

"Oh hell yeah I would!" Sun jumped out of his seat with a grin at that.

"Count me in too!" Coronamon added.

They weren't hard to convince.

Getting into town, they had to still wait a bit, as they knew the timing had to be JUUST right. Which in turn, allowed them to gather another party member, who they honestly DID run into by accident this time...even if it was a very fortunate accident.

"So, why aren't we heading straight to the docks?" Sun asked as they walked through town.

"Because I doubt they would attempt to steal the crates in broad daylight, so we're waiting until the sun falls at least." Blake explained.

"Oh… yeah that makes sense." Sun agreed with the idea, nodding.

"We're also trying to find a friend who might be good to bring along." Yang added with a shrug.

As if on cue…

"Penny, we really should be going back soon. We wouldn't want them to worry about us," came Monodramon's voice.

"Just a little more, I want to see the town a bit more," came Penny's cheerful voice as she and her partner came into view. "Ruby! What a pleasant surprise!" Penny said with a smile when she saw them. "And everyone else is here too. Oh, I don't believe we've met. I'm Penny, and this is Monodramon!" she said to Sun when she saw him.

"Uh, hey there! I'm Sun, and this is Coronamon." Sun introduced himself and his partner, after getting over how peppy this girl seemed.

"So...what brings you all out here again today?" Monodramon asked curiously.

"Well...would you believe us if we said we got a tip of a possible robbery and aim to stop it?" Agumon said.

"A robbery? When? And where?" Penny asked, instantly becoming serious.

"At the docks, tonight, we think Roman Torchwick is going to try and steal some Dust shipments that just came in. Want to help us stop him?" Ruby asked.

Penny seemed to consider for a few moments, before nodding and smiling "Of course Ruby, I'll help. I'm combat ready!"

"Well, the more the merrier, right?" Yang chuckled.

"Alright then, get ready everyone, cause we've got a couple of hours to go before its showtime," Gyro said with a small smile.

* * *

Later, once night fell…

"So, did we miss anything so far?" Sun asked as he and Coronamon sat down on top of a warehouse next to Gyro, overlooking the docks.

"They unloaded the last of the crates a few minutes ago, nothing else so far." was the answer from Ruby, whom was looking through the scope of Crescent Rose.

"Well, they should be here. It's just a matter of…" Palmon didn't get to finish as the sound of a craft was heard, before a rather noisy very much NOT stealthy airship came down, and landed.

"Huh...it's bigger than in canon," Pierce mused, before a hatch opened and out came several White Fang members.

"I knew about this, but it still hurts…" Blake sighed.

"I can imagine. Can't believe a peace group's been reduced to this," Sun said sympathetically, having been given the abridged version of how Blake and Ilia were both former Fang members.

"Well, can't let them get away with it either way," Coronamon frowned.

"Alright, from the looks of it, they're mainly focused on the Dust," Jaune frowned. "I think we shouldn't all attack at the same time."

"What do you have in mind?" Gomamon asked.

"I'm thinking one half of the team goes in and acts as a distraction, while the other half takes over the ship, or failing that, destroys it. They can't get away without their getaway vehicle, and at the very least, they can't make off with the Dust," Jaune explained.

"That's a good plan. Cut them off on both ends," Ren nodded. "Question is, who should do what."

"...I think our team should hijack the ship," Pierce said after a minute. "I mean, between Ren's semblance and mine, along with Pyrrha's ability, Jaune's ability, and Nora being able to take out pretty much anyone still in there, I'd say we've got a pretty good shot."

"He makes a good point," Weiss conceded.

"Okay, so if we're agreed on that we'd better move fast then," Tentomon said.

"Right. Into position everyone. We've got a robbery to stop," Agumon said, to which they all nodded and got to it. Taking advantage of the fact that the White Fang was somewhat distracted, the groups split up. However, before they could actually begin the attack…

"Hold it right there!" One of the White Fang members said, drawing their attention, to which, the White Fang were soon all focused...on a familiar boy with a red Digimon.

"W-wait! Don't shoot! I'm just trying to stop him!" Takato said in a panic as he held onto Guilmon and was clearly trying to pull him back, the raptor like Digimon growling at the White Fang with his eyes narrowed into slits.

Meanwhile, with Team RWGBY plus Sun, Penny and their partners, they were bewildered for the chosen and their partners, and confused for the other four.

"You're kidding me… what the hell Takato?" Yang groaned as she palmed her forehead.

"Clearly Guilmon was intent on coming here." Weiss sighed.

"You know that kid?" Sun asked them.

"He's the son of an old friend of mine." Blake said with a sigh.

"Well then, all the more reason to go and grant him assistance." Penny said with a sure nod, before her backpack opened and several folded blades attached on strings flew out and unfolded themselves.

With that, the fight was opened, with several blades flying and sending the White Fang knocked away.

The attacking group didn't waste the opening, immediately opening fire with their weapons and/or Semblance, knocking a good chunk of the White Fang aside. Gyro and Ruby didn't waste time in letting them get back up, as they used their respective semblances to keep them off balance, while Ruby delivered precise chops to the back of their necks, knocking them out. Ever since learning about the 'canon' timeline, she'd been training on how to fight with more than just Crescent Rose, and while she was nowhere near Yang's level, the twins had thought of a way she could end fights quickly.

Overall, the Wild Fang members out on the field were being taken out before they could fight back, as between the team's high attack abilities, and the speed and skills of both Sun and Penny, there...really wasn't anything the confused faunus could do to fight back. Eventually though…

"Well, guess I should have figured a bunch of animals wouldn't be able to do much if someone like you showed up Red… especially if you brought friends." Came the voice of one Roman Torchwick, wearing his black bowler hat and white coat, spinning his weaponized cane Melodic Cudgel in his hand.

"And the one pulling the strings shows up," Gyro frowned, as everyone aimed their weapons and/or charging attacks at them.

"Well, aren't you being rather rude guests? Showing up unannounced, crashing the party. I'm going to have to ask you all to leave," Roman frowned.

"Oh yeah? You and what army?" Coronamon challenged.

"Oh, I'm sooo glad you asked. See, while I thought the recent...new arrivals...would be an issue...they're actually quite useful, as long as you know how to talk to them," Roman smirked, before he snapped his fingers, and from the ship came three Adult Digimon. The first was humanoid and garbed in worn red samurai armor, which had long blue hair spilling out the back, a demonic face on the forehead that had several golden strands of hair attached to it, holding prayer beads in its left hand, and a large katana in its right hand. The second was a blue dinosaur with orange stripes, wearing tribal like ornaments consisting of a feathery ornaments on its head, a tribal necklace, and furry wristbands. The third was a reptile-like Digimon literally made of fire with a metal helmet and claws.

"Digimon...and they're all adult level too," Penny frowned.

"Why yes, how nice of you to notice. See, turns out as long as you give them the right price, they're perfectly happy to fight for you as well. Let's see you deal with THEM so easily," Roman smirked.

The response of the chosen was… a dull look.

"Yeah, sure, ok." Gyro said, before turning to Weiss "Analysis done?"

"The moment they stepped out." Weiss said and started reading "The samurai is Musyamon, the dinosaur is Allomon, and the flaming lizard is FlareLizamon."

 _Digimon Analyzer: Musyamon_

 _Musyamon. Virus Type. An Adult Level Demon Man Digimon. A disgraced samurai who, much like certain individuals in history, betrayed the one he served for power. He wields the Shiratori-maru in battle, an old blade that shows usage yet still holds together to this day. His special attack is Kirisute Gomen, slashing his enemy with his glowing blade to drain their life force._

 _Digimon Analyzer: Allomon_

 _Allomon. Data Type. An Adult Level Dinosaur Digimon. An especially ferocious dinosaur Digimon, there is a rivalry between it and Tyrannomon. Compared to other dinosaur Digimon though, Allomon is able to run at blistering speeds by angling his body like a rocket and charging forwards. Its special attack is Dino Burst, spewing superheated air from its mouth, hot enough to melt most common metals._

 _Digimon Analyzer: FlareLizamon_

 _FlareLizamon. Data Type. An Adult Level Flame Dragon Digimon. A hot-blooded Digimon that possesses a heart that burns like fire and the power of a dragon. Although the flames throughout its body are generated by its high-temperature skin combusting, its skin has remarkable regenerative abilities, and so FlareLizamon is able to continue burning until it is extinguished. Its special attack is Fire Tower, releasing an enormous pillar of fire generated from its body at its enemies._

"Woah! I didn't know they had an encyclopedia for Digimon already," Sun blinked.

"Its uh...not for public use yet," Yang said quickly. The group had agreed that for now it was best to NOT share around the Analyzer more than necessary, especially when there were people who might use it as a means to manipulate or destroy the Digimon. Knowledge was power after all.

"Well, while it helps tell us about them, it doesn't really help us fight them," Monodramon frowned. "I guess it's time to go to the next level," he said, earning a nod from Penny as she pulled out a D-Core...before something unexpected happened.

"Guilmon stop!" Takato shouted, TRYING to keep his partner under control. Trying being the keyword as he was soon dragged along with the almost feral Digimon, who was soon firing Pyro Spheres at the three adults.

"...this squirt serious?" FlareLizamon deadpanned as he just grabbed the Pyro Spheres in his hand and absorbed them into his flames.

"Seems like it," Musyamon chuckled.

"Let's squash him!" Allomon laughed before lifting his foot to do just that.

"Look out!" Takato shouted, trying to get Guilmon away, but at that moment, the D-Core he was carrying in his pocket started to glow.

 **(Play Brave Heart)**

The D-Core released the signal into the sky, calling forth the light which released the waterfall of data. The data came down and soon entered into Guilmon's body. "Guilmon, Evolution!" he called out before in a flash he changed. His body was still similar in appearance, mostly in red and white with black highlights, but he was much taller now, with a mane of white hair on the back of his head and a pair of horns on top of it, he now had arm blades coming out the sides of his arms, and the Digital Hazard mark had moved to his shoulders. "Growlmon!"

 _Digimon Analyzer: Growlmon_

 _Growlmon. Virus Type. An Adult Level Demon Dragon Digimon. Known as the Deep-crimson Demon Dragon, the childishness it had as Guilmon has been replaced by a brutal battle style, beating down the enemy till they don't get back up. His roar has the power to shake the earth around it, using it to intimidate his opponents before battle. His special attack is Exhaust Flame, shooting out a scorching burst of flame with a roar._

"Okay, that's actually pretty strong," Gyro couldn't help but say.

True enough, Growlmon immediately grabbed Allomon's leg, and with a push, flipped the enemy Digimon over...and causing him to land on the airship, crushing it.

"Hey! We JUST sabotaged that!" came Pierce's indignant voice that their work wouldn't even yield the funny looks on Roman's face when the ship doesn't start.

"Well...you sure were worth the money," Roman deadpanned at seeing things go south. With that in mind, he decided now was a good time as any to make his escape...if not for the Chosen seeing him and blocking his escape.

"Not so fast Torchwick," Blake frowned.

"Yeah, you're not getting away with robbing Vale again!" Biyomon said.

"Right… now, see, normally, I would be very worried, because against this many of you? I'd lose, I'm smart enough to know that… which is why I was smart enough to have a backup plan." he suddenly said with a smirk, as the area next to him seemed to shatter, and revealed a petite girl with tri colored hair in pink, brown and streaks of white, eyes that would flip between those three colors as she blinked, and an outfit that matched with her hair and eyes, holding a parasol in her hand "Neo, get us out of here." Roman said simply, to which Neo simply nodded and sweeped her hand with a bow, grinning at the group, and even though Ruby fired a bullet as quickly as possible, the only result was the scene shattering away, revealing the two to be long gone.

"Huh...didn't expect her to show up so soon," Gyro frowned. "Though probably should have seen that coming."

"You know that girl?" Sun asked.

"She's...his aid if you will. REALLY slippery," Gyro said, giving the abridged version.

"Ah…" Sun nodded.

"Speaking of aid...I think the kid's in trouble," Monodramon said, as true enough, Growlmon was starting to get pushed back by the three Adults he was fighting against.

"We'd better help him," Penny said. "Monodramon, please."

"Of course," Monodramon nodded before her D-Core glowed.

The D-Core soon sent out its signal and called for the light and waterfall of data which flowed into Monodramon. "Monodramon, Evolution!" he called out as he soon changed, becoming as tall as a fully grown man, wearing green pants on his legs and red fingerless gloves, while he had various pieces of armor all over him on his shoulders, his hands, his waist, his ankles, his feet, his biceps, the tip of his tail, and a helmet on top of his head that held a sharp horn, his eyes completely covered by the helmet while long, shaggy orange hair spilled out the back of it, a red tattoo on his white torso "Strikedramon!"

 _Digimon Analyzer: Strikedramon_

 _Strikedramon. Vaccine Type. An Adult Level Dragon Man Digimon. Known as the Commando Dragon, Strikedramon is a Virus Buster in soul and mind, exterminating enemy Virus Digimon till not even a scrap of data remains. Naturally a kind hearted Digimon, once he enters battle, he focuses solely on his opponent and becomes a ruthless fighter. His special attack is Strike Fang, heating up the many metal plates on his body till they burst into flames, ramming into the opponent while on fire._

Strikedramon let out a roar as he charged forward, and knocked Musyamon away. "Let's fight together!" he said to Growlmon, who regarded him for a moment before wordlessly nodding.

"Hey, don't leave me out of this!" Coronamon smirked, while Sun held out his D-Core which soon glowed as well.

The light was once again summoned and the data flowing into Coronamon. "Coronamon, Evolution!" he called out before his body changed. He turned into a fully quadruped lion with red fur and a bright yellow mane, flames coming out of the headgear on his forehead and the sides of his head, as well as on his ankles, his flanks, and instead of fur on the tip of his tail he had a bright flame, while large red wings came out of his back. "Firamon!"

 _Digimon Analyzer: Firamon_

 _Firamon. Vaccine Type. An Adult Level Beast Digimon. A Digimon known as the Soaring Lion, he acts as a guardian for sacred sites around the Digital World. He is known to be a wise and caring leader for any Digimon who work under him, and only follows those who are righteous of heart. His special attack is Flame Dive, flying high up in the air before diving back down towards his opponent with his whole body on fire._

"Take this!" Firamon grinned as he rammed into FlareLizamon, sending him tumbling over. "And now its 3 on 3, better quit while you can," he smirked as the three of them were faced against the other three adults.

"Not on your life!" Allomon roared as the three of them charged forward and soon it was a clash of adult Digimon.

"Should we help them?" Jaune asked as team JNPPR had rejoined team RWGBY.

"Nah, I think they got this. I think it's only fair we let them fight. Just be ready to support them if needs be," Ruby said.

"Oh they'll be fine," Sun grinned. "Firamon isn't a pushover."

"Strikedramon won't lose either!" Penny said with absolute confidence.

"I-I'm sure Guil...I mean Growlmon will be just fine," Takato said, not QUITE as confident as them, but he still had a smile on.

"Alright then, in that case...go get em!" Nora and Salamon cheered.

"Right!" "You got it!" "Understood!"

The three of them soon clashed again, Strikedramon fighting Musyamon, Firamon fighting FlareLizamon, and Growlmon fighting Allomon.

"Kirisute Gomen!" Musyamon called out as he tried to slash at Strikedramon who evaded the attacks using his greater speed.

"Apologize for yourself!" Strikedramon growled, before catching one of the strikes, causing a bit of data to leak out from a wound, before using his other hand to break the sword, and kicking Musyamon back.

"You won't stop me from my all you can eat Fire Dust!" FlareLizamon roared as he shot fireballs at Firamon.

"Wait, you're doing this just so you can eat Fire Dust?!" Firamon asked incredulously.

"Of course, it's delicious," FlareLizamon said simply, only to get a tackle to the head.

"And you're nuts to be helping a criminal just cause you like something!" Firamon shot back.

"You can't beat ME! I'm the STRONGEST!" Allomon roared as he and Growlmon grappled. Growlmon didn't say anything, and instead proceeded to prove him wrong...by lifting him up and tossing him aside. "That does it! Dynamite Head!"

"Plasma Blade!" Growlmon countered, the two attacks meeting head on...before Allomon was soon sent tumbling back.

"Let's not prolong this," Strikedramon growled.

"Not gonna lose like this!" Allomon and FlareLizamon roared.

"Dino Burst!"

"Flame Tower!"

"Yeah right, like we're gonna let you finish. Flame Dive!" Firamon grinned before igniting his body and flying down. At the same time…

"Strike Metal!" Strikedramon called out as he heated up the plates on his body and charged forward.

"Exhaust Flame!" Growlmon roared as he fired a powerful blast of fire, the three flaming attacks joining and overpowering the two attacks, crashing right into the three opposing mon who shouted in pain before bursting apart into data.

 **(Song end)**

"Jeez… you can feel that from over here." Ilia muttered as she watched the three winning Digimon load the data of the deleted ones, leaving just enough to return to the Digital World and be reborn one day.

"Now what do we do?" Kotemon asked, right as the three Digimon reverted to child form...then the sound of approaching helicopters came.

"...run before the authorities find us?" Gabumon suggested.

"That works," Takato nodded. "Can you help me get this boy out of here?" he asked, referring to Guilmon with a slight glare, since he WAS the entire reason they were even here.

"Not a problem," Pierce chuckled, and with that, they all ran for it.

* * *

 **And there's the chapter!**

 **It's also the end of Volume 1.**

 **And yeah, we skipped the Forever Fall, because really, nothing very interesting happened besides Cardin getting his just desserts.**

 **So it got relegated to flashback sequence instead.**

 **But hey, besides that, we have Coronamon, Monodramon, and Guilmon all reaching Adult in this chapter.**

 **And also, Mercenary Digimon, they are a thing.**

 **Will more appear?**

 **Maybe.**

 **You'll just have to wait and see, because...**

 **The Adventure Evolves.**


	51. 50: Best Day Ever!

**Hello everyone and welcome back to another chapter of Digital Story!**

 **I know, it's been a while, but again, I had ideas for other stories I wanted to work on.**

 **For example, if you check my main page, you'll see that Kamen Rider W is locked in to crossover with Lupin the Third, a beast of a story to be sure, and that Kamen Rider Fourze is locked in to Outlaw Star.**

 **As well, Overwatch is gone from the list now, and Drive is now crossing with boy the 2003 version of Astro Boy and a currently non specific version of Cutie Honey.**

 **Yeah, expect boobs in that story.**

 **Anyway! For now, let's focus on the Digimon!**

* * *

 **Best Day Ever!  
**

* * *

The streets of Vale were rather quiet that morning. As such, few really took notice of an odd pair walking through the streets. One was a boy that had silvery hair that was swept back slightly, wearing a blue, short sleeved jacket with black pants, and next to him was a girl with dark skin, with mint colored hair and red eyes, wearing an intricate white and green top that left her stomach exposed, along with brown chaps over a pair of white pants.

The two were walking down the streets, headed towards a certain shop: 'Tukson's Book Trade'. Once they were at the shop, both of them looked at each other with a smirk, and walked into the store. However…

"...did we come early?" the green haired girl, Emerald, asked, noticing how...empty the place was.

"No...the stock's all here, the door wasn't locked, and the sign says open," the silver haired guy, Mercury, noted.

"Then...where is he?" Emerald frowned...before Mercury was suddenly blown back, and seemed to hit an invisible wall. "What the?!"

"Barrier set and ready," came a new amused voice, as a pair of almost invisible walls were now present, keeping them from touching the shop's stock and making a somewhat small area to move in. Then three figures faded into view, all three clearly Digimon. It was Wizardmon, Renamon, and Guilmon, with the reptile growling at the intruders, eyes narrowed into slits.

"What are a bunch of Digimon doing here?" Mercury frowned.

"Well, we should ask you the same," Renamon said. "It's not nice to plan to kill nice people."

"What?! How did you…?" Emerald blinked.

"Know? Let's just say a little bird told us some bad people were planning to off Mr. Tukson. That's not nice, especially when he's been so nice to us and the other kids," Wizardmon said.

Now Emerald and Mercury's eyes widened in alarm. They knew. Somehow, they knew ahead of time that they were coming. That...shouldn't be possible. However, they weren't easily deterred. "Oh yeah? Well, what are you going to do about it?" Mercury growled...before suddenly darting forward, as a blade suddenly extended from his foot, to which he aimed it at Guilmon. However, the blade promptly broke when it made contact with the dinosaur's hide.

Guilmon growled angrily, before turning to him and opening his mouth, firing a ball of flames, which hit Mercury dead on, sending him flying out the door, as the barrier didn't cover it.

Emerald acted quickly, and tried to use her Semblance on one of them...but suddenly Wizardmon made a hand seal and suddenly she felt like something hit her right back, causing her to stumble back.

"And stay out," Renamon said, appearing before her, and kicking her in the face, sending her flying out as well.

"Who...the heck...told you about this?!" Mercury growled...noting part of his legs had been melted off.

"Didn't say, though they mentioned something about 'Dust Shipment' to make us trust them. Glad we did. If you ever feel like trying again, we'll be ready and with friends," Wizardmon said, before they slammed the door, leaving two VERY confused assassins.

* * *

Meanwhile…

"Man...time sure flies," Gyro mused as teams RWGBY and JNPPR along with their Digimon partners were gathered in the cafeteria for breakfast...which frankly had QUITE a spread for 'breakfast'.

"We're already in Volume 2, which means…" Pierce noted, as right as he said that, a thud was heard as Ruby had placed a...okay, if that was Weiss's binder, than he didn't know binders came in that size…or why she even needed that in the first place.

"Sisters! Friends! Four score and seven minutes ago, I had a dream." Ruby said.

"Someone's in an extra good mood today," Gomamon commented from where he was munching on a sandwich.

"A dream that one day, all of us would come together, and as a team has the most fun anyone has ever had, ever!" Ruby continued, not remotely deterred by the comment.

"Hey, isn't that the binder that went missing," Tentomon commented, looking at the binder...which had the words 'Best Day Ever Activities!' written under a very obviously scratched out previous name...which still very clearly read 'Vytal Festival Activities' with 'Property of Weiss Schnee' under it.

"I am not a crook," Ruby said.

"The crudely scratched out label says otherwise," Salamon said flatly from where she was next to Nora, watching her partner spoon-catapult another pea...which Yang caught in her mouth and ate without issue.

"So...what is this about anyway?" Agumon asked.

"It's about kicking off the semester with a bang!" Ruby said.

"I always like to kick my semesters off with a Yang," Yang joked.

"Boo." Gyro said as Nora threw a banana at Yang.

"I liked it." Pierce said.

"Because she's your girlfriend." Jaune pointed out.

"Actually he liked those BEFORE they dated, remember?" Veemon pointed out.

"We're getting off track!" Palmon said suddenly.

"Yeah!" Ruby agreed. "Look, it's been a good two weeks, and between the tournament and exchange students, this semester is gonna be great," Ruby said. "But classes start up again tomorrow, so I've taken the time to schedule a series of wonderful events for us to do today!" Ruby grinned.

"...can we even DO that much stuff in one day?" Biyomon blinked at the binder owlishly. Even if every page was for ONE event, that was still...a very long list.

"And I don't know if I should be proud or scared of what you might have in store," Weiss said, before promptly turning to the brothers for answers.

"Don't look at us, we never saw what was in that thing," Gyro waved his hands defensively.

"That's comforting…" Patamon said dryly, as with how thick the binder was, assuming he folded his wings, the binder was taller than him when he stood on all fours.

"Aww, come on guys, it'll be fun," Palmon urged.

"Palmon's right. Whatever we do today, we should do it as a team," Weiss said.

"I got it!" Nora shouted.

"Oh boy…" the brothers gulped, as Nora, completely ignoring the silent protests from Yang and the not so subtle tackling from Salamon, promptly threw a pie which hit Weiss in the face...then tried pin the blame on Ren who had his face held in his hand, while everyone else on their team had looks of varying surprise (and exasperation for Salamon).

When Weiss wiped off the pie filling, she looked at Nora with daggers. "Okay...this means war," she said coldly.

"Eh screw it," Pierce sighed, before getting up "Food War!"

And all hell broke loose.

* * *

"So, those guys found you when you arrived in town then?" Neptune asked Sun as they walked towards the cafeteria, Betamon following closely.

"Yeah, helped us out a bit, though I DID have to get chewed out by the deputy headmistress since, you know, snuck my way over." Sun said with a shrug.

"I still find it hard to believe that YOU of all people agreed to this." Betamon said to Coronamon.

"What? I'm allowed SOME fun, right?" the red Digimon shot back, lowering his voice a bit.

"Anyway, they know a lot of other people with partners then?" Neptune said, looking away from Betamon and Coronamon.

"Yeah, like, a good few, even that news lady, Lisa Lavender, has a partner." Sun said.

"Huh, that so? Neat." Neptune mused.

"Yeah, hanging out with them is pretty fun. Hey, speaking of hanging out, where are the others?" Sun asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Koemon made a mess… again." Neptune said with a sigh.

"He gives us monkeys bad names." Sun said with a sigh.

"Anyway, they should be right around…" Coronamon started...right as the door to the cafeteria burst open and a throng of students ran out like the hounds were on their tail. The last to come out was Ilia and Kotemon, who took one look at them and said, "Go in at your own risk," both gulped, while Ilia added, "I'm waiting for Blake and the others in the room." And they promptly joined the fleeing crowd.

Now filled with morbid curiosity, the two boys and two Digimon looked into the cafeteria and well… "What. The. Fuck?" Betamon asked, jaw dropped.

"I'm queen of the castle! I'm queen of the castle!" Nora laughed as she was standing atop a bunch of tables piled up, her teammates at the bottom, and flanking them were their partners...all in Adult form.

On the other end of the hall, a foot slammed on a table, rattling several dishes off of it, the owner revealing to be Ruby...holding a carton of milk for some reason. "Justice will be swift! Justice will be painful! It will be delicious!" she declared, squeezing the carton till its contents squirted out from several new holes, before she lifted it up in a war cry pose.

"Yeah!" came several roars of agreement from her teammates and all their Digimon partners...also in adult form.

"Off with their heads!" Nora declared, jumping down, before team JNPPR launched a salvo of watermelons.

"Yang, turkey!" Ruby said, Yang grabbing a pair of turkeys...and using them as makeshift boxing gloves, to which she defended against a few watermelons, while the remainder went past her...and were promptly caught in several large mouths as the Digimon seemed to be both joining in with the war...and taking the chance to pig out while they were at it.

"Well...at least the food isn't going to waste…" Gyro sweat dropped at the sight, before he and Blake darted forward, and grabbed several baguettes which they were both using as makeshift dual swords.

"I saw it the first time and I'm honestly still not believing it…" Pierce said dryly at seeing food being quite literally, weaponized. He didn't have long to ponder as his girlfriend soon fired off her dual turkey gloves...only for Veedramon to get in the way and snatched up the turkeys in his mouth.

Not being distracted for long, Pierce and Pyrrha darted forward, both also grabbing baguettes to act as makeshift swords/spears, and before long Pierce was dueling Gyro while Pyrrha was dueling blake, the sound of crust cracking as the breads clashed filling the air, before Pyrrha and Pierce managed to bypass their opponents' defenses and knocked them back, their 'weapons' breaking in half...and flying right into the the open mouths of Garurumon and Ikkakumon, before the two kicked tables, sending more food flying...which was soon caught by Greymon and Birdramon who were all too happy to catch the flying treats.

Pierce and Pyrrha soon threw their 'spears'...which were broken by yang, and the halves caught by Angemon, Togemon, and Kabuterimon who joined the assault...while munching on the bread they caught along the way.

In the midst of that, Greymon used his tail to give Ruby a boost, allowing her to grab a tray and start surfing on the tables, throwing food where she could grab it, forcing Pyrrha to dodge...and allowing Stingmon and Gatomon to grab more flying food and enjoy it mid-fight.

Ruby soon reached the end of her surfing, and the tray hit Pyrrha, forcing her back, while Ren and Nora continued the assault, Ruby quickly getting out of the way as Weiss brandished a ketchup bottle, and launched a wave of the red sauce, creating a makeshift oil slick which Ren slipped and slid on, causing him to ram into a pile of tables like a bowling ball, while Nora jumped up, grabbed a pole, and broke it off to combine with a surviving watermelon to create a makeshift hammer. At the same time, Jaune ran forward, grabbing a pot lid and another baguette, charged forward with his 'sword and shield', prompting Gyro to do the same...but with a link of sausages he was trying to use as a makeshift whip. "Castlevania don't fail me now," Gyro chuckled as he began to fight against Jaune, the two being a bit of a stalemate due to one being stuck with an unfamiliar weapon despite being more skilled.

At the same time, Nora went for Weiss who threw the ketchup bottle aside and grabbed hold of a whole swordfish...which was lying around...for some reason...and used it as a makeshift rapier, dueling with Nora for a while before Nora gained the upper hand and knocked her back into Kabuterimon who let out an 'oof' at the impact.

Ruby saw that and caught Weiss as the momentum caused her to rebound from Kabuterimon. "Weiss, no! Don't leave me!" she shouted dramatically, while Weiss just gave her a deadpan stare, completely fine, if somewhat dazed.

"Uh...I'm PRETTY sure that didn't even leave a mark…" Jaune blinked.

"Dude, I'm fighting you with a sausage whip. Roll with the insanity," Gyro said flatly.

"Fair point…" Jaune admitted.

While that banter was going on, Yang 'saw red' and charged forward with a new pair of turkeys, to which Ren met her head on with a pair of leeks. The two clashed before Yang managed to knock him into the air, to which he threw his leeks at her which she dodged and soon slammed him back into the ground, followed by Nora now setting her sights on Yang and attacking her with her makeshift hammer. Another clash occured, before Nora found an opening and smashed Yang hard enough to send her flying through the roof, with Birdramon flying up after her… which made a bigger hole in the roof, while the melon hammer broke from the impact. At the same time, Jaune was sent flying back, and Blake avoided the debris from the roof to which Gyro tossed her the sausage whip which she used to send Nora flying back into a vending machine which released a few cans.

Nora grabbed a few fallen cans and threw them at Blake who avoided the makeshift 'grenades'. However, Pyrrha saw the freshly spilled piles of metal and used her semblance to send a barrage of them at Blake, causing her to be unable to evade (the Digimon on both sides grabbed a few cans and started drinking). Pyrrha then sent a larger wave of cans, catching all remaining members of team RWGBY (minus Ruby) who were still standing, and thus Blake and Gyro felt themselves being barraged with a few 'soda grenades', Gyro using his semblance to cushion the blows.

Seeing her teammates down (and the Digimon too busy grabbing at whatever bits of food were still in the air), Ruby glared at the opposing side, and got ready into a sprint start position. Then with a surge of speed, she darted forward, moving so fast she was pulling various bits of food and plates along with her, before pulling into a spin and flying right past the standing and/or recovering members of team JNPPR. The team looked at what the red reaper had brought with her and well…

"...this is gonna hurt…" Stingmon said flatly, as the humans were promptly caught in the pull of the spin and speed, while the Digimon could only watch blankly as they were pelted with so much food (and their partners) that they were all pushed into the walls, with so much food and stuff hitting them that by the time it was done, there was wall art...and 10 figures peeling themselves off of the wall.

"We give…" Pierce groaned, holding up a white flag.

"Jeez, I'm away for less than 5 minutes…" Yang trailed off as she and Birdramon came back in from the hole in the roof, staring at the… unique piece of art that Ruby had made.

"Well… at least we have nice view to go with the food." Angemon said as he bit into a turkey leg, before looking down at Greymon who was stuffing his face, sighing after a moment "Biggest black hole out of all of us." he muttered.

The mood didn't last for much longer though, the doors suddenly slammed open, and in came a...pissed off...Glynda Goodwitch. With a wave of her riding crop, she used her semblance to clean up the entire cafeteria, putting everything back in place and fixing the damaged walls, tables, dishes, and roof till it looked like the food war never happened. Once she was done, she looked at them with an expression that just screamed 'fighting to NOT blow my top'. "Children, please," she started with a strained voice. "Do not play with your food," she said, before turning to the Digimon. "And please refrain from evolution unless in Combat Class."

The response she got in a way was a burp from Nora and the Digimon who all reverted to Child Form...looking rather stuffed, earning a few laughs from the little group.

Glynda looked ready to ground them for a month, before Ozpin came and put a hand on her shoulder. "Let it go," he said calmly.

Glynda sighed at that. "They're supposed to be the defenders of the world," she sighed, completely oblivious to how ironically fitting her statement was.

"And they will be. But right now they're still children. So why not let them play the part? It's not something they'll have forever," Ozpin said, earning a sigh and nod from Glynda.

Her moment of relief was broken however once the 10 Child Levels that had eaten their fill ran out of the room, all of them shouting the same thing "Bathroom!"

"Hey hold on you'll get lost!" Gyro said as he ran after them, followed closely by his brother.

* * *

Later, at an old, supposedly abandoned warehouse in Vale, the supposedly 'empty' warehouse was very much bustling with activity as the White Fang was busy moving various crates of Dust, the warehouse stocked with a sizeable amount of Dust...albeit not as full as it would have been had the recent large shipment been successfully stolen. It was to this scene that Emerald and Mercury came in, Mercury with a notable limp thanks to his slightly melted leg. They walked past the various White Fang members...all of which didn't seem to pay them any mind, save for the occasional odd glance.

Roman was busy looking at a map when he noticed them coming in. "Oh look, she sent the kids again," he said sarcastically, before walking over to them and put his arms around them from behind. "This is turning out just like the divorce," he said dryly.

"Ugh. Spare us the thought of you procreating," Emerald said dryly, both of them getting out of his grasp.

"That was a joke," Roman said flatly. "Though I do wonder why you two look like you got into a fight and lost, and THIS…" he said, holding up a piece of paper. "Just might tell me where you've been all day."

"What?" Emerald gasped, wondering when he'd had the time to steal that.

"I'm a professional sweetheart. Pay attention and maybe you'll learn something," Roman said sarcastically before looking at the paper and stopping short. "...why do you have this address?" he asked, the usual sarcastic levility gone from his voice.

"Wouldn't you like to know," Emerald glared.

"Yeah, I would," Roman said. "Now where have you been all day, and why do you look like you both lost a fight, and don't try to hide it. I noticed the limp."

Mercury grumbled a bit at that. "Cleaning up your problems...or at least trying to."

"I had that handled," Roman growled, and just as he said that, Neo popped in, looking rather annoyed at the two assassins. "But since we're on the topic, might I ask why exactly he hasn't been dealt with?"

"Does 'He had Digimon bodyguards' count as a valid answer?" Emerald shot back in annoyance.

Roman paused for a moment, looking at Neo, who shrugged "Yes… yes it does. Got any IDs on them?"

"Literally or you mean what they are?" Mercury asked.

"What do you think genius?" Roman shot back in deadpan.

"A fox, a dino, and a wizard." Emerald answered with a sigh.

"I HATE how that doesn't narrow it down enough." Roman grumbled under his breath.

"Yeah well you're gonna hate THIS more," Emerald frowned. "They KNEW we were coming. Somehow they already knew."

"And we were taking initiative. The only way someone could do that is if they were warned that he had a hit on his head," Mercury added.

THAT stopped Roman short. "Excuse me?" he asked dangerously.

"You heard me. They knew we were coming cause someone tipped them off somehow. Heck, when we asked them about it, they didn't know who it was, but they DID mention something about a 'Dust Shipment tip'," Mercury continued.

Roman frowned at that "So… someone who knew about the shipment we were trying to steal… which is why those damn kids were there then… question now is who squealed?" he said, looking around the warehouse at the various grunts and goons he had working about.

"Your guess is as good as mine," Emerald shrugged.

"But that IS rather important information," came a new voice, as from a higher section of the warehouse, a woman stepped on the shipping elevator and used it to descend to their level.

She was beautiful, that would be the first thing anyone would realise when they looked at her, but there was also something deadly about her, with the way her amber eyes almost glowed, her long black hair falling across one side of her chest as glass heels clacked on the floor, the yellow seem lines of her red dress looking almost like there shifting with flames.

"While it is worrying, the fact remains now we know they exist," the woman, Cinder, said. "We simply need to weed them out," she said simply. "At any rate, while the runaway is annoying, he's ultimately not the biggest of our concerns anymore. Besides, if he DOES have Digimon guarding him, then trying to deal with him discreetly will be more trouble than he's worth. After all, dealing with him was just a precaution. He's quite keen on staying out of anything related to the White Fang, if I recall."

"Awww, and here I had a plan all ready and prepared," Roman snorted. "But yes, there's no point in going after him with this new bit of information."

"Though, while we ARE on the topic, didn't I tell you two to keep your hands clean while we were in Vale?" Cinder said to her two subordinates.

"Well uh...we thought…" Emerald started, but was cut off.

"Don't think. Obey," Cinder said, completely ignoring the expressions Roman was making at the two behind her back.

"Yes, Ma'am. It won't happen again," Emerald said quickly.

"And you," Cinder continued, looking at Roman. "Why wasn't this job done sooner?"

Roman responded by gesturing all over the warehouse with the still sizeable stockpile of dust. "Sorry if I've been a little busy stealing just about every speck of Dust I could get my hands on in the Kingdom!"

"You're an inspiration to every punk with a gun and a ski-mask," Mercury said dryly, while Emerald was trying not to laugh.

"Look around kid, even with the new additions, I've still got this town on alert," Roman said. "Even with the new pet monster fad, I've got the police camping out in so many corners, Dust prices are among the highest they've ever been, and we're still sitting pretty with more Dust than we know what to do with," he asserted. "...even if some of it isn't being used in the way I'd like," he added with a grumble, looking at a few Digimon that were also in the warehouse...eating some of the Dust they'd gathered. It seemed the ones who looked like they were MADE out of a certain element, found Dust of that element to be quite the delicacy. "Speaking of which, if you guys wouldn't mind filling me in on the grand-master plan, it might actually make my next string of robberies go a little smoother," Roman added with a touch of annoyance at being kept partially in the dark.

"It's on a… need to know basis." Cinder said, looking at him, about to step towards him till Neo got in front of her, opening her parasol with narrowed eyes, causing Cinder to smirk "Just do as you're told, and everything will go along perfectly, despite the few minor hiccups."

"I do NOT call needing a new leg minor." Mercury muttered, causing Emerald to elbow him.

"Besides, we're done with Dust. Even with the new information, we're already set to move to phase 2 of the plan," Cinder said. "Have the White Fang clear out the warehouse. I'll send you details and coordinates tonight."

"Huh? Are you sure that's a good idea?" Roman asked. If they really did have a traitor then wouldn't it be better to weed them out first.

"We've already gotten this far. We can't afford to let something like this slow us down," Cinder said simply. "As long as everyone keeps an eye and ear open, we'll find them eventually," she smirked.

* * *

A few days later…

"Well...doesn't this bring back memories," Summer said in mild amusement. Currently she was with Ozpin and Glynda in the former's office, Renamon at her side as always. Outside the office window they could see an entire fleet of Atlesian ships parked in mid-air. "I see James hasn't changed a bit."

"This happens often with him?" Renamon quirked an eyebrow.

"Yes," Summer and Glynda deadpanned...at the same time.

"Qrow is out there somewhere and rambling on about how James is being excessive, of that I'm sure." Ozpin said with a sigh.

"He said he was gonna go see if any grimm were slipping through the walls of Vale while they were repairing them." Summer informed him, receiving a nod from the headmaster.

"Well, at least he can take his job seriously when it's important." Glynda said with a sigh. As she said that, a beeping came from Ozpin's desk, to which he checked it and saw that it was an entrance request.

"Come in," Ozpin said, to which the door soon opened and in stepped one James Ironwood. The metal plate on his brow glinting in the light, a fully white militaristic coat covering his body, with a splotch of red in the form of his necktie.

"Ozpin," James said with a smile.

"Hello, General," Ozpin nodded.

"Please, drop the formalities," James said as he walked closer. "It's been too long," he said as the two of them shook hands, while Glynda and Summer walked up after Ozpin, Renamon following behind her partner. "And Glynda," he added, seeing her. "It's definitely been too long since we last met," he said.

"Oh James…" Glynda said, before turning to Ozpin. "I'll be outside," she said as she walked away.

"Well she hasn't changed a bit," James commented.

"I could say the same to you, and it's been a decade," Summer said in amusement. "It's nice to see you again, James."

"Nice to see you again too Summer." he said, shaking her hand "Honestly, I think it still hadn't settled in for me that you were actually alive till just now."

"Seeing my TV special not enough proof?" she asked in amusement.

"To be fair, it WAS a rather hard to believe special," Renamon added in amusement, before turning to James. "So you are James Ironwood. I've heard much about you as well," she said, holding out a hand.

"And you must be Summer's Digimon Partner," James said, shaking the hand.

"Renamon, yes," Renamon nodded. "I hope things have been calming down in Atlas as well."

"Oh it's been a little rough, but like all the other Kingdoms, we've adapted well enough to the new arrivals," James said with a light chuckle as they broke the handshake. With that bit of banter done…

"So…" Ozpin started, before going to his table and pouring them all a few mugs of coffee. "What in the world has brought you all the way down from Atlas?" Ozpin said. "Headmasters don't typically travel with their students for the Vytal Festival," he said, before giving a mug to James, while Summer and Renamon took their own.

"Well, you know how much I love Vale this time of year," James said, idly taking out a flask from his coat and pouring a bit of it into his coffee. "Besides, with you hosting, I thought this might be a good opportunity for us to catch up, especially when I heard about Summer returning. Speaking of which, thanks for the Digimon Studies lessons. They've definitely helped in allowing us to understand them better."

"That was the entire point," Summer said with a light chuckle.

"I can certainly appreciate some quality time between friends," Ozpin said as he sat down. "However, the small fleet outside my window has me somewhat concerned."

"Well...concern is what brought them here," Ironwood sighed.

"Come on you two, get to the point already. We all know why the fleet is here," Summer sighed. Some things really DON'T change.

Ozpin sighed at that. "We are in a time of peace," Ozpin said.

"About as peaceful as getting off of what recently happened anyway," Summer added, thinking about the recent incidents with Myotismon and the Dark Masters destabilizing the Digital World. Speaking of which, aside from the random gates, the entryways to the Digital World were STILL closed according to Gennai as Yggdrasil was still busy undoing all the damages.

"...shows of power like this, are just going to give off the wrong impression," Ozpin said, slightly miffed at the small interruption.

"But if what Qrow said is true, then…" James started.

"If what he said is true, then we will handle it tactfully," Ozpin said.

"On top of that, it's not like Vale's been completely complacent. If there's one thing the random Digimon emergences has done, it's made everyone a bit more cautious than normal," Summer added to which Renamon nodded.

"And if I understand correctly, this Vytal Festival is supposed to be a time to celebrate unity and peace," the fox added.

"They are correct," Ozpin nodded. "Which is why I suggest you do not scare people by transporting hundreds of soldiers halfway across the continent."

"I'm just being cautious," James said.

"As am I," Ozpin nodded. "Which is why we will continue to train the best huntsmen and huntresses we can."

"Believe me, I am," James said, turning to walk away a bit. "But ask yourself this…" he added. "Do you honestly believe your children can win a war?"

'They already did,' Summer and Renamon couldn't help but think, working hard to suppress the smirks that threatened to appear on their features while James bid them goodbye and left the room.

"I hope they never have to," Ozpin sighed.

* * *

Meanwhile, the Chosen were all in the library, and while you'd think they should be studying...they weren't really doing such. On one side, team RWBY were playing a game of 'Remnant: The Game', and on the other side, team JNPPR along with Gyro and some of the Digimon were playing on the Nintendo Switch, specifically a game of Smash Bros. Ultimate.

"Ok, that is a lot of characters." Jaune said as he looked at the the massive character select screen of 80 characters, before deciding to choose Link, mostly because of the sword and shield.

"You think that's bad? You should see some of the older Dragon Ball games, Tenkaichi 3 had over 100 characters." Pierce said as he picked Ryu.

"Except if you count each Mii as a separate character, same for the Koopalings and the gender flips, you can hit over 100 here as well." Gyro shot back after choosing Pit, and he was the last to choose, so the fight started, showing all the fighters.

Pyrrha had picked Bayonetta, Ren had picked Lucario, Nora had picked Dedede, and the two Digimon playing, Agumon and Palmon, had picked Pikachu and Piranha Plant respectively.

While their fight started, the rest of team RWGBY was still playing their game… though only half the team really knew what they were doing.

"Right so… I'm not asking Yang how to play, she'll just pull me into a trap." "Hey!" "It's true and you know it you oaf." Weiss said after a moment, earning an indignant shout from Yang.

"Well...the rules say the goal is to conquer Remnant using the pieces you have, and each Kingdom has its own abilities and advantages. Says here you can also use Grimm pieces, but those run the risk of turning on you, so it's a gamble," Blake said, going through the rule book.

"Don't forget you can set traps and the like too," Ruby supplied.

"So it's like a war," Weiss nodded in understanding. "Well then, let's see who takes over the world."

"Right, well, while we're talking about taking over the world, think Renamon and Wizardmon did the job of tricking our enemies who want worse than that?" Yang wondered.

"Well…" Ruby trailed off, before her scroll buzzed, making her pull it out and look at it "Oh, text from mom, yeah, says here they did."

"Good, that should give us more time to deal with Cinder if she's too focused on possible internal struggle." Weiss said as she looked at her cards before setting one down.

"Speaking of her, if we got our time right, she and her 'team', should be arriving later tonight as 'exchange students'," Gyro mused.

"And you all know what that means. We all put on fake smiles and nod and wave while we plan to introduce her to the business end of Ultimate level attacks," Pierce said with a light chuckle. "Wow...we're really messed up to be enjoying this…"

"We REALLY should look into getting therapy…" Jaune sighed.

"We would, but how can we without revealing everything that happened to us in the Digital World?" Ren pointed out.

"...when the Digital World is open again, I say we ask if Gennai knows any good therapists," Jaune said flatly.

"...probably for the best…" Pyrrha sighed, mentally preparing herself to meet her would be murderer in another time.

"But until then, we'll just have to place a trap of our own. Speaking of which, you just activated my trap card, sis. Giant Nevermore!" Yang said, before flipping over the card she'd laid as a trap.

The time went on relatively enjoyable, till the time came when Sun and Coronamon soon showed up, but this time they weren't JUST with Neptune. He'd brought his entire team with him...AND their Digimon.

"Sup, losers," Sun said, coming up behind them.

"Did ya miss us?" Coronamon added with a cheeky grin.

"Oh, hey Sun," Ruby said in reply.

"I never got a chance to formally introduce you guys to my old friend, and the rest of my team," he said with a grin, as the rest of team SSSN came up.

"I'm Neptune, and this is Betamon," Neptune introduced himself while Betamon waved with a big grin.

"Scarlet. And this is Tinkermon," Scarlet said with a light wave, while Tinkermon fluttered around. "And don't you forget it," she smirked.

"I am Sage, and this is Koemon," Sage introduced himself with a polite bow, while Koemon jumped on the table, narrowly missing the game board much to the girls' annoyance. "Nice to meet ya!" he said cheerfully.

"Nice to meet you all," Gyro waved from where he and the others had paused the game, with the others giving various greetings as well.

"Isn't a library normally for reading?" Neptune couldn't help but ask as he looked at the board game… and then at the TV and game console on the other table.

"Normally yes… but trust me, we've earned this one." Ren said in deadpan.

"Rough week?" Scarlet guessed.

"Something like that," Nora said, all of them not planning on revealing 'details' just yet.

"Must have been some week," Koemon said. "So...what ya doing?"

"Playing games obviously," Tinkermon said as she zipped around him.

"They were supposed to answer and I was gonna ask if we could play too," Koemon said in annoyance.

"Are they like this often?" Gabumon blinked.

"Pretty much, yeah," Betamon sighed, hopping off of Neptune's shoulder.

"Guess there's always something like that on every team, huh?" Biyomon chuckled.

At that, several of them looked over at Weiss and Yang.

"What?" they both asked.

That did it as a small round of laughter ensued, much to the two girls' annoyance and a bit of confusion.

* * *

"Well, that was a fun day," Ruby said as they returned to their dorm room (Gyro making sure the board game wasn't left behind this time).

"Yeah, it was," Blake chuckled. "So...what's next?"

"Next is looking into Torchwick again, and leading to us having to smash a Paladin," Gyro said. "We'll be going into town to get some info, and a few things will happen, including meeting Penny again, Ruby 'finding out' about her being an android, and then Yang causing Junior grief. Again. Also Sun and Neptune helped you guys out, even if they didn't help much in the Paladin fight, on account of losing the trail while you four fought it," he listed off.

"Think we could get in on that this time? I know we didn't in canon, but it would suck to be left out?" Jaune asked.

"Yeah! Let us help too!" Gomamon added.

"And me too, I want in." Ilia said with a raised hand.

"Sure, we'll probably try to look into more leads." Gyro said with a nod.

"Hey guys?" Veemon said, looking out the door.

"What?" Pierce asked, before looking outside and into the hallway "Oh…" he said, before coming back in and closing it "Their here."

The room stilled at that, not needing any further words to know who he was talking about.

Cinder, Emerald and Mercury were right outside their dorm room, walking in the hallway.

"This feeling certainly drives it home." Pyrrha whispered, barely hearing the rhythmic clack of Cinder's heels.

Gyro put a finger to his mouth, telling everyone to be quiet, till the clacking couldn't be heard. "Well, it's official, we're now on a one way trip to shit hits the fan…" he sighed.

"Mission is a go then." Ruby said seriously.

"Think the mission is gonna need big booms?" Nora asked.

"For the paladins? Yes." Weiss said with a nod.

"Try not to go TOO big Nora." Salamon said.

"Oh come on, even I have limits." Nora waved her off.

"That aside, we should start getting ready." Ren said.

"It's gonna be a pretty important mission, that much is sure." Ilia said with a sigh.

"We'll make it though, we have to." Blake said seriously, as they all nodded in agreement.

* * *

 **And voila!**

 **Volume 2 has officially begun, and we knocked out two episodes of it.**

 **Also, yeah, shameless thing with Smash Ultimate.**

 **Hell, here's everyone's main:**

 **Ruby mains Kirby, Weiss mains Marth, Blake mains Sheik, Yang mains Incineroar, Jaune mains Link, Nora mains Dedede, Pyrrha mains Bayonette, Ren mains Lucario, Gyro mains Pit, Pierce mains Ryu, Agumon mains Pikachu, Gabumon mains Duck Hunt, Biyomon mains Falco, Tentomon mains Ness, Gomamon mains Greninja, Palmon mains Piranha Plant, Patamon mains Captain Falcon, Salamon mains Zelda, Veemon mains Pokemon Trainer (Charizard) and Wormmon mains Dark Samus.**

 **I had a bit of fun coming up with all the mains, trying to see who would fit who, some make sense, others don't, but hey, I did my best.**

 **Anyway, hope you all enjoyed this chapter, because...**

 **The Adventure Evolves.**


	52. 51: Counter Measures

**Ooh boy, this is a big one.**

 **Now, a good number of things happen in this chapter, so we'll just get right to it, hope you enjoy!**

* * *

 **Counter Measures**

* * *

The sound of a lecture that had quickly degraded to unintelligible blabbering filled the air in a classroom full of students who by this point couldn't care less of their teacher's regalling them of his glory days.

"Does this happen a lot?" Coronamon groaned, looking ready to join his partner who was already snoring away.

"Every. Single. Time," Veemon let out a long suffering groan as he by some miracle hadn't fallen asleep yet.

At the same time, near the back of the room… "Gonna kill him...slowly…" Mercury groaned under his breath.

"Second dibs," Emerald agreed.

"And I thought having to listen to Tyrian's morbid jokes was bad. This is torture…" Cinder groaned, wanting nothing more than to burn the fat man to ashes, then burn THOSE ashes just for making them listen to this endless bragging that wasn't even interesting.

Thankfully for EVERYONE in the class, it was soon 4, and classes were over for the day.

* * *

"I thought that class would never end," Blake sighed as the group were getting ready in their dorms, each of them wearing a different outfit for the occasion, with RWBY having their same outfits from canon. They had to laugh when Gyro mentioned their outfits had 'codenames' for the crew that had worked on the web series.

"The one class I hate I have to attend now that I'm officially Azure's personal student." Ilia said with a groan, still in her new outfit.

"Sad part is, I don't think he ever gets better, even when he's a commentator for the tournament." Gyro said with a sigh as he properly adjusted the green jacket he'd put on for his 'mission outfit'. It consisted of a dark blue shirt under the green jacket, a pair of white gloves on his hands, and a pair of brown cargo pants with a belt around it to carry some equipment, while still keeping his goggles on his forehead.

"Oh boy…" Jaune groaned as he finished putting on his outfit, which consisted of a light brown shirt under a brown sleeveless vest with a pair of jeans held up by a pair of belts at his waist, his armor still present over it to boot along with some added pieces over his shins, Crocea Mors properly sheathed where he needed it.

"Well...at least the excitement of the tournament should counter any of the boredom, right?" Pierce said with a shrug as he adjusted the red jacket he was wearing over a black v-neck shirt. He was wearing a pair of dark blue pants with a belt around his waist and black gloves on his hands.

"Let's worry about that when its actually applicable," Ren sighed, walking in wearing an outfit that...honestly looked a lot like his normal outfit, seeing as it consisted of a green Tangzhuang and separate magenta sleeves on his forearms with a pair of long pants that looked like there were a few bits of armor around the legs.

"Yeah, we've got a big mission of our own to work on," Nora said with a grin, wearing a white shirt with a pink heart printed on the front that had black sleeves, a bit of light armor around her stomach, black shorts, pink thigh highs with her usual boots still in place, and a pair of white gloves.

"We might want to go over everything again to make sure we don't get confused." Pyrrha suggested, wearing a new torso armor that seemed more sturdy, wearing a black halter top underneath that left her stomach exposed, a bronze colored choker around her neck, armlets on her biceps, her forearms had the same gauntlets though, while she had done away with her hip cape and instead wore a red skirt with a bronze armored skirt over it, black tights, and brand new greaves over her legs, her hair now done in a braid with her circlet still present.

"Please, I'm honestly a bit confused about who does what again." Gomamon admitted.

"Well, first of all, we'll need to keep an eye on the White Fang," Blake frowned.

"I'll come too to try and keep myself hidden while I scope out how many Digimon they might have on their side. With how many are coming through, I wouldn't be surprised if they roped a few Digimon into their ranks one way or another," Ilia sighed.

"Naturally the two of us will be coming along," Kotemon said as Patamon nodded.

"Next we'll need to look for information. Aside from info on Dust Shipments, we need to find anymore useful information we can via the CCT, same reason as during the DeathMeramon incident," Weiss said.

"And we'll be taking care of that part again," Ruby nodded.

"Just hope it's more productive than last time," Tentomon sighed. "Well at least we don't have to go in disguises again."

"We also have more to worry about than just the immediate issue. We know they're gonna hit several key points soon, so we should put up some defenses there too," Gyro said. "That's why I'm gonna be going with Ruby and Weiss. Azure already finished the counter virus, so we'll be planting it as well," he explained.

"Not just that, we'll be going to the site of what will be the breach," Jaune said. "We'll be working on reinforcing it so when it DOES happen, well...at least we'll have a smaller hole to go through."

"And we have to help with that...right…" Gomamon groaned.

"Hey, at least it's nothing too hard. Azure worked on that one too," Pierce said.

"With my help!" Nora grinned.

"The shield generators will work like tripwires. When someone is in range of them, they'll project a shield that can stop a good deal of force. We know, we tested it using Nora's best grenade formulas," Pierce continued with a smirk.

"Okay, now I KNOW those will work," Salamon blinked, knowing how destructive the stuff her partner makes is.

"And of course, we give Junior a ring to see if he knows anything about this," Yang nodded.

"Right, so looks like everyone's got their roles clear, so let's go," Jaune nodded.

"Yeah!" came the familiar voice of Sun, causing everyone to turn to see Sun squatting on the windowsill, Coronamon by his side...and Neptune clinging to it for dear life, Betamon clinging to his back as well.

Everyone stared at them for a moment, until Ilia pulled them into the room roughly "Alright, how much did you idiots hear?" she asked dangerously, fingering the hilt of her weapon, until Blake put a hand on her arm that is.

"Uh…" Sun looked around the room, seeing all the serious stares directed at him, he realised this wasn't the time to be joking around "Everything, sorry. But I promise that we can keep our mouths shut."

"Yeah… this is Weird with a capital W, but you all seem so serious about it." Neptune added as he stood up.

Gyro sighed "Right… let me give you guys the short version, and bring your teammates here tomorrow so we can tell them, and make sure they listen to your orders on this Sun, alright?"

"Will do." Sun said, nodding seriously, before Gyro explained all the important details to them, and when he was done…

"Woah…" the four of them uttered in awe.

"It's a LOT to take in at first." Ilia said, understanding where the reaction was coming from.

"Ok, so, let me see if I got the gist of it." Sun started "Three worlds, all connected. You two are from this world called Earth, and you came here because Remnant appeared there as a web series. Then when you arrived, you got sucked into the Digital World, and had this crazy adventure there that lasted 2 months for you, and you're also the ones who took down that huge monster we saw on the news back when the sky ripped open. Now you're using what you know about the future to stop some crazy evil people from destroying Vale. That about sums it up?"

"That's the important points yeah." Pierce said with a shrug.

Sun nodded "Right… I still want to help."

"In that case, maybe he should go with Blake and Ilia, more faunus going to the rally together might make it more believable, right?" Ruby suggested.

"It's a sound idea." Blake said with a nod, chuckling when Sun fist pumped about being able to help.

"Ok… so what about me and Betamon?" Neptune asked.

"If I might make a suggestion?" Ren said, earning everyone's attention "Having more people in our group, maybe we should check possible entry points that could be used by our enemies should one become invalid due to our early interference."

"Hadn't thought about that." Gyro admitted. "Think you guys can handle that then?" he asked, looking to Ren and Neptune, both of whom nodded.

"Alright, so now that we're all on the team, let's go!" Ruby cheered, the group giving out varying versions of agreement.

* * *

"And here we are in the CCT," Gyro mused. "Gotta admit, they really ARE pretty impressive, though I'm sure the one in Atlas is the best, seeing as it IS the first one."

"It's the most grandiose one if that's what you mean, too much fanfare about it in my opinion." Weiss said with a sigh, bringing a laugh of amusement from the others.

"It feels nice to come back here without a disguise, and without worrying about an evil Digimon being close." Tentomon said.

"Considering how many Digimon there are now, it won't be a problem," Palmon chuckled as true enough, there were plenty of other Digimon nearby as well.

"Well, let's get to it. We got a job to do," Ruby said, taking out her scroll, but when she walked, she wasn't quite looking and accidentally bumped against a young man in a black hoodie who walked by.

"Watch it," the man grumbled, taking out a jelly drink packet and taking a swig, a small dark colored Digimon with a hoodie following him, neither of them paying her much mind.

"Rude much?" Gyro quirked an eyebrow at that. "You okay, Ruby?"

"Yeah I'm fine," Ruby nodded...and realized her scroll wasn't in her hand. "Though I think I just dropped my scroll."

"Yes, you did," came a familiar voice. The group turned to see Penny and Monodramon, Penny holding Ruby's scroll.

"Do be more careful. That's the second time you've bumped into someone," Monodramon huffed.

"Last time it was Weiss though, not Ruby." Agumon pointed out.

Monodramon blinked, looking between the two girls, and blushed. "Ah...right...my mistake…" he scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

"Hi Penny, we were wondering where you went. Glad you're okay," Ruby smiled.

"There...seems to be a misunderstanding," Penny said...and promptly hiccups, causing the scroll in her hand to fly out of it and right into Ruby's.

"Right, and I'm a woman." Gyro muttered with a roll of his eyes.

"You are?!" Penny gasped in shock, while everyone looked at her in deadpan.

"Penny… that was sarcasm." Gyro said slowly.

"Ah…" Penny was taken aback a little.

"I'll deal with her guys, you go do what we came here to do." Ruby told Gyro and Weiss before she and Palmon guided Penny and Monodramon off.

"Right, then we'd better get to work on our end," Gyro said, to which Weiss nodded in agreement, the two and their partners soon going into the CCT. Once inside, the two groups parted ways, Weiss going for the section that dealt with long distance communication, and Gyro went for the section aimed for general use.

"So how do you plan to do it?" Agumon asked.

"Can you say...adding an extra card to a deck?" Gyro smirked, as he placed his scroll, and began working, opening up a few other pages so he could hide his work if anyone came by, such as a few info pages, a few Dustube videos like a blonde kid in a punkish outfit doing a bunch of odd stunts, to a video of a strong willed looking girl with pink hair on some idol show, and several others...but stopped when he noticed something.

"What's wrong?" Agumon blinked, noticing his reaction.

Gyro didn't say anything, instead closed the system, and removed his scroll. "Someone else has been in there," he said simply.

Agumon's eyes widened when he heard that. That didn't just mean someone was using the port recently, it meant that someone had been in the area that Gyro needed to plant the counter virus...and that would put a pause on their plan. "What do we do now?"

"For now, we'll put a hold on this part of the plan. There'll be plenty of other chances in the future," Gyro frowned. "Let's just meet up at the location with Weiss and Tentomon."

* * *

Meanwhile, with Ruby and Penny were walking down the street with their partners.

"I was told not to speak with anyone after what happened at the docks. They said that it was for my own good, and that nobody would understand me." Penny explained.

"The general made that last part rather clear." Monodramon added with a frown.

"General? You mean General Ironwood?" Palmon mused, having heard that name before.

"That's him," Monodramon nodded.

"But why are they so intent on keeping you hidden?" Ruby asked, even if she already knew the answer.

Penny seemed...unsure...of what to say, but eventually… "Can I trust you?" she asked.

"Of course," Ruby nodded with a smile.

"I am...not like others…" Penny started slowly. "I… I wasn't born from a mother and a father. I was simply MADE by my father."

"So… you're like the Digimon then, born differently." Ruby said, looking down at Palmon and Monodramon.

Penny paused at that "I… suppose?" she said unsurely "But, even then, I'm not a real girl. I don't have flesh and blood, I have synthetic skin and oil."

"You're still a real person Penny. You have a working aura. And you know what that means? You also have a soul." Ruby told her with a smile.

"Ruby…" Penny said as she looked at her friend, and if she could, she might cry, looking at her with such a happy smile "You're taking this surprisingly well you know?"

Ruby shrugged "I've seen a lot of things you wouldn't believe, like a giant dinosaur fighting a giant parrot."

Penny blinked at that, tilting her head "You saw that too?"

"Wait, what?" Ruby and Palmon both said together.

"It's… very strange, but, about 11 years ago, my program already existed, I was simply confined to cyberspace and lacked a physical body, so I remained in my father's computer for a long time. During that time, I saw some strange data coming in from a location I have yet to determine, and saw an orange dinosaur with a helmet fighting a green parrot with arms." Penny explained.

Ruby didn't know what she expected, but it certainly wasn't that "Have you ever told anyone about it?"

Penny shook her head "No… I don't think anyone would have believed me."

Ruby nodded at that, knowing where she was coming from. Then, an idea came to her, a risky and difficult one, which is why she pulled out her scroll "Can you excuse me for a moment Penny? Gotta make a quick call."

"Of course Ruby." Penny said with a smile, Ruby returning it as she stepped away slightly to make a private call.

"Ruby? Something up?" Gyro asked as he answered his scroll, and Ruby could hear Weiss talking in the background.

"You could say that. Penny just revealed something to me, and, well… I think we could tell her about THAT." Ruby told him, waiting as Gyro went silent at her words, knowing he understood her meaning.

"... let me talk to her first, could you?" he requested, and Ruby went back to Penny and handed her scroll over "Penny? Did what you reveal to Ruby have to do with Digimon?"

Penny looked a bit worried, but she was glad Ruby didn't seem to have said anything about her mechanical body, before she focused back on the scroll "Yes, I told her I saw the battle between a dinosaur and a parrot 11 years ago."

"I see… so you were one of the ones chosen all the way back then." Gyro muttered.

"Chosen?" Penny repeated in confusion.

"It's not something I can explain over a scroll, the connection isn't secure enough, Ruby will explain everything to you, and I do mean EVERYTHING." Gyro told her.

"Alright…" Penny said, still confused, before she handed the scroll back to Ruby, who hung up after saying goodbye.

"Alright, so… first, Ironwood can't monitor what you hear and say, right?" Ruby asked, just to be on the safe side.

Penny shook her head "No, my father wanted me to have privacy, so there aren't any listening devices in my body."

"Good...well...you might want to sit down, cause this is a doozy…" Ruby chuckled a bit, before she explained. Explained the full story, what happened then, and how it connected to now, including the little secret the twins had.

Once she was done explaining everything, and Penny had taken it all in… Ruby had trouble breathing from how tightly she was being hugged "Penny… too tight…" she gasped out.

"Oh! My apologies!" Penny said, loosening her hug enough that Ruby could breathe, though she was still smiling.

After all, Ruby had known her secret in advance, and yet still wanted to be her friend despite that. How could she NOT be happy to hear that?

"I'm glad you took that well," Ruby breathed in a bit.

"We were worried you might take the whole...other world thing badly," Palmon said.

"You mean the third world existing," Monodramon pointed out, earning a small dope slap.

"You know what I mean," Palmon said in annoyance.

* * *

Back with Weiss, she'd just finished getting the information she was looking for. With the data saved, she was about to leave, but before she could go…

"Excuse me, Ms. Schnee," came the voice of the secretary she'd called earlier as she came up on the screen again. "Sorry to interrupt, but I need to inform you that I just got off from a call with your father. He insists he'd like to talk to you," she said.

"Oh dear." Weiss said nervously while Gyro groaned in the background, the Digimon trying to get a look at the screen but he held them back.

"I'm really sorry about this." the secretary said apologetically, easily understanding Weiss didn't want to talk to the man, but she had to do her job.

"I understand, please patch him through," Weiss sighed, earning a nod from the secretary, before another screen appeared. On it was her father, an aging man with white hair and a mustache, wearing a clean white suit. "Hello, Father," Weiss said, keeping her voice level and doing her level best to hide the disgust she'd started to truly feel for her father. Ever since she'd learned more and more about her father from the world that the twins had seen, and seeing her own past through unclouded eyes, whatever respect she once had for the man had long since vanished.

"Weiss," Jacques nodded, his expression still rather stern. "Still at Beacon I see."

'And we go right to his grievances, yay.' Weiss thought sarcastically "Yes father, I'm doing well in my studies if you were curious."

Jacques hummed in a rather non committal fashion "I see, that's good at the very least. Though I've heard you aren't the leader of your team, why is that?"

"Because my team leader is better at planning battle strategies than I am." she answered easily, having been bested by Ruby in a few card games that brothers had brought with them, along with seeing her plans in action, Weiss could easily say Ruby had a brain built for battle strategies, especially in live combat. Besides, it's not as if being leader meant it was all on her. She and Gyro did plenty of contributions in pre planned strategies, bringing up possible counters and helping to work out anything Ruby might have missed.

"I see, I suppose that's acceptable, though you're supposed to be better than the others, aren't you?" Jacques asked her with a condescending eyebrow.

"Perhaps, but there will always be someone better at something," Weiss said simply. "I found it more productive to simply focus on being the best I can be. That's what a team is for, covering each other's weaknesses and helping develop our strengths." she saw Gyro giving her a discreet thumbs up at her answer, forcing her to hide a laugh.

Jacques seemed for frown a bit at that. "I see. Well, I hope you're managing well even with the new breed of animals running around," he commented.

"Excuse me?" Weiss blinked. She had a bad feeling about that bit.

"Annoying creatures really. Well, I suppose they're good for something if you know how to put them to use," Jacques said offhandedly.

Weiss wanted to scream at him, because it wasn't hard for her to read the subtext, but before she could Gyro came in "Uh, hey, I know you're talking to your asshole of a dad, but maybe we should hurry up in case the others need help?"

In one second her father's face had shifted to red with fury, but she had quickly ended the call, letting out a breath she didn't realise she had been holding, before looking up at Gyro in deadpan "You did that on purpose."

"Yeahp." was his simple answer.

She sighed at that, pinching the bridge of her nose "Can't you show a little more tact?"

"With your father? Nope, no can do." he said with absolutely no shame.

She put her face in her hands at that, before looking back up "Anyway… you understood what he was implying, right?"

"We all did." Agumon said.

"I want to electrocute him till he can't move!" Tentomon said in anger.

"We'll get the chance in time," Weiss said without missing a beat. "But for now, we need to focus on Cinder."

"That and well...messed up as it sounds, Jacques DEFINITELY can't get away with what he's doing," Gyro said. "You all know what happens if a Digimon piles up too much negative emotion…"

The three of them blinked...then paled a bit. "Oh Oum...as much as I know my father deserves it, that could cause SERIOUS damage to Atlas," Weiss groaned.

"One way or another we'll deal with that when the time comes," Tentomon said.

"Just pray there's something left standing if we do," Agumon said grimly. "Think we should have Summer teach about Dark Evolution next time? You know, hopefully deter anyone who tries to think like Jacques?"

"Probably a good idea yeah," Gyro agreed. "For now, let's see what we can make of this info."

* * *

"So this is the spot, huh?" Jaune mused as they arrived at the location that was indicated on their scrolls.

"Hard to believe this place is gonna be a battlefield sometime soon," Gabumon said with a frown as they looked around and noted how...peaceful...the place seemed.

"Well, we can't STOP it per say, but we can at least minimize the damage," Salamon said.

"The breach should be around this area, so by setting these barriers up, it won't STOP the breach, but it'll at least make it so there won't be such a big hole, and so less Grimm can get through," Jaune mused.

"Roger, let's set em all up," Nora nodded as they soon went to work, triple checking that they had the right locations and set up the barriers, which hummed a little as they came to life. Once all four were in place, the image on their scrolls showed a square shaped barrier appearing, even if unseen to the other people going around. With this, the surface should be able to withstand a good deal of force.

"Alright, now that this part of the plan is done, we should join up with Ren and Neptune. More hands to look for possible weak points can make it go better after all," Pyrrha said.

"Right," the others all nodded before they went to the next spot.

* * *

"So… how'd you deal with the whole revelation about the webshow thing when you first heard it?" Neptune asked Ren curiously as they were walking around at the edge of the city to look for any possible breaches in the wall.

Ren hummed in thought "At first, I guess I didn't really believe it, but the twins showed us those clips, they told us about the future, and, I was rather inclined to believe it. What really drove it in though was when I pulled Gyro aside and asked him if the show had shown my past… all it took was him saying the name of my parents for me to be convinced."

"I'm gonna take a wild guess and say their not with us anymore, huh? You have my condolences man." Neptune said with a frown.

"It's fine, I've made peace with their deaths after all these years." Ren said, shaking his head.

"Even though Waspmon reminded you of your dad a lot." Wormmon added from his shoulder.

"Yeah… it's why I was so angry when Puppetmon killed him, it was like seeing my father die all over again." Ren said with a sigh.

Neptune and Betamon glanced at each other, before looking back to Ren "So… less somber note, did they say anything about me and Sun?" the bluenette asked, trying to change the heavy subject.

"Well… they DID tell us that you have an irrational fear of water." Ren answered easily.

"Oh come on! That's the ONE thing that should have stayed in the team dammit!" Neptune complained as he threw his hands up in exasperation, before giving Ren a dry look as he heard a short chuckle "And for your information, it's not irrational, it's perfectly justified."

"Well whatever it was, it was never explained in the show the brothers watched, and considering from what they said, you get freaked out from ankle deep water so...unless I'm picking at something I shouldn't...care to explain?" Ren asked curiously.

"That...well...its kinda personal, but long story short, I got caught up in something years ago. People I knew died at sea cause of a sinking ship and the Grimm and I survived out of sheer dumb luck. I literally can't look at a pool of water without remembering that. Can't even take anything other than a shower cause of that," Neptune sighed. "Though the ankle deep is a new low if I seriously did that," he admitted.

"You're taking therapy though, and you have me to help you get into deeper waters at the beach if you absolutely need to." Betamon said encouragingly.

"Yeah…" Neptune sighed, before smiling down at his partner "Thanks for that Betamon."

"Therapy, huh? Come to think of it we keep forgetting to look for a good one," Wormmon mused.

"Traumatic experiences?" Neptune blinked.

"My childhood aside, let's just say we know we need help when our go to method of fixing a Digimon related problem is to basically murder said Digimon," Ren deadpanned.

"Doesn't help it actually WORKS," Wormmon sighed. "Then there was the time we sprang a trap just so we could get the catharsis of beating up the guy who set the trap…"

"Harsh," Neptune and Betamon winced.

"We're managing for now," the two sighed.

With that, the four of them continued on, making sure to pay close attention to the wall for any possible cracks or openings, until eventually…

"Huh… we seem to come to the docks a lot these days." Ren mused as they started walking near the water, though obviously Neptune was the farthest from it.

"Right, you guys were here when that interview happened, and you said you were here again about a month ago to stop Torchwick from stealing Dust?" Neptune asked for clarification.

"Makes you wonder just what draws bad guys to this place so much." Betamon mused with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, let's just hope we don't have to fight another one again," Wormmon sighed. "Anyway, if they decide to go from here...how would they bring in Grimm from the sea? Aren't most aquatic Grimm kinda...unsuited for land?"

"Not all of them, but most of them, yeah," Neptune said.

"They might try to sneak Grimm in with the cargo of some ships though, like in shipping crates, keep them locked up tight, and then set them loose when the time is right. Even if Grimm don't survive long in captivity, they can survive for SOME amount of time." Ren said as they headed towards the ships.

"Good point. Better get to checking then," Betamon frowned.

The group were about to move to do just that...before something else caught their attention, namely an explosion suddenly happening and with it, one of the ships started to tip over.

"That's not good," Ren frowned, the group going to investigate, right as the ship was starting to sink and a new figure appeared, smashing up part of the port.

It was a turtle shaped Digimon, that much was obvious, with three long spikes on its back, its front flippers made of swords, while the back ones and the tail were covered in yellow scales, just like the head, a pink beak at the front of it, a small mohawk of pink hair on top it's head, and two long green antennae coming out the back of its head.

"Ok… what the hell is that?!" Neptune shouted in worry as he saw the Digimon just trashing about wildly.

Ren quickly took out his scroll and activated the analyzer, searching for the Digimon, before he found it "Archelomon, though this is rather strange, it's supposed to be a carefree Digimon."

 _Digimon Analyzer: Archelomon_

 _Archelomon. Data Type. An Adult Level Reptile Digimon. Although a rather laid back and carefree Digimon, Archelomon developed blades for front flippers to defend itself from would be attackers. It isn't the fastest swimmer, but its strong shell can stop some rather strong attacks. Its special attack is Ocean Strom, creating a giant whirlpool to drag its adversaries underneath the waves._

"Well...that doesn't look particularly carefree if you ask me," Neptune frowned, as Archelomon crashed into the port, roaring as it did, and revealing a pair of glowing red eyes.

"...that explains it," Ren and Wormmon sighed.

"Yeah...red eyes are always a bad sign...unless they're natural," Betamon agreed. "So how do we fight him?" he asked, as Archelomon soon dove, and surfaced quickly, destroying another ship, right as some of the local Huntsmen arriving and soon trying to stop the out of control Digimon.

"So...how do we stop it? You guys seem to have an idea what's going on," Neptune asked.

"We don't know for sure, but if it's like the last type we had to deal with, look for a Black Gear embedded on its body," Ren frowned.

"There shouldn't be any of those left though." Wormmon grumbled under his breath.

"Yeah… I hope Devimon didn't come back somehow." Ren added.

At the same time, Archelomon was being fired at by the Huntsmen, but their bullets were barely hurting it thanks to its shell, and soon, it dove underwater, as a large whirlpool quickly formed and started to break up more of the wooden parts of the port and dragging them into the water.

"Okay, we'd better hurry, but…" Wormmon gulped, realizing a big problem. "I...can't actually fight underwater…"

"But that'd mean…" Betamon trailed off, looking towards Neptune, who paled considerably.

"Well...it IS underwater so…" Betamon trailed off. "Come on Neptune, you know I can't do this without you."

"Well...I…" Neptune gulped, clearly less than enthused.

"If we don't do anything, those huntsmen will die," Ren said urgently, before looking Neptune in the eye. "Are you going to let some good people die just because you couldn't face your fear even when lives are on the line?!"

"You're right," Neptune admitted. "Let's go, Betamon!"

"Right!" Betamon nodded, before they soon relocated towards the waterside, though Neptune still had a few paces back, before he grabbed his Digivice and raised it, to which it started to glow.

 **(Play Brave Heart)**

The signal was sent from the Digivice, and soon called forth the stream of data, which soon flowed into Betamon. "Betamon, Evolution!" Betamon called out before in a flash, he transformed, revealing the familiar serpentine form of a Seadramon in his place. "Seadramon!"

Seadramon didn't waste any time, and soon went into the water, quickly finding the whirlpool that Archelomon had caused, and soon caught up to him and wrapped his body around him, stopping him from creating the whirlpool.

On the surface, the whirlpool soon stopped, to which Ren and Wormmon looked at each other and nodded, Ren pulling out his Digivice.

"Wormmon, Evolution! Stingmon!"

Stingmon soon flew over the water, and grabbed as many Huntsmen as he could, pulling them out of the water and depositing them at the edge where they could climb to dry land. "These guys are safe, now we gotta deal with Archelomon," Stingmon reported.

"We'll get our chance when Seadramon drags him back up," Neptune said, and right on cue, Seadramon resurfaced with the berserk Archelomon.

"I got him, but I'm not seeing any gears on him!" Seadramon reported.

"Okay, so the gears not in there. What do we do?" Neptune frowned.

"It might be inside his body, but we can't say for sure," Ren answered. "We'd need to find a way to force it out of him, but if he's NOT being controlled by something tangible we might end up killing him if we use attacks."

"Well, whatever you do, hurry it up, cause this guy's got a lot of fight for a giant turtle!" Seadramon grimaced as Archelomon kept struggling.

As he said that, a missile flew through the air, striking Archelomon in the face, stunning him.

"Guys! What's going on?!" Jaune shouted as he arrived with the others of his group, standing on Ikkakumon's back, while the others were on Garurumon.

"A berserk Digimon with no sign of those gears you talked about earlier!" Neptune summed up in a slightly panicked tone. It didn't help that at that moment, Archelomon shifted his head, and caught Seadramon in the chin, causing him to let go and the turtle to dive into the water again.

"Explain later, catch him again now!" Seadramon said as he dove in again, to which the other Digimon looked at each other...and shrugged before Ikkakumon dove in as well.

Underwater, the fight was surprisingly heated as Archelomon proved to be quite agile underwater, but with his main attack sealed off due to its predictability, Seadramon and Ikkakumon were quickly gaining ground.

"Stop moving!" Ikkakumon growled. "Harpoon Vulcan!" he fired his missile, which impacted Archelomon, throwing him off course.

"And this time, stop struggling!" Seadramon agreed. "Ice Arrow!" he called out, firing the freezing blast, which caught the still reeling Archelomon and soon his limbs were encased in ice, before Seadramon caught him again, and Ikkakumon helped push the now helpless Digimon up to the surface. Before long they broke through, and Archelomon wasn't running anywhere anytime soon.

 **(Song end)**

"Okay...now what do we do?" Nora asked, since they had a frozen Digimon who was STILL going berserk even if they were helpless right now.

"Something is definitely causing him to behave this way, so we can't just finish him. We have to try and help him," Pyrrha said.

"That part we can all agree," Neptune nodded. "But what do we do?"

The group seemed to think about it for a moment...before Jaune perked up. "How about we use the Digivices? They hold a holy power, right? Maybe if we use that light…"

"We could push influence out!" Ren nodded, understanding what he was going for.

"Well, it's worth a shot I'd say," Gabumon said, with the other Digimon nodding.

"Right then everyone, let's do this," Jaune said as the five of them lined up, and pulled out their Digivices, aiming them at Archelomon.

It took a second, but soon enough, the light shot out of them and into his body, Archelomon's struggling intensifying for a moment, before it calmed as… something, came out of his body, it was vague, but it seemed to have a sort of ring shape to it, before it shattered into data fragments that eroded away.

Once it was gone, Archelomon calmed down, before opening his eyes and… "Dude...what happened? And why am I a popsicle?" Archelomon asked...with a surfer accent at that.

"It's...not really clear on our end either…" Gomamon said awkwardly, right as some of the Huntsmen who'd been caught in the whirlpool finally came up.

* * *

"Here we are again," Pierce mused as they all dismounted from Bumblebee. "Wonder if Junior will have more info than what he did in 'canon'."

"Well, only one way to find out," Yang chuckled.

"At least we don't have to pretend to not be Digimon this time," Veemon laughed a bit.

"Though it WAS kinda fun playing that way," Biyomon admitted, before they followed after their partners into the club.

Once they reached the doors, the guards looked almost ready to bolt when they saw Yang, but Pierce rose his hands "Woah there fellas, relax, we're just here to talk to Junior, see if he has anything interesting to tell us."

The two guards calmed down a bit at that, before one of them spoke up "Boss is serving drinks as usual, we'll radio ahead to let him know you're coming."

"Thanks for that guys." Pierce nodded in thanks, before they walked, going through a small corridor, and then entered the club proper.

Yang whistled a bit "Huh, Junior's redecorated a bit. This place is looking better than last time."

"Why thank you," came Junior's voice, causing them to turn to him. "Had to do some redecorating ever since the new arrivals showed up. Plus business has been booming since I got a few of them under my employ."

"Don't forget with the new bouncers you got, we managed to keep the more… unwelcome… guests out," another voice said, as a small figure landed on Junior's shoulder. It was a small imp shaped creature with purple skin, his face white with large green eyes, a grinning smiley on his stomach, and a pair of red gloves along with a red scarf around his neck.

"Impmon… off." Junior said tiredly, as if this was a common occurrence, before the grinning Digimon hopped off his shoulder and onto the counter of the bar as Pierce and Yang got closer.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Impmon_

 _Impmon. Virus Type. A Child Level Small Devil Digimon. A Digimon with a mischievous streak, enjoying playing pranks on those who least expect it, and the bigger the prank, the better. He never toadies to the strong, and instead stands up to them with a strong attitude. His special attack is Night of Fire, shooting orbs of fire from his hands._

"I'm gonna take a guess and say he's your Partner?" Pierce blinked.

"Considering I got one of these, pretty much," Junior sighed, pulling out a D-Core, before storing it away. "Now then, I imagine you two coming here isn't for a social visit."

"You know us too well," Yang chuckled.

"We're investigating some of the shady stuff going on around town lately, mostly anything related to Torchwick and the White Fang." Pierce clarified.

"Any bit of info helps!" Veemon supplied.

Junior thought about it for a moment, before answering. "Nothing personally. I haven't seen Torchwick since that night he hired some of my boys for a job months ago. Other than that, I've been hearing some rumors here and there from some of the Digimon roaming around town and even the ones I got working for me," he said, before adding. "Speaking of which, Torchwick wasn't happy with my boys after that job, something I can relate to for SOME people, especially when the newbies are ALREADY doing a better job than them," he said leveling a glare to a group of his men who were clearly drunk, while it was a bunch of Digimon who were working diligently and even keeping them out of trouble. "ANYway, about rumors, they said something about some tech being stolen from somewhere. They also said they saw some armed people sneaking in and out of town here and there. Sounded like White Fang to me," Junior shrugged.

"Stolen tech is probably stuff from Atlas." Biyomon commented.

"It adds up with what we know so far." Yang agreed with a nod.

"Thanks for that Junior, you were a big help tonight." Pierce said as he put a few Lien cards on the counter, which Junior accepted easily.

"Pleasure doing business with you, maybe some of these days you can come around for an actual drink though." he said with a laugh.

"If we got some time maybe. Vale's been getting a lot more...busy lately since the Digimon showed up," Pierce chuckled.

"I hear ya, though it's got its benefits," Junior nodded...right before a commotion was heard, to which they all turned to see a patron getting into a rather drunken brawl with another one, and causing a bit of a wreck.

"Yeesh, another one?" Impmon snorted. "I'll deal with it."

"Keep it clean if you can," Junior grunted, pulling out his Digivice which glowed.

"Yeah yeah, I'll keep it clean," Impmon chuckled as he started to glow and jumped forward. "Impmon, evolution! Devimon!"

If Pierce and Yang had been drinking anything, they likely would have spat it out as they saw the familiar form of their first enemy, almost pulling their own Digivices out of instinct, before reminding themselves it wasn't the same one, as Devimon picked up the two patrons that were brawling, and promptly tossed them outside of the club.

Another flash of light later, and Impmon was walking back, dusting off his hands and looking mighty proud of himself.

* * *

Blake placed a hand on a trio white lines that were shaped to look like claw marks.

"This is the place," Ilia nodded, recognizing the mark as well.

"You two sure?" Sun asked, earning a pair of deadpan looks. "Yeah, I'll just take your word for it," he raised his arms in surrender.

"You kinda walked into that one," Coronamon snorted, to which Patamon and Kotemon laughed as well as they soon walked in.

"New recruits? Stick to the right," they heard a man say, and looked forward to see a White Fang member ushering some Faunus in.

"You know, I always wondered what's up with the Grimm masks," Kotemon mused.

"Their supposed to be symbols." Ilia said "Humanity made Faunus out to be monsters, so, we decided to wear a monster's face, if that's what scared them."

"Well that's just dumb. Not only is that proving their point, it's only making things worse," Coronamon snorted flatly.

"Trust me, I realised that down the line as well." Blake said with a sigh as she grabbed a mask and put it on.

"Hey… think the Digimon are even allowed here?" Sun wondered as he put his own mask on.

"Entirely new species that the world is iffy on about being good or bad, the species is sentient and can make its own decisions, some MIGHT agree with the ideals of the fang… yeah, I think we're good on that front." Ilia listed off, her own mask on her face.

"It doesn't help with how things are after Myotismon's stunt and the one day siege of Remnant, Digimon are practically the new Faunus," Blake sighed.

"Well, let's just hope things don't get out of hand," Patamon frowned as they all walked in.

When they arrived, they were met with a large crowd of Faunus all wearing masks. "Now THAT'S a depressing sight…" Kotemon sighed.

"It really is...to think things have gone THIS bad," Patamon frowned as well.

"But with how bad some humans treat Faunus...I can't say I'm too surprised…" Coronamon sighed.

"Well, we'll have to do something about that when the Vytal festival is over," Blake said softly, but with determination in her voice. With that, they soon joined the crowd to blend in. Of course, even with their attempts, it didn't change the shock Blake and Ilia felt when they looked to the stage and saw Roman Torchwick come on stage, being referred to as a very special ally. Of course, when they heard his speech…

"He's REALLY good at working a crowd." Sun admitted begrudgingly.

Then came the reveal of the Paladin…

"...so that's a Paladin, huh?" Coronamon mused. "Is it wrong that I kinda wanna try to smash it?"

"Not really," the others shrugged, knowing they'd have to do it anyway.

And then came the part where Torchwick recognized them….in retrospect they probably should have did more to hide themselves...oh well, hindsight was 20-20, so with that in mind, Blake quickly cut the lights.

5 seconds later, and the group had jumped out a window, being chased by a few Digimon, mostly flyers like Saberdramon and Flybeemon, and then the Paladin broke through the wall, being piloted by Roman as he chased them.

"Okay everyone, time to fight a Paladin," Blake said simply into her scroll, knowing everyone else would get it.

"He's also got a few Digimon with him, so be ready for those too!" Patamon added before Blake hung up.

* * *

"Of course he got more of them. I hate that he's good at talking to people." Gyro said with a groan as he and Weiss ran down the street towards Ruby's signal on their digivices, catching up to her as she rounded a corner.

"I split from Penny, she said that Ironwood was probably sending troops to look for her by now." Ruby answered quickly when she received curious looks when it was just her and Palmon.

"Alright, now maybe we should hurry along just in case things get worse." Weiss said before her Digivice started to glow, and one evolution later, they were being carried by Kabuterimon towards the highway.

At the highway itself….it was chaos. Plain and simple, which wasn't surprising when a gang of Digimon and a mech suit were chasing after a group of three teens and their Digimon through the traffic, knocking plenty of cars out of the way in the process (how apparently nobody was killed by this in canon was completely beyond them).

Aside from the Paladin going on a rampage, the Digimon were also peppering the area with their attacks, making evading...harder than it should be. Fortunately, before they could make TOO much progress…

"Meteor Wing!" came Birdramon's voice as the rain of fireballs fell on the Digimon, knocking them off course, and some into the Paladin (which swatted them away when they did).

"Cavalry, or at least part of it, is here!" Pierce grinned as Veemon jumped off, evolved mid-fall, and landed on some of the smaller mon, crushing them under his weight. "Cannon ball!" he grinned when he landed.

Several more mon saw that and tried to fight back but…. "Mega Blaster!" Kabuterimon's voice called out, deleting several of them in the attack, to which Palmon and Agumon jumped off and evolved, crushing a few more pursuing Digimon when they landed.

"Are we late to the party?" Togemon laughed.

"Nope, looks like you all got here just in time," Sun grinned. At the same time, Torchwick saw the increasing number of Digimon...and the ones he hired being squished, so with that in mind, he turned to the side and jumped off an edge with the stolen Paladin.

However, when he was about to hit the ground, he was met with a horn which pushed the Paladin aside.

"Thanks for dropping by," Ikkakumon snorted, as he, Garurumon, Stingmon, and Gatomon were at the ready, and before long, the rest of the group joined in, Torchwick finding his Paladin now in the middle of a group of Digimon who looked like they were ready to open his Paladin up like a tin can.

"Well, this is rather...problematic," Torchwick frowned, before pulling out his scroll. "Neo, I think I'm gonna need a pick up sooner than expected," he said.

"Betcha 5 Lien he's calling in backup." Pierce said in annoyance, before they heard glass shatter and suddenly ANOTHER Paladin seemingly popped out of nowhere, followed by two Digimon that looked like black variants of Greymon and Garurumon. "Called it," he groaned.

"And where did they get that other Paladin?! That wasn't in the info!" Gyro said...just loud enough for Torchwick and Neo to hear him over their speakers.

"So we DO have a mole," Torchwick frowned from inside his cockpit. "Well, we'll just have to find out who it is AFTER we've dealt with these meddling kids."

Neo nodded, and leveled the weapons, while gesturing for the two Digimon with her to charge forward but….

"Fist of the Beast King!" a familiar voice called out, before her Paladin was knocked to the side, and slammed into the BlackGarurumon, knocking him over as well.

"Wait what?" was the response from the Chosen, caught flat footed, as they turned to the source and saw…

"Leomon?! When did you get here?!" Gyro asked in surprise as he saw their friend standing there.

"It's been a long time children." Leomon said with a smile "I arrived just an hour ago, those erratic portals being the cause of my appearance here."

"They grabbed you too huh? Man, lot of Digimon falling into those these days." Ruby noted with a frown. They were at least lucky that nothing higher than Adult had gotten through so far.

"I don't fully understand what's going on, but I assume these are enemies you're all fighting, correct?" Leomon checked.

"Pretty much yeah. Any help is appreciated," Jaune nodded.

"Then allow me to assist," Leomon smirked, as the group turned to face their four opponents, both sides tense and ready to fight but…

A loud crash interrupted everyone, as they turned to a dust cloud that had been kicked up, clearing away to reveal…

"Is… that Growlmon fighting against a BlackGrowlmon?" Yang asked with a raised eyebrow as they saw the two Digimon struggling against each other.

"Yes, yes it is." Birdramon confirmed with a surprised blink.

"And is that Growlmon…?" Sun started.

"Yep, it's the same one," Firamon nodded. Right on cue a certain faunus boy lost his grip, and was sent sliding down his partner's back, the tail actually acting like a slide which caused him to skid on the ground.

"What is it with you and ending up in the middle of fights like this?" Weiss couldn't help but ask incredulously.

"I wish I knew." Takato said with an embarrassed laugh.

"Come on, up you go." Gyro said as he pulled the boy onto Greymon.

"Thanks. What's going on down here anyway?" Takato asked curiously.

"Criminals stealing Atlas tech, trying to beat them. You?" Gyro summed up.

"Random bad Digimon running down the highway and throwing cars around, Guilmon challenged it because that's how he is." Takato summed up with a sweatdrop as he looked at his partner fighting against his dark double.

"Well...guess we'll just have to fight ALL of them," Pierce pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Well, nothing else to but fight I guess," Ruby said, before the group nodded and charged forward, to which the opposing group met them.

"Not even going to try 'playing fair'," Ren said simply, as the group began ganging up on their opponents, with the focus being on the black Digimon, while the hunters went after the Paladins (Takato staying well behind).

Greymon rammed horns first into the BlackGreymon's own horns, holding him in place...for Togemon to come from the side and punch him in the side, knocking him aside, to where Kabuterimon caught and tossed him upward, right into a double attack from Angemon and Birdramon, causing him to hit the ground and was clearly down for the count. "That's one down," Greymon snorted.

Nearby, Garurumon was fighting against his own double, the two wolves darting around. Of course, this made helping a bit harder for the slower mon like Ikkakumon or Veedramon...so that left mainly Gatomon and Stingmon.

"Neko Punch!" Gatomon called out, catching BlackGarurumon in the head, knocking him off course, to which Garurumon managed to tackle him, knocking him into Stingmon who used a sharp kick to send him flying towards Ikkakumon and Veedramon, who fired their attacks, which impacted and ended with an outcold Digimon on the ground.

"Stay down!" Garurumon growled.

While the Digimon were making short work of their enemies, their partners were doing the same with the Paladins, having managed to split them away from each other so that one team could focus on one Paladin. "Okay, let's work on some of those team moves we were working on," Ruby said as they evaded another attack from the Paladin.

"Well, if want to do that, we'd probably want to go for something fast," Gyro said.

"Yeah...we're kinda doing a lot of damage to the road," Blake admitted as she looked at the support pillars for the highway, many of them damaged.

"We...might not have a choice," Weiss admitted as well, seeing as the Paladin they were fighting was advancing again.

"Quick, Freezer Burn!" Ruby shouted. In response Weiss and Yang moved forward, Weiss striking the ground and freezing it, while Yang jumped and came down with a strong strike, soon obscuring the view in a fog made from the ice.

"Tch!" Torchwick growled inside his Paladin, before activating the laser crosshairs to try and find them, but…

"Ice Flower and Blackwing!" Ruby called out, to which several shots were fired, and where they hit, parts of the Paladin froze over, causing it to have a harder time moving, and at the same time, something came out of the fog, revealing to be Gyro and Blake, to which Torchwick tried to open fire...only to find them seemingly vanish, Blake's clone in a burst of shadows, and Gyro's copy just fading away, revealing that the real ones had shifted around the air, while Blake was leaving Shadow Clones to confuse him, the real ones soon coming down, and striking at the Paladin, leaving gashes in the armor, and around the legs, forcing him to stumble back.

"Hold still dammit!" Torchwick growled, but…

"Rose Storm and Checkmate!" Gyro shouted, and suddenly the view was covered in petals as Ruby was spreading her petals and Gyro used his wind to create a veritable storm of them, making it impossible to see. While that was keeping the Paladin off balance, Weiss and Blake went to strike at the legs, damaging the delicate mechanisms and causing the Paladin to start to teeter.

"One more time! Blizzard and Solar Wind!" Ruby called out, to which Weiss and Gyro soon converged, and using a mix of strong winds and ice dust, sent a freezing burst towards the Paladin which was soon frozen from the waist down, stopping its movements almost completely. At the same time, Yang jumped over to their partners who needed no prompting as Greymon spun and hit her with his tail, sending her right back into a vortex of wind that Gyro had prepared, aiming her right for the Paladin, before she glowed with her semblance and he launched her forward, aiming STRAIGHT for the cockpit.

"Oh crap!" Torchwick managed to gasp, before hitting the ejector switch. Good thing too, as he got out right before Yang plowed into the Paladin, blowing a hole clean through where Torchwick had been, leaving him to land on the ground with a tumble. "And I just had this cleaned," he groaned, dusting off his suit.

At the same time….

"Bladestrike!" Jaune ordered as he and Pierce landed a flurry of blows on the Paladin's back while it was preoccupied with the seemingly vanishing and reappearing Ren, with Pyrrha using her semblance to stop it from moving as much as it normally would.

Neo frowned in her cockpit before trying to strike at the ones attacking, but by then they'd disengaged, followed with…

"Flower Power!" Jaune called out, to which several shots suddenly impacted the Paladin, all aimed at the joints and the like courtesy of Ren, causing Neo to growl as she tried to go for him again...only to be met with Nora slamming her hammer into the armor of the Paladin, rattling the entire mech.

"Let's not prolong this more than we need to," Pierce frowned.

"Right," Jaune nodded, before putting a hand on Pyrrha's shoulder, and boosted her. "Ready?"

"Anytime," Pyrrha nodded.

"Magneto!" Jaune said, to which Pyrrha reached out, grabbed the damaged Paladin with her Semblance and...pulled. The Paladin was promptly ripped clean in half, leaving Neo seemingly suspended in the air looking VERY confused at what the FUCK suddenly happened, before gravity reasserted itself as she fell to the ground.

"Okay, looks like this is as far as we go for now," Torchwick said as he managed to get to Neo. "Neo, if you'd please?"

Neo nodded, opening her parasol and curtsied a little before both of them seemingly shattered into glass, disappearing.

"Of course they got away again." Ren sighed.

"No worries guys, we'll get them next time, right?" Jaune asked.

"Yeah, we will, and we'll try to get Neo as well… no clue how that'll go though." Gyro said with a frown.

"We'd need some sort of aura restraint to stop her." Pyrrha mused.

Weiss tapped her chin in thought "I'll see if anything like that is being made in Atlas." she said… before they heard a pillar falling "... once this is dealt with of course." she said as she turned to the last battle that was going on.

Leomon jumped back after blocking a Plasma Blade from BlackGrowlmon, while Firamon was raining fireballs on the dragon...with limited effect.

"This guy's got some tough skin…!" Sun growled as he and Neptune were shooting from afar.

"Well that IS a dragon," Neptune frowned, while Betamon was by his side. His partner WANTED to join in, but they'd learned (from experience) that Seadramon was a sitting duck on dry land, and with the power this mon was packing, he did NOT want to risk his partner.

"He's just like Growlmon, his skin isn't easy to break through," Takato said, even if it was probably pretty obvious.

"Well the big guy seems to be more or less evenly matched," Sun said as Growlmon grappled with his black counterpart. "Any ideas on how to tip it into our favor?"

"For now, we'll just have to keep fighting!" Ilia said as she just evaded a tail strike, while Gladimon was slashing away at the hide...but not doing much damage.

"I've got one idea," Leomon frowned. "But try to move him somewhere we're less likely to destroy more pillars."

"If you're thinking what we think you are, put a hold on that," came Gyro's voice as the chosen and their partners arrived to help. "We just need to get past that skin, right?"

"Well...how do you plan on doing that?" Gladimon asked.

"You DO remember what our weapons are coated with, right?" Pierce said with a chuckle.

"Oh yeah, that Chrome Digi-stuff," Sun said, remembering the story.

"These were made to fight Perfects, so we can definitely use them to fight an adult," Ren nodded.

"We'll soften him up, you guys worry about hitting him hard," Ruby said, before looking at BlackGrowlmon. "Rose Storm!" she ordered, to which she and Gyro soon filled the area with petals that confused BlackGrowlmon, but unlike with the Paladin, BlackGrowlmon roared and started breathing fire, forcing Ruby to be careful, but in the midst of the storm, several attacks rained down on him, while the chosen blitzed into the storm, slashing and hitting him with their weapons, the Chrome Digizoid coating easily bypassing his skin's defenses, leaving data to leak out from the wounds.

"Go for it now!" Yang shouted after she jumped away from landing a solid blow to his snout, and that was all the prompting the Digimon needed to let loose their attacks, BlackGrowlmon taking them head on, pushing him back before he hit another pillar which stopped his movement, till finally they ended, and he fell forward, knocked out.

"And that's that," Sun sighed in relief...until they all heard the police sirens.

"...what took them so long?" Jaune groaned.

"Whatever it was, we should get out of here first," Gyro said, to which they all ran away.

* * *

 **And there!**

 **A lot of shit happened, and I'm honestly too tired to explain it all, because it's late when I'm posting this.**

 **So, yeah, hope you enjoyed this, and...**

 **The Adventure Evolves.**


	53. 52: Dance Dance Infiltration

**Hey guys! We're back!**

 **We pumped this chapter out pretty quickly because we had QUITE a lot of fun with this one, and we'll work on the next one right after this one is posted.**

 **Hope you'll enjoy!**

* * *

 **Dance Dance Infiltration**

* * *

Combat classes were in session again, as once again a match was being held. But that wasn't what Gyro was focused on. No, what Gyro WAS focused on was the stopwatch he had in his hand. Why?

Cardin slammed into the ground, groaning something about 'lucky shot' like the deluded moron he was, before falling over, down for the count. At that, Gyro stopped the watch and chuckled. "Called it, those four didn't last one minute," he said to the rest of the group, who all chuckled, as down in the arena, Pyrrha had just finished defeating the entirety of Team CRDL, though unlike canon, there was a small difference this time. Gabumon was by her side, having helped her in the fight, as attested by Dove who had singed pants from the Petit Fire Gabumon had used on him.

This was something new that the Kingdoms had agreed to field test in the tournament. With the rise of people who'd formed bonds with Digimon, there were suggestions of allowing the Digimon to compete in the tournament as well. However, there were mixed reactions, with the most pragmatic one being the matter that not EVERYONE had one, and thus it might be unfair to include them. That was countered with a simple answer. The Digimon would only be able to join if the opponent also had a Digimon, or alternatively, as a substitute for a missing teammate, though only ONE Digimon was allowed to do so, and for the moment, only Child levels, as Adults COULD cause unintended damage.

"Well done Miss Nikos and Gabumon," Glynda said as she stepped in, having called the match. "Both of you should have no trouble at all in qualifying for the tournament," she said approvingly.

"Alright!" Gabumon cheered, bringing a chuckle from Pyrrha.

"Well, guess everybody's slowly taking to the Digimon pretty well." Sun said, a row in front of Gyro, before looking back at him and the others "By the way, why are you guys still in the outfits from the other night? Wasn't that just a temporary thing?"

Everyone looked at each other, and down at Pyrrha in the ring, the 10 of them still wearing their outfits from the other night when they were gathering intel and preparing for the breach, before looking back at Sun, Pierce being the one to answer "We felt a change of wardrobe was warranted after wearing the same thing for so long."

Sun nodded at that after a moment "Can't argue with that."

"Plus we do look pretty cool in these," Ruby added with a chuckle.

"Alright, now I know that's a tough act to follow, but we have time for one more match. Any volunteers?" Glynda asked, this time not pointing at Blake, as unlike in the show, because she knew what was happening and what was going on, she wasn't losing sleep over the issue with the White Fang, nor was she getting behind in her studies.

As she scanned the crowd, Mercury suddenly raised up his hand "I'll fight."

Glynda looked at him, adjusting her glasses "Mercury was it?" she asked, looking down to her scroll "Very well, let's find you an opponent."

"Actually…" Mercury started "I want to fight… her." he said, pointing at Pyrrha.

The group tensed at that, as despite knowing this was coming, it was still a small but key point of the story...one that fortunately was easily countered.

"I'm afraid Miss Nikos has just finished a match. I'd recommend you choose another partner," Glynda said.

"Yes, I'd appreciate that. Even with Gabumon's help, going four on one isn't as easy as it looks," Pyrrha said, earning a few annoyed growls from the nearby team CRDL.

"I'll do it!" Nora said with a grin as she shot up of her seat.

"This is gonna be good." Yang muttered with a grin.

"Yeah! Go for it Nora!" Salamon cheered as Nora stood up, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

"Very well, please come to the ring, Miss Valkyrie," Glynda nodded, to which Mercury hid a small grumble, but accepted it all the same.

Nora was smiling as she skipped into the arena...but inwardly she had a positively DEMONIC grin, as she already had a plan to expose this jerk's little secret in a way that was painful enough without being obvious.

The two were soon in the arena, and at a silent signal, Mercury surged forward, aiming to kick Nora in the face, but Nora was faster and blocked it with her arm, before expanding Magnhild in a way that caught Mercury in the gut, pushing him back.

Mercury growled when he was pushed back, before he ran forward and started to deliver several fast kicks, putting Nora at the defensive, but he too couldn't keep up the attacks forever, and when a single opening appeared, he was met with a hammer to the gut again, pushing him back. Now quite annoyed he moved to land several spin kicks...but was stopped cold when Nora caught his leg with her arms, having dropped Magnhild.

"Gotcha," Nora grinned, before she pulled and well...pulled him into a chopper spin, grabbing his other leg along the way. Mercury was shouting in the spin while Nora was laughing like a loon, until….something was sent flying, and Nora landed on her butt holding….his legs?

Nora made an almost exaggerated scream as she dropped the legs, looking very much like someone who had NOT expected that, while Mercury was left painfully trying to pick himself up from his fall...something hard to do when he was missing both legs.

"And there goes the Knight," Pierce whispered to Gyro, both brothers fighting hard to suppress a smirk as they watched Cinder lose one of the factors she'd made use of in the coming assault.

Once Mercury shook off his dizziness, he could only stare at his rather empty pants, only feeling his two stumps that cut off at the thighs "Oh come on!"

"Mister Black, I was not aware that you used...prosthetics," Glynda said, after confirming he was okay. "There are no mentions in your health records or student file of your condition. Care to explain?"

"It's… uh… a little recent… hasn't been updated yet." Mercury said after a moment of thought.

"I see." Glynda said, sound a little skeptical, but ultimately let it slide for now, as Nora came up with his legs.

"Uh… here, sorry about that." she said, placing them right next to him, doing her best to seem apologetic.

"Yeah… it's alright." Mercury said, obviously doing his best to play his part as he started the annoying process of putting his legs back on.

"Well, seeing how that turned out, I think it's best we call it a day." Glynda said, sighing as she adjusted her glasses, before looking to the class "Now, remember, the dance is this weekend, but you have your first mission on monday, and I'll accept NO excuses."

Once everyone was out of the class, they all grouped up and started walking together "So, is team CFVY still not back yet?" Ruby asked.

"Still out late for their mission, which means Yang and I were chosen to set up the dance, we're almost done preparing for it." Weiss said.

"We have fog machines!" Biyomon added.

"And a disco ball, that I set up myself." Tentomon said proudly.

"We did a coin flip on if it was fog machines or doilies." Yang said with a laugh.

"Lucky flip. Fog machines would probably have a better effect in this kind of setting," Gyro chuckled. "Doilies I'd imagine fit better in a more...calm, party."

"...huh...didn't think about that," Tentomon mused, as considering the decor they had, the fog machine WOULD work better with the disco ball.

"Hindsight is 20/20 I suppose." Weiss said with a shrug, not bothered by it as she would have been were she still her old self.

"Anyway, just have fun with the decorations. I'm sure it'll be great," Jaune smiled.

"What we're worried about is during the dance," Pierce sighed as Gyro looked at his scroll and opened up a small app which he quickly closed.

"Right...the 'counter move'," Blake nodded. With what was going on, Gyro still hadn't had a chance to install the counter virus, not with them finding signs someone had been managing to get into Beacon's systems and somehow wasn't leaving any traces.

"Well, its now or never. I'll install the program at the dance itself if I have to," Gyro sighed.

"But enough of that, what else are you gonna do for the dance?" Nora asked, sounding quite excited.

"Whatever it is, I'll bet it'll be really fun!" Salamon said in excitement too, the Digimon always up for a good party.

"Well now, don't you all seem happy," came an amused voice, to which they turned to the sound, and saw a Digimon lying on its back on a nearby tree branch, before it rolled over and looked at them, revealing itself to be...well...a black colored Gatomon. In short, a Black series Digimon, BlackGatomon.

"...okay...never seen you around here before. Did you come with some of the new transfers?" Agumon blinked.

"Something like that," BlackGatomon chuckled.

"Well, it's nice to meet ya!" Gomamon said with a grin.

"Just as long as you're friendly, if you aren't we'll prank the ever living daylights out of you." Veemon added, and he and Gomamon shared a high five.

BlackGatomon laughed lightly at that "Noted, I'll be sure to behave myself." she said, jumping down from her tree branch "So, when did you all arrive? Around the same time vampire head tried to take over this town?"

"Just about yeah." Patamon said, looking away for a brief millisecond.

"What about you?" Wormmon asked.

"I landed in Vacuo while the Dark Masters were having their fun," BlackGatomon said simply.

"Rough times, but good thing they were defeated." Gabumon said innocently.

"Anyway, I'd better get going before…" BlackGatomon started, but couldn't finish as someone was calling her name.

"Ah, the runaway partner schtick." Pierce mused as Nebula came around the corner.

"You could say she's a stray cat." Yang said with a grin, before grunting as Blake elbowed her in the gut.

"Geez, why do you keep running off when I'm not looking?" Nebula scolded her partner who'd jumped up and landed on her shoulder.

"Cause I keep getting reactions like right now," BlackGatomon smirked in amusement, much to the annoyed look from her partner, who proceeded to pinch her cheeks.

"Sorry if she caused you any trouble," Nebula said. "She REALLY likes to go wherever she pleases."

"Oh, it was no trouble at all," Pyrrha assured.

"So...I haven't introduced myself. I'm Nebula Violette," she introduced herself. "I'm here with my team for the Vytal festival. We're from Vacuo."

"Yeah, BlackGatomon told us about the Vacuo part," Gyro nodded, catching her attention...and suddenly she was up in his face.

"Well hello there." Nebula said and was honest to god fluttering her eyelashes "You doing anything tonight handsome?"

Gyro… was honestly thrown for a loop… it probably didn't help this was honest to god a first time for him "Uh…"

And suddenly Ruby was clinging onto him and glaring at Nebula with the fury of a thousand suns "He's mine!"

Nebula blinked as she looked down at Ruby "Wait… oh come on! Seriously?! Why are all the hot guys taken or jerks?" she groaned.

"I mean… if it helps we know some guys that are decently good looking that we're pretty sure are single and aren't jackasses." Pierce said, while making sure to be holding Yang's hand so Nebula didn't start flirting with him next.

"Where?" was all Nebula asked.

"We split from Sun right when we left the auditorium, he went to the left with his team, he's the blonde monkey faunus." Ilia (yes she was there the whole time) answered, and like that Nebula was gone.

"Well...that was….something," Ren blinked, not sure what else to say.

"Wasn't that one of the transfer students we saw in the Vytal festival?" Jaune checked.

"Yep, that was Nebula alright. Her team fights Sun's team and loses, but to be fair, it was decently close...though a good deal of that came from Neptune's overdone phobia," Gyro sighed. He did NOT expect THAT to happen. "Guess things are already changing with us interfering…"

"I suppose it WAS only a matter of time before the Butterfly Effect started," Weiss sighed.

"Let's just hope it doesn't butterfly into something that we're all gonna regret," Palmon said with a worried frown.

However, any further train of thoughts was slightly derailed when a new voice entered the fray.

"Fight! Fight! Fight!" the cheers were heard, followed by the sound of someone screaming, right as Dove landed on the ground, not far away from them, seeing stars and out cold.

"What?" Pierce asked flatly.

"Are we missing something?" Blake wondered.

"That didn't originally happen…" Gyro said, before they all went in the direction that Dove had come from, and right as they arrived, Sky and Russell were sent flying as well.

"Ok, who's kicking ass right now? That's usually our job." Nora wondered.

Right after she said that, they saw Cardin get sent flying courtesy of a double uppercut, and the culprits were…

"Ok… never seen that guy before… but he has an Agumon with him." Gyro said, feeling a bit weird at seeing someone with the same partner as him.

Weiss hummed, before activating the analyzer "Not actually an Agumon, that's a GeoAgumon, a subspecies. VERY similar in appearance, but you'll see the differences if you know what to look for."

Then the fight got weird, as the two seemed to start arguing over who got the last hit in, and suddenly the two were in a fist fight with each other, matching it blow for blow.

"...okay, I have no idea if this guy's bonded with that GeoAgumon or not," Gomamon said flatly as everyone sweat dropped at the sight.

"Oh no, not again…" came BlackGatomon's voice, to which they turned and saw the cat-like Digimon alone, apparently having escaped Nebula again.

"You know those two?" Kotemon asked.

"They came with Nebula's team, their like the extra backup for the school. Meet Marcus Diamond and GeoAgumon… their kind of muscle headed idiots like that." BlackGatomon explained, gesturing at the two morons fighting each other.

"I see…" Gyro said unsurely.

"Oh, by the way, you might want to get away, Nebula knows you have a girlfriend, but, well… she might try to flirt anyway, she can get desperate sometimes." BlackGatomon added as she looked at Gyro.

Gyro had… several scenarios in his head about what that might mean, and he'd rather not stick around to find out which it was "Let's go!" he said as he ran back to the dorms, the others blinking in surprise for a moment before following after him.

* * *

"Sorry about that," Gyro apologized. "I wasn't keen on finding out how desperate she might be."

"How bad could it be?" Yang asked.

"Best case scenario, she's willing to share, and suddenly I'm a harem anime protagonist," Gyro said flatly. "Worst case scenario, she turns out to be a Yandere, and we kill her before she kills Ruby...and probably anyone else she thinks is 'in the way'."

A few of them gulped at that. "I take back what I just asked," Yang said lamely.

"...so...about the dance decorations...need any help?" Jaune asked, hoping to change the subject.

"Well…" Weiss started, a few thoughts going through her head.

What followed was the rest of them getting roped into helping with the decorations for the party….not that any of the were complaining. It was honestly an enjoyable 'distraction' from the things to come.

* * *

"You wanted to show us something?" Veemon asked, as currently the group was with Azure as he was busy going through something.

"Yeah… remember when you were going to plant the counter virus and saw someone had been in the area needed to place it in?" Azure asked his younger brother.

"Yeah? What about it?" Gyro shot back, wondering what he was getting at.

"Well… whoever was going through that area sent me something… it's the controls to their own counter virus… it does all the things we had wanted ours to do, and it even has several extra layers of protection." Azure explained, receiving stunned silence from everyone.

"It's also possible a digimon helped them code this, as some of the data seems similar to other strips of coding I've seen from various digimon." Wizardmon added.

"Wow...someone made something that advanced?" Pierce whistled.

"But...can we trust whoever made this?" Agumon asked.

"He's got a point," Wormmon agreed.

"We don't actually know whoever made this…" Patamon frowned.

"I've gone over the program a few times. Seems like this is exactly as it claims to be," Azure sighed.

"So we're going to plant this instead?" Ruby blinked.

"Actually...it's already been planted, hence why we were sent the controls," Azure said.

"So I guess we're really doing this," Pierce sighed. "Well, at least that fixes the question of how to plant it…" he chuckled lightly.

* * *

Time moved rather quickly as it was soon the night of the dance...and the night where Cinder would plant her virus.

"How's things looking so far?" Pierce asked as he went up to Yang, he was wearing a simple clean suit and tie, while Yang was wearing a plain white dress that was mildly frilly at the bottom.

"Well… Blake got here with Ilia a minute ago, their just dancing a bit, Ilia decided she'd wear the pants." Yang said with a chuckle, pointing over and, indeed, Ilia had obviously opted to wear a suit and tie as well, while Blake was wearing a dark purple dress.

"You'd think that says a lot about the relationship… but Blake's the one that ties people up." Pierce said with a joking grin, which made Yang snort.

"Anyway, Ren and Nora are already here, their probably around dancing… or Nora pulled him somewhere to make out, I didn't really pay attention. Jaune and Pyrrha are also here, they're just by the punch table last I checked. Weiss is chatting with some of the others from what she said she'd do, and… most of the Digimon are by the snack table." she finished, pointing over her shoulder, and Pierce turned to see most of the Digimon gorging themselves on the buffet.

"Yeesh, good thing we got a good caterer." he said with a wince.

"Yeah, anyway, the only ones not here are Sun's team, but Neptune said they'd need plenty of time to wrangle Sun into AT LEAST wearing a tie, and Ruby and Gyro should be arriving right about…" the doors suddenly opened "Now." she finished with a grin, looking up as she saw the two in question walk in and simply holding hands, Ruby wearing a red dress and, after a compromise was made, flat tops instead of heels, it gave her a bit more height, and she could at least walk in it better than with heels. As for Gyro, much like most of the boys, just a simple suit and tie.

She had to resist laughing when she saw that Agumon was wearing a bow tie though as he and Palmon went to join the other Digimon at the food table, before looking back to her sister and eventual brother-in-law "You two look good like that."

"Thanks." Ruby smiled, blushing a bit, "So, we all set up?"

"Well… pretty much yeah, we're just waiting to see if anybody else arrives." Yang said with a shrug.

Aside from the usual people they'd expected such as Sun's Team, some of the other students and a few teachers, one thing they DIDN'T expect was for Azure to come...with Lisa, both of them dressed in a way that made it painfully clear they were together for the dance.

"Well now… nice to finally have that confirmation." Pierce said with a teasing grin, as Gyro and Ruby had moved to another location by now so it was just him and Yang greeting the guests.

Azure laughed awkwardly "Uh… yeah…"

Lisa on the other hand, blushed a bit "Were we THAT obvious?"

"Well, I mean… you met up with each other a LOT these last few months, more than what was mandatory for exchanging information, so…" Yang trailed off with a grin.

"Well, I do believe the saying goes, you're on your own." Wizardmon said, having come in just after Azure and Lisa, with Monitamon trailing behind him "Monitamon my friend, I believe the buffet is calling our names!"

"Let's eat!" Monitamon added as he and Wizardmon practically ran towards the food table.

The four humans sweatdropped at the sight, before Yang turned back to Azure and Lisa with a grin "So… it's official now then? You gonna come out with it?"

The two sighed at her not letting go "Fine, fine, yes, Azure and I are dating… we have been for a week actually." Lisa admitted in slight embarrassment.

"Welcome to our crazy family Lisa, hope you left your sanity behind." Pierce said jokingly.

"PLEASE don't scare away my girlfriend." Azure said drily, before he and Lisa moved to the dance floor.

"They make a good couple." Yang said as she watched them start to dance.

"Yeah, I'm happy for Azure." Pierce added, before noticing someone and waving them over "Spotted anything yet?"

"Not at the moment, though I HAVE had to break up a fight that was being started by a… Cardin Winchester I believe?" the one he had waved over turned out to be Leomon, wearing a bit of extra clothing, a simple white vest with a tag that read SECURITY pinned to it.

"Well, at least you're doing a good job of a security guard." Yang said with a small laugh.

"Yes, though I must say, some of the teachers have very interesting stories, like that Peter fellow, a rather impressive hunter if his stories are true." Leomon said with a smile, while Yang and Pierce looked at each other awkwardly.

After that small moment, Leomon went back to keeping an eye on things, while Yang kept her attention on the door, Pierce scanning the ballroom, letting out a small laugh as he saw Penny doing the robot, one of her guards joining her, and Monodramon TRYING to do the same, albeit awkwardly.

And finally a certain two came into the hall too. "Looks like the 'princess' is out to the ball," Pierce frowned, seeing as Mercury and Emerald were there by themselves, to which he made a quick signal to Gyro, who nodded, before he and Ruby slinked off carefully, Agumon and Palmon soon following when they saw them leave. They'd all planned for this after all.

"Think it'll really work?" Yang asked in slight worry.

"It will, I just got this gut feeling that tonight is gonna be a win for us. She won't know what hit her." Pierce said with a grin.

Back with Gyro and Ruby, they had quickly reached the tower, along the way both changed out of their dance clothes into more...combat ready outfits, and even came with some masks to hide their faces, Ruby going so far as to not wear her usual cape and hood to further ensure that Cinder wouldn't make the connection. Even Agumon and Palmon were in on the act, Agumon having applied an easily removed black body paint to make himself look like a BlackAgumon, while Palmon applied bits of coloring to make herself look like an Alraumon.

Gyro had even had a special idea for his and Ruby's disguises, they wore completely different colors for starters, him in white and her in blue, and had cloths covering their heads, acting as hoods, with masks over the upper half of their faces, Gyro's mask being of a unicorn, and Ruby's of a snake, while they had faceplates on the lower halves of their faces, complete with voice modulators, giving them older more mature sounding voices. They'd even changed out their weapons to throw Cinder off further, Ruby using a simple extendable iron staff, and Gyro holding a smaller pair of dual blades, but in reverse grip as opposed to his frontal grip.

"So… what did you say these were based on again?" Ruby asked once they reached the base of the tower, her modulator making her voice more lower pitched.

"A game series called Kingdom Hearts, it has these characters called the Foretellers, I thought the masks would work well enough for this." Gyro told her, his own modulator making his voice deep and almost booming.

"So, now she won't suspect a thing, and think that there's even MORE people she has to worry about." Agumon said with a chuckle.

"Making her paranoid is pretty fun." Palmon admitted with a slight cackle.

"Can't deny that." Ruby said, before they reached the doors of the tower, spotting a guard having been stuffed into the bushes "Is he…?"

"I doubt she'd kill him, too risky for her to do so, a corpse would put everyone on high alert." Gyro said as they went in, spotting all the rest of the unconscious guards and heading to the elevator, finding two more knocked out men in there.

"It's a good thing she didn't go on a killing spree." Ruby said as they moved the two men out and the four of them got into the elevator "So… you have codenames for us, right? Just in case?"

"Yeah, we're using the same names as the Foretellers to keep it easy, I'm Ira, and you're Invi." he said, before looking down at their partners "Think you two can act all feral? Make her think you're just wild Digimon that we tamed to obey us rather than our partners."

"Can do." Agumon said, before hunching forward a bit, his eyes narrowed into slits like a raptor, as he snarled lightly, Palmon not having to do much other than keep her face neutral.

At that moment, the elevator doors opened, the four of them walking out and fanning out, knowing where Cinder was hiding.

"Hiding is useless… Miss Fall." 'Ira' called out into the room, knowing she had heard him, and that while she likely had control of her emotions, she was no doubt shocked.

"We have a good idea of why you're here, no doubt trying to disrupt the CCT for your scheme." 'Invy' continued, being sure to keep her cool, even though she was nervous.

"We also know about Salem. Of her plans, what she intends for Remnant, what she promised you… what she is." 'Ira' added, the last part being a bluff, but knowing it would only serve to make their enemies more paranoid. "And I can say right now, it's not going to happen."

"The Foretellers will make sure of that." 'Invi' added, deciding to kick the paranoia even higher.

"Oh? Is that a new club Ozpin decided to throw together in another pitiful attempt to try and defeat us?" Cinder's voice said mockingly, the voice surprisingly coming from a different area, though Gyro could see a glimpse of her hair, so that meant she could throw her voice… good to know... and Gyro could believe this probably wasn't the first time Ozpin was...less than successful...in an attempt to fight Salem. Of course, this wasn't going to be anything like she'd faced before.

"Ozpin? Please, don't put us in the same league as that washed out mage. Compared to our Master, he's but an insignificant insect we could squash at any time," 'Ira' chuckled.

THAT seemed to have an effect, if the stunned silence was anything to go by, so Gyro decided to press the advantage. "We know all about your little plans. It was so easy to move a few of the students around here with a few well placed leaks," 'Ira' said.

Realizing what he was going for 'Invi' joined in. "The Dust robbery was a clever move, but sadly one we wouldn't let happen. Funny what dropping that tip to a few students would do," she chuckled. "Trying to kill Tuckson wasn't nice either. It's fortunate Emerald and Mercury were easy enough to spot. What do you hope to do next? Mess with the round placements in the Tournament? Maybe have a tragic accident happen to cause panic, and release the Wyvern buried deep in the mountains outside the city?"

Gyro grinned, just like that, Cinder thought their real identities had been nothing but simple pawns for 'The Foretellers', and the woman was more than likely breaking into a cold sweat by now, wondering how they could know all of this, and even though he wanted to drive the final nail into the coffin, he kept quiet about Amber, leaving Cinder with just a small bit of hope that her plan could still be done.

"Now then, why don't we stop beating around the bush," 'Invi' said, pulling out her staff. "Surrender and you may yet receive mercy."

There was silence for a moment, before slowly, Cinder stood up, facing them, hands behind her head, looking at them neutrally, but they could see the cold sweat on her forehead, before suddenly, she threw her hands forward, sand in her hand, which she quickly superheated into flying shards of glass.

Ira moved first, suddenly in front of Invy, as he slashed away at the shards, deflecting them all, before Invy jumped, used him as a boost and came down on Cinder with her staff in a stabbing motion, forcing her to evade as it plowed into one of the terminals, destroying the screen completely.

Cinder dodged to the side, ready to counter...if Ira didn't suddenly whistle, as several vines shot out, snaring Cinder by the leg as she was pulled out of the air and slammed into the ground, followed by several fireballs impacting her. She growled and moved to cut the vines, but they retracted by themselves, the source revealing to be a pair of Digimon, which moved to stand alongside the Foretellers.

"These new arrivals are quite the useful pets, aren't they?" Invi chuckled, petting the plant-like Digimon in a way that made them look more like...well...pets...than the sentient individuals several students had.

"Now then, our turn," Ira said, before surging forward, the BlackAgumon at his side firing several more fireballs at the same time, forcing Cinder to block before they were soon dueling with their swords, both matching each other blow for blow. However, in the fight, Invy got behind, and using the Alraumon, snagged Cinder's legs again, pulling and making her lose balance, just barely managing to avoid getting slashed in the face, but not getting hit with a fireball, sending her back right into Invi's waiting staff, sending her tumbling to the side.

As Cinder got up, it was easy to see she was livid, especially as her eyes started to glow with the power of the Fall Maiden "I've had enough!" she growled as her hands ignited with flames and she started to levitate off the ground slightly, before throwing a barrage of fireballs at Ira and Invy.

Both 'Foretellers' were ready to deflect the flames, but they didn't have to, as suddenly, a pair of lights started to glow, and suddenly two symbols appeared in front of the two, the fireballs hitting...and doing absolutely no damage as they splashed off against the symbols like they were nothing.

"What?! Impossible!" Cinder gasped.

"Why so surprised? Did you really think we didn't have a few tricks up our sleeve?" Ira chuckled, quickly reigning in his own surprise that the Crests had that kind of ability, and quickly pretended like that was all according to plan. "And here's another one. You must be really desperate to want powers that you'd steal someone else's Aura. But see...that was a bad move."

"What?" Cinder's eyes widened, unable to figure out how they knew about THAT, before suddenly, her eyes went to Invi, and she saw a glow come from within the cracks of the mask over her eyes, a rather SILVER colored glow "No… not anot-" she was cut off as she tried to blast Invi with another barrage of fireballs, as a literal optic blast slammed right into her, sending her flying and breaking out the window.

Cinder felt like screaming, not in rage, but at the searing hot pain that passed through her, focusing on her arm, it was like it was boiling, and her breath shot out of her lungs as she crashed onto her back, the glass clattering around her as her aura finally gave out, biting down on her lip to stop herself from screaming as she clutched her left arm and started to slink away into the shadows, knowing when to run.

"Well, that taught her a lesson," Ira chuckled, before going to one of the remaining terminals, and tapped it with his Scroll, activating the counter virus, while giving control to Azure's Scroll for now. Once the deed was done, his Scroll and Invi's started beeping as well.

"Ironwood's coming, wash off you two." 'Invi' said as she pulled out two water spritzing bottles from her clothes and handed them to Agumon and Palmon, who sprayed each other to get rid of the paint they had used, making sure to clean the paint off the floor as well.

Acting quickly, they moved to another room, specifically the bathrooms, while making sure there weren't any cameras, and quickly changed out of their outfits and back to their party clothes, and stuffing the extra outfits into their pouches, making full use of its near infinite storage to hide any evidence. They even pulled out their normal weapons from it to keep up the image of them coming here like this, before expanding them and leaving embedding them into the walls and one of the terminals, while Agumon and Palmon went to nearby them (but not too near) and lay down on the ground (after putting some dirt on themselves), acting like they'd been knocked out. Once everything was set, they went into a closet that was nearby the terminal room...and one that had a digital lock at that, Gyro quickly locking them into the room. They waited for a bit...before they heard the sound of footsteps, several of them, and some mechanical clanking. With that…

"Hello? Is anyone out there?" Gyro shouted, banging on the door.

"Let us out of here!" Ruby added, banging on the door as well. The sound of the lock being disengaged was heard, before the door opened, and they were met with the stern face of General Ironwood.

"What are you two doing here?" Ironwood asked sternly.

"Well, we saw this lady jumping across the rooftops and heading in this direction, so we thought that we should try and tail her, see what she was doing." Gyro answered.

"Yeah, and we tried to fight her, but got knocked into this thing before we could really do anything, but then some other people came up apparently, they called themselves the Foretellers I think?" Ruby added.

"Sounded like that, they were taunting the woman I think, mentioned a lot of things that… well, we probably weren't supposed to hear, since it sounded super dangerous." Gyro said with a frown.

Ironwood frowned at that "Any names in particular?"

"Well… they mentioned someone called Salem, and how these Foreteller people knew about her plans and stuff like that, it also sounded like they'd been throwing a wrench in her plans for a little bit since from what I get, they were the ones that sent that information about the shipment about to be stolen and the Paladin things being taken too." Ruby explained.

"I think they also said something about some base in the southeast," Gyro frowned.

Ironwood's eyes widened "I… see… I think you two need to come with me, quickly, we need to go to speak to Ozpin."

"Um, what about our partners though?" Gyro asked as he gestured towards the 'clonked out' Agumon and Palmon.

Ironwood sighed a bit "Of course, I'll have my men bring them to your dorm and inform your teammates, is that alright?"

"That's fine sir, we know our friends will look after them." Ruby said with a smile as they were ushered out.

Right as the elevator doors closed, one of the monitors came to life, a logo of a fanged grin underneath a dark hood being visible, with the words 'REMOTE ACCESS ENABLED' written underneath, and back at the party, standing on one of the outside balconies, Azure grinned.

"Time to mess with them."

* * *

 **So, quite a few things happened.**

 **First, yeah, we've screwed up the plan to have Mercury pretend his legs were broken.**

 **Second, yes, Nebula has a thing for Gyro, because we thought it would be funny.**

 **Does this mean a harem will happen for Gyro? Probably not, if it does though, that just means we changed out minds partway through.**

 **Third, yes, we now confirm that Azure and Lisa were falling for each other off screen, and yes, she will become Lisa Vermillion eventually.**

 **Fourth, a small one, Leomon is at Beacon, just because we wanted you to know weren't forgetting about him.**

 **Fifth, and this is the big one, The Chosen are playing mind games yes, using the identities of characters from another series to make everyone believe a new faction is in play and working independently from Ozpin's own to stop Salem.**

 **We kind of thought this one up just a few hours ago and we decided to g ofor it since it has a LOT of potential for screwing with Cinder lol.**

 **Either way, hope you enjoyed this chapter, because, as usual...**

 **The Adventure Evolves.**


	54. 53: Battle of the Breach!

**Holy shit this chapter is massive!**

 **Last time we had a chapter this big was the VenomMyotismon battle.**

 **And even then I don't think it was THIS big.**

 **But either way, hope you enjoy this huge chapter!**

* * *

 **Battle of the Breach!**

* * *

"They were here...Ozpin, they were here!" Ironwood said gravely, the general growing more and more aggravated as he spoke, evident by how he banged his hand on the table.

"We are very much aware of that. Thank you, James," Glynda frowned, sounding more annoyed than anything else, while Ozpin placed his fingers against his temple, seemingly massaging a headache.

"Fantastic, you're aware," Ironwood said sarcastically. "Now are we going to do something about it or should we just stay the course and continue to ignore what's right in front of us?"

"We'll definitely do something, but we can't just go in half cocked. That'd only make things worse," Summer sighed as she and Qrow were on the side, watching the two argue.

"Even I know you gotta plan first Jimmy." Qrow added with a smirk.

Ironwood looked ready to comment on that when the sound of beeping was heard, signalling someone asking for permission to enter.

"Come in," Ozpin said, getting up from his chair as the doors opened to reveal Gyro and Ruby, now in their combat outfits again and walking into the room.

"Sorry we took a while. A few other people were using the elevator too so we had to stop a few times," Gyro said a little sheepishly.

"Of course." Ozpin nodded, smiling a little.

"How are you two feeling?" Summer asked them, feeling a little concerned, even knowing the plan.

"Better now I guess," Ruby said. "Would have been better if we didn't end up stuck in a closet, but it could have been worse."

"Ruby, Gyro, I feel it's appropriate to let you know that I think what you both did last night is exactly what beng Huntsmen is all about. You both recognized a threat, you took action, and you did the very best you could," Ironwood praised.

"Not to mention you both got some new intel," Qrow added. Even he'd never heard of these...Foretellers, until now.

"Now, the General here has already informed us of the events that….transpired last night," Ozpin began. "But now that you've both rested, we were wondering if you had anything to add."

"Well… we kind of saw what those Foretellers looked like, sorta, they were wearing masks, but we can at least describe those, and their weapons too." Gyro said, seeing as the closet they'd locked themselves in had some openings that allowed them to actually see out into the terminal room, so it WAS possible they saw some things.

"What did they look like? And for the matter, the woman who you fought?" Glynda pressed.

"Well, both Foretellers were dressed with hoods up, masks on their faces and mouth plates so we couldn't see their faces at all, but one of them had a unicorn mask, while the other had a snake. The guy in a unicorn mask used dual swords like me, but they were shorter and he held them in reverse, while the woman in the snake mask used a bo staff," Gyro said.

"As for the woman we fought...she was wearing a mask, she seemed to really get nervous when the Foretellers said something about stealing aura, or talking about this Salem the Foretellers mentioned...she used glass to fight, but I don't think that was her Semblance. Her clothing also lit up when she attacked, but that's probably from weaving Dust into it…" Ruby trailed off.

Ozpin frowned "I see… so these Foretellers know about all that."

"Sir… who is Salem? It sounded like she was someone dangerous from what they were saying." Gyro asked with a frown, playing innocent.

"Salem… to put it simple, she's the leader of the Grimm, that's all you really need to know." Ozpin said with a sigh.

"Full story is for adults only huh? Makes sense I guess." Ruby said with an awkward smile.

"Oh, and the Foretellers said something about a base in the southeast, just outside the Kingdoms. I think it might be connected to Torchwick and the White Fang," Gyro added. "So...any ideas where that might be?"

"Hm...interesting. We'll need to examine this further, but for now...thank you for your cooperation, both of you," Ozpin said. "Ruby, Gyro, why don't you both go and spend some time with your team? You have a big day ahead of you."

"I think we'd like that yeah," Gyro nodded.

"And Miss Rose, Mister Vermillion, I trust you'll both be discreet about this matter?" Ozpin checked.

"We will sir," Ruby nodded as they were soon in the elevator.

It didn't take long for them to be downstairs again, as they hurried along to their room, and when they opened the door, everyone was present "So, how'd things go?" Yang asked eagerly.

"We told them them all about what we 'saw' and threw in a bit of extra." Gyro said with a grin as he closed the door.

"Glad it all worked out." Agumon said with a sigh of relief.

"By the way, guess what came in while you were out talking to Ozpin." Jaune asked with a chuckle as he pointed at a desk.

Gyro and Ruby followed his finger… and saw a tube sitting on said desk.

"Yes!" Ruby cheered and went to grab it, opening it up and shaking it once, as a furry cylinder popped out, and popped into shape as Zwei, who barked happily.

"You really have to see it to believe it." Blake commented as she stood on top of one of the two top bunks.

"Let's see…" Biyomon muttered as she grabbed the letter that had been in the tube "Going on a mission, sending over Zwei, would send him to your mom but she has work, proud of you, good luck, love you." she said, summarising the letter.

"And let me guess…" Weiss trailed off knowingly as Gyro held the tube upside down and simply gave it a soft pat… and several dozens of cans of dog food fell out, which Zwei dived into… and one last shake made a can opener fall out, which Zwei actually grabbed in his mouth and started to use to open one of the cans.

"...are you SURE Remnant doesn't have the means you used to make your pouches?" Tentomon sweat dropped at the sight.

"I'm pretty sure this kind of stuff is just exclusive to Taiyang honestly." Pierce muttered.

"Are we ignoring the fact he's ACTUALLY opening the cans by himself." Nora pointed out as Zwei finished up on his first can already and moved onto his second.

"...meh, this is still normal," Gyro shrugged after a while.

"...the sad part, I can't deny that," Blake said flatly, remembering the insanity that was the Digital World.

"So...what happens next again?" Jaune asked.

"Team RWBY, or RGWBY this time anyway, will be choosing a mission to do some hunting on Mount Glenn, then we'll find the White Fang hideout, deal with Torchwick, and hopefully we'll be able to minimize if not prevent, the damage from the breach," Pierce listed off.

"Oh, and since I know you'll be taking Zwei with us anyway, just put him in the bag...or in the pouch, we tested it on mice once. They can go in and out without issue," Gyro added with a shrug.

The rest of their team gave Ruby a flat stare, remembering that bit.

Ruby laughed sheepishly at that "Uh… yeah." she said, before grabbing all of Zwei's can and shoving them into her pouch followed by making him jump into it.

Right as he did, the intercom came on, Glynda calling for all the students to come to the auditorium.

"Go time, let's go people." Ruby said, everyone nodding as they went out of the room and went down into the auditorium.

Once they were down there, they went to stand with the rest of the Beacon students, every single student divided into their school, as Ozpin now stood on the stage.

"Today we stand together, united. Mistral, Atlas, Vacuo, Vale. The four kingdoms of Remnant. On this day nearly 80 years ago, the largest war in recorded history came to an end. It was a war of ignorance, of greed, and of oppression. A war that was much more than where borders fell or who traded with whom. But about the very idea of individualism itself. We fought for countless reasons, one of which being the destruction of all forms of art and self expression. And as you are well aware that was something many could not stand for. As a result, those who opposed this tyranny began naming their children after one of the core aspects of art itself. Color. It was their way to demonstrate that not only would they refuse to tolerate this oppression, but neither would the generations to come. And it was a trend that is held to this very day. We encourage individuality, expressionism, and unity. Through diversity. As I have said, today we stand together, united. But this bond cannot exist without effort. Something that the new arrivals to our world have likely shown to many. This is why today, while the rest of the world celebrates peace, huntsmen, huntresses, and any Digimon willing to fight, will work to uphold it." Ozpin said, his speech rousing everyone up a little, and making the chosen smile as he acknowledged the Digimon.

Though the man wasn't done speaking just yet "As first year students, you will shadow a professional hunter for your first mission, and some of you may leave the safety of the kingdoms for several days, while others may work within the walls for the whole week. No matter which path your choose, remember to be safe, remember your training, and remember to do your very best."

Once everyone clapped politely, the students all moved to choose their missions. "So, what are we looking for?" Yang asked.

"Search and Destroy, a mission in quadrant 5." Gyro said, just loud enough for their group to hear.

"What should we choose then?" Ren mused.

"I think something that keeps us in the city, just to be safe." Jaune said.

"We need to be on hand for when THAT happens after all." Gomamon nodded in agreement.

"Right, good luck guys." Ruby said as the two teams split for the moment and they went towards the Search and Destroy panel, Ruby quickly tapping the Quadrant 5 option and entering the team name… only to be denied "Oh come on." she muttered in slight annoyance.

"So… we gonna have to break the law to get there?" Yang muttered.

"Or we could fly." Weiss said, thinking of the group getting on Birdramon and Kabuterimon to get there.

"That is one option." they all heard Ozpin's voice say as he walked up to them, scroll in hand "However, the mission was deemed too dangerous for first year students due to high concentration of grimm in the area."

"Headmaster, I don't mean to be rude… but I think we handle this one." Gyro said, making sure to look at the digimon.

Ozpin chuckled "Quite, were you just any first year team, I'd suggest finding another mission, but somehow I think the 10 of you will be able to handle this… especially after I heard reports of robots, dinosaurs, and other creatures spotted near the highway a week ago."

"Uh… yeah, I wonder what happened there?" Agumon said awkwardly, looking away and trying to whistle innocently.

Ozpin smiled in amusement "Either way, I think that just this once, I can bend the rules a little." he said, before tapping a few keys on his scroll, and the Quadrant 5 mission was highlighted on the screen, graying out right after with their team name appearing next to it.

"Thank you sir, we won't let you down." Ruby said gratefully.

"Do not thank me for this miss Rose, for what you may find outside the kingdoms may prove more challenging than you expect, and do remember to always listen to the hunter you are assigned to. Now, good day, and good luck." Ozpin said, before stepping away.

"Yeah...I'm pretty sure we know that much," Blake said flatly, all of them remembering their time in the Digital World. Unforgiving doesn't even begin to describe dealing with the evil Digimon.

* * *

The group were packed and currently walking towards the airships when they heard someone mention that Team CFVY was back. "Guess the Grimm were a lot again this time too," Pierce mused.

"We should go say hi," Veemon suggested.

"They DID just get back from a hard mission," Biyomon agreed.

The group walked over to where CFVY was returning...and were in for a surprise as they weren't alone. Four Digimon were now following them...all of them very familiar.

"Ogremon?!" Gabumon exclaimed in shock, earning the attention of the large, green skinned Digimon.

"Huh? Oh hey, it's you kids! Man, it's been forever!" Ogremon said with a grin as he saw the group.

"You know them Ogremon?" Yatsuhashi asked.

"Ah, well, yeah, I mean…" Ogremon trailed off as Gyro hastily carried a message on the wind "Those little Digimon are from the same island as me, so I saw them a lot back home."

"That so?" Coco mused, before looking at the other Digimon "What about you guys?"

"Yes, they came by the hive once." Waspmon said from right next to her, his red scarf on display.

"We met them in one of the primary villages." Meicoomon added, Dobermon nodding, Gyro having made sure to relay the same message to the three of them as well.

"I see, talk about luck then." Velvet said with a smile as she patted Meicoomon's head.

"So, guess that mission of yours ran into a couple of snags then?" Gyro asked curiously.

"There were a lot more grimm than we expected, and a few feral Digimon as well, we were lucky that these guys showed up when they did." Fox answered as Dobermon stood vigilant next to him.

"We even got a little something extra out of it." Coco said with a grin as she showed off her D-Core, the rest of her team doing the same.

"Wow. I'm glad you were able to find partners. Hope you all get along well," Ruby said with a smile.

"I don't think that's going to be a problem," Meicoomon smiled as Velvet picked her up in a hug, making for a rather cute image.

"I'd say good luck, but considering you're just shadowing a Huntsmen, AND considering what you all can do in class, I think you'll be just fine," Yatsuhashi chuckled, before the rest of team CFVY waved goodbye and went into the academy.

Once they were far enough away… "Well Ogremon almost fucked that up for us." Pierce said dryly.

"Good thing I practiced wind messages just in case it was needed." Gyro sighed. "I feel a bit bad hiding it from them, but the less people know the better. Lord knows there's enough coming as is…"

"Well...let's just focus on the mission for now," Weiss sighed, as by then they'd reached the Airship...and saw Doctor Oobleck already ready.

"Why hello everyone," he greeted. "Who's ready to fight for their lives?"

"We are I guess." Ruby said in amusement.

"Good! Because while this mission will be mostly recon, we may still encounter grimm out on it, so we need to be ready. Now, according to my schedule, we are already 3 minutes behind!... schedule." Oobleck finished lamely, before rushing off to the plane.

"Well he's in a hurry." Tentomon said with a laugh.

"Yeah, that's pretty much a given with him isn't it?" Blake mused.

"Anyway, we almost forgot to tell you all, but we chose a mission under Summer, she said she'd try to be close to the wall." Pyrrha told them.

"Good to know mom will be close by." Yang said, a little bit relieved.

"As for us!" Sun said as he suddenly arrived with his teammates "We chose a mission under Azure, he said he'd try to do the same thing."

"And thanks again for letting us in on this." Scarlet said with a grin.

"Thanks guys, glad to know we'll have all the help we can get if...you know what, happens," Pierce nodded.

"Right, well, good luck on all our ends everyone." Gyro said before the group split once again and they all went off to the teachers they were shadowing.

With that, they soon boarded the airship which soon took off, and they were on their way. The landscape passed quickly underneath them as they were making their way to their destination.

"You know, when we signed up for this I never really pictured you to be the our instructor," Patamon mused as he and the other Digimon watched the landscape go by.

"Guess we just never really saw you as the fighting type," Agumon chuckled.

"I'll admit I fancy myself as more of an intellectual, but I assure you as a Huntsmen, I've been through my fair share of tussels," Oobleck chuckled.

"Like the mushroom?" Biyomon blinked.

"Those are truffles," Tentomon said flatly.

"Aren't those the sprouts?" Agumon said with a disgusted face.

"Those are brussels," Tentomon corrected again in annoyance.

"Isn't that the seafood?" Palmon blinked.

"Those are mussels!" Tentomon corrected again, an anger vein appearing on his forehead.

By then several of the humans were chuckling in amusement at the little comedy routine.

Once the mirth died down… "So we're going to the southeast, and I'm guessing that means we're going to Mount Glenn?" Gyro spoke up.

"Very astute, Gyro. Yes, our destination is indeed Mount Glenn. As you all know, it was originally an expansion of Vale, until it was overrun by Grimm and subsequently abandoned. Now it stands as a dark reminder, and as I'm sure you're aware, a possible hideout," Oobleck nodded. "Speaking of which, I must admit to being curious myself about how you all seemed to have gotten involved with this business in the first place."

"To be honest...it was an anonymous tip," Blake said, keeping her face straight. They were planning to milk this 'Foreteller' business for all it was worth. "Now that I think about it...it really WAS convenient...and accurate. The information even saved a family friend…"

"Its likely these...Foretellers were the ones who gave us the tips," Weiss frowned.

"Though how they said it...I think we've been used," Ruby sighed.

"I see… yes that does seem to be the most likely case. At the very least, these foretellers and their master are using you to interfere with the work of those who would seek to harm the people and world. We can take solace in that." Oobleck said with a serious look.

Shortly after that, the group arrived at the ruins of Mount Glenn, the city just as desolate as it should be.

"Alright, landing zone is clear at least." Gyro said as he looked around.

"Nothing from up here either." Biyomon reported as she looked around from up in the air.

With that confirmation, the ship descended and when it got close, the group quickly exited the ship by jumping out, everyone landing on their feet and at the ready as the ship soon left, leaving them for their mission.

To say Mount Glenn was desolate would be like saying the ocean was a bit damp. There weren't any signs of life whatsoever where they were, and the few tumbleweeds, and general dead atmosphere just added to the feeling of loneliness and isolation this place held.

"Feels kinda like playing a Metroid game," Agumon muttered, remembering how empty the worlds in those games felt save for the monsters.

"Everyone, you may still be students, but as of this moment you are all beginning your first mission as Huntsmen...and Huntsmon for some I suppose," Oobleck added at the end, chuckling a bit.

"Huh… now I'm wondering if there's a Digimon called that." Weiss mused.

"Wouldn't that be funny if there actually was one," Yang chuckled.

"Back on track, from this point forward, you need to do exactly as I say. Do you understand?" Oobleck started, earning a few nods. "Good, now first of all...can someone tell me where that Corgi came from?" he said, looking at Zwei who was running around Ruby's legs.

"Uh...she brought him!" everyone, Digimon included, pointed at Ruby.

"Traitors…" Ruby half glared.

"Miss Rose… we are in the middle of hostile territory, on a perilous mission, and you chose to bring your pet here?"

"Well-" Before Ruby could explain to him her VERY valid points as to why she had brought Zwei (no, really, she had thought up a decent argument just in case) Oobleck had zoomed past her and grabbed Zwei.

"Genius! Absolutely genius! Canines are known trackers, and could help warn us of any approaching grimm in advance!" Oobleck said in approval.

"Zwei also has an unlocked aura." Yang added.

"Even better! He could actively help us in battle!" Oobleck said with a nod of approval.

"Well, glad that worked out," Biyomon chuckled.

"So, what do we do now, Doctor?" Patamon asked.

"Ah yes! Straight to the chase! I like that!" Oobleck nodded, dropping Zwei who landed on the ground without issue. "As you've been informed, the southeast area has been marked as a recent hotspot for grimm activity. Now there are several possible explanations for this behavior, one of which being...Grimm," he trailed off.

"Uh...but they ARE Grimm," Palmon blinked, not really getting it.

"Grimm. A creature of Grimm approximately 100 yards away from us right now," Oobleck said, to which everyone turned and saw a lone Beowolf walking down the street.

"So… do we kill it?" Agumon asked unsurely, since the Grimm hadn't even noticed them yet.

"No need, instead, we use this opportunity. Grimm would only be here if negative emotions were abundant, such as our hidden group led by Vale's enemies likely hiding here. We'll follow the Grimm from a distance until it leads us to it's pack, which in turn should lead us to its prey." Oobleck explained.

"Okay...how long would that be?" Tentomon asked.

"Its uncertain. Hours, days, weeks, why lone Grimm have been known to stay isolated from the pack for months-and there's the whole pack," Oobleck said, as right as he was talking a pack of Beowolves came into view.

"Well that was fast," Yang blinked.

"And now they've seen us," Oobleck added.

"Huh?" Palmon blinked.

"AND NOW THEY'VE SEEN US!" Oobleck repeated, much louder, the Grimm now going for them.

"I take it tracking is out of the question?" Ruby asked awkwardly.

"An accurate assumption, yes," Oobleck nodded.

"What do we do now?" Weiss asked.

Oobleck paused for a moment before he decided. "Show me what you can do."

"With pleasure," the group grinned, before they surged forward.

To put the next few minutes into as few words as possible… it was a slaughter, the grimm going down in droves, the Digimon not even needing to evolve as the group mowed them down.

And unlike in canon, no matter how long this went on, the group didn't start feeling tired, though that was mostly related to their higher numbers.

"No problem," Agumon grinned.

"Do not celebrate yet. I am certain this is the first bout of many," Oobleck advised. "Let's continue."

The day went on in a relatively repetitive pattern of finding Grimm, destroying them, and then moving on, while Oobleck seemed more concerned with examining various things like the plants, the terrain, etc etc, rather than helping with the combat. Along the way though, aside from examining the area, Oobleck seemed interested in asking everyone about their motives and reasons to be Huntsmen.

"Well...at first I guess I got into this because I'm a thrill seeker. I guess I wanted to just have as many adventures as I could, even go around the world," Yang chuckled almost emptily when he asked her that, memories of that that way of thinking got her into...and in one timeline could have gotten her into. "Now, I want to do it so I can protect the people important to me. A few things made me realize how bad things can be out there, and...I'm tired of just seeing the world stay the way it is, and I want to try to do something about it," she said with determination.

"I see," Oobleck nodded, sounding please. "And what of you, Biyomon?"

"Well, it probably sounds small, but I just want to help support Yang, and my friends. To be able to spend time with them is all I really want, and we'll be able to do it more if the world becomes safer," Biyomon said sincerely, to which Oobleck nodded, a small smile on his face.

The next person he asked that to was Weiss, who'd just speared a Beowolf through.

"Well...at first I did this because I felt I had the duty to uphold the Schnee family name's honor," Weiss mused. "But after everything I've been through, I realized what I really want to do is to be able to stand on my own. I want to find my own path outside of the Schnee family name, though I also do want to fix the damage my father's caused using that name," she sighed.

"And I'm going to be right there with you the whole way," Tentomon added, shocking several Nevermores to death.

"An admirable goal," Oobleck nodded.

Following her, it was Blake's turn to be asked.

"Well...there's just too many things wrong with the world right now. Corruption, inequality, someone has to try and change that," Blake said.

"Admirable. And how do you intend to do so?" Oobleck questioned.

"First of all, by setting a positive example. The problem isn't just humans discriminating against Faunus, it's also Faunus who decide to hit back and be just as bad. I want to show that we CAN work together, and that peaceful co-existence is possible. I also want to try and turn the White Fang back into the group it was meant to be. Peaceful," Blake said. "After that...we'll have to see how it goes. I doubt I can actually change something that's been going on for centuries in just one lifetime, but it has to start somewhere."

"And I'll be right there to help," Patamon added with a smile.

"Impressive. That's a well thought and realistic plan, and I wish you all the best," Oobleck said with a smile.

The next person to be asked was Gyro.

"Well… to be honest, I didn't put a whole lot of thought into it at first, beyond just, help people. I saw my first huntsman in action about… 6 years ago I think, and it was pretty inspiring. I kind of wanted to do something like that, help people, and inspire them to help others I guess."

"I see. Do you have any idea how you plan to do so?" Oobleck asked.

Gyro hummed in thought "Well… I guess just doing the best I can and working together with my friends. It's not the most concrete plan, but it's what I have, and it's worked for me so far."

"And I'm gonna be with Gyro the whole way! I've been with Gyro since he hatched me, and I don't plan to stop anytime soon!" Agumon said cheerfully.

"I see. A reasonable point of view, and one that is open to change," Oobleck nodded, though he also made a mental note to ask about what Agumon said.

"Speaking of open to change...think we should look for shelter? It's starting to get dark," Gyro mused, looking at the sky.

"A reasonable suggestion, yes," Oobleck nodded, before turning to the rest of RWGBY (and ignoring Ruby playing with Zwei using a chicken she got from lord knew where much to Palmon's amusement). "Alright everyone, gather around and we'll be searching for some shelter for the night," he instructed, not noticing a large Nevermore that was coming his way as it was conveniently behind him, though the students were quite ready to aim and fire at it. However, they soon found it was unnecessary as a boomerang-like projectile of light came spinning through the air, and cut right through the Nevermore, killing it instantly as it was left crashing into the ground. "What in Remnant was that?!" Oobleck said in surprise, having turned just in time to see that.

"Hey, didn't that look like…?" Palmon muttered, trailing off.

It was then they all heard the heavy footsteps coming in their direction, footsteps that sounded metallic, and there also seemed to be a sound of some sort of machinery as the steps were taken.

Tensing in preparation, everyone was ready to fight, until…

"Ah, Chosen Children, so it was your life signs I was detecting." Andromon said in surprise as he rounded the corner.

There was silence for a few moments, eventually broken by Oobleck who asked "Chosen Children?" confused, as he turned to team RWGBY, who looked back at Andromon in deadpan.

"Andromon… we were trying to keep that secret." Gyro sighed.

"Oh, my apologies." Andromon said, looking apologetic.

"Could you forget having heard that Doctor?" Ruby asked Oobleck hopefully.

"I'm afraid that's highly improbable," Oobleck said. "Though I must admit I'm rather curious as to what this 'Chosen Children' business is about, and why you all saw fit to keep it a secret."

"Can you at least promise not to tell anyone else?" Biyomon asked hopefully.

"That...will depend on what is so important you felt the need to keep it a secret," Oobleck sighed.

"...guess we don't have a choice," Gyro sighed. "Hope you like long stories."

"I would not recommend that right now. The Grimm tend to become more active at night," Andromon said. "But if you would all like, I can take you back to a small settlement some of the local Digimon including myself have started to build."

"Might as well, definitely better than just sleeping out in the cold." Weiss sighed, before they all started following Andromon through the ruins of the city, signs of life slowly becoming apparent in the inner parts of the city, as some of the buildings actually had power again, and some lights could be seen here and there, Digimon visible through some cracks in the walls and the like.

"So, what's this new town called anyway?" Yang asked.

"Due to the state we found this city in, the residents which are mainly machine and mineral Digimon, and the overall concept we have managed to build so far, many of the residents here have come to call it 'Junk Town'," Andromon said, his mouth quirking in amusement at that.

"I can see why," Blake said as the Chosen and their Digimon chuckled in amusement at the name choice.

"I must say, I'm impressed. How did you get the generators to work again? There shouldn't be anymore Dust in this city. In fact, how have you been able to avoid being overrun by the Grimm?" Oobleck asked.

In response, Andromon gestured to several Hagurumon floating about, and when some of them attached to machinery, it began working as they whirled their gears.

"That's a creative use for Hagurumon," Tentomon chuckled at the sight.

"Considering one animated an entire cruise ship, I'm not surprised," Weiss sighed.

"A cruise ship?" Oobleck repeated with a raised eyebrow.

"We'll tell you in town." Gyro told him, earning a nod from the doctor.

The main building that seemed to be the centre of 'Junk Town' turned out to be a mostly intact building that had lights on inside, surrounded by several smaller buildings where various Digimon were located, having erected a mix of walls and gates using the buildings as 'pillars', and what appeared to be a guarded path leading to an exit from the city. Once they entered, the area was surprisingly bustling as the Digimon had been able to make what appeared to be a functional settlement in the middle of the desolate city.

"Well, this place is looking pretty good." Ruby noted with an impressed look.

"Thank you. It was not an easy task recapturing this area from the Grimm, but we managed and worked from there," Andromon nodded.

"Impressive," Oobleck couldn't help but say. "You've all actually managed to not only recapture this part of the city from the Grimm, but you've also managed to turn it into a functional settlement. How did you all manage that with the Grimm already overruning the city?"

"It wasn't easy, but we all worked together," Andromon nodded. "Though I admit, it took some effort to deal with the more...persistent...Grimm in the area."

"They probably weren't too big a problem. Andromon is a Perfect level after all," Patamon chuckled.

"If you want we could come back and clear them out later." Gyro offered.

"I appreciate it, but I think we'll be fine." Andromon said, shaking his head, earning a shrug from Gyro. By then they'd reached the inside of the main building, and were given a sizeable room on the upper floors so that they could use it for the night. The heating was back on, so that promised for a comfortable night, not to mention the building had power, so there wasn't any need to build a fire save for cooking which they could do in the kitchen which had an electric stove.

"Reminds me a bit of when we found File City after slumming it around the island for a whole week." Yang noted in amusement.

"File City? You found a city on an island somewhere?" Oobleck asked.

"Right, well, it's a bit complicated doc, but let me explain it to you." Gyro sighed as he sat across from the teacher. With that he began to tell him a...version of the truth, carefully omitting information about Earth, and telling Oobleck about their adventure in the Digital World which due to the odd time displacement present at the time, made a few hours into months for them in that world, and more importantly, the prophecy regarding them in that world as well as the Crests that had now fused with their bodies. When he was done…

"And that's why we'd REALLY like it if you could keep quiet about this," Ruby said hopefully.

"Pretty please," the Digimon added, making puppy dog eyes.

Oobleck looked at them curiously, before humming softly in thought "Very well, even I can see how dangerous this information might be for you if it got into the hands of Atlas. While I trust General Ironwood wouldn't condone this, there are always those who are less inclined to allow morality to...hamper their progress…" he sighed at that last bit. "I'll keep this to myself, but I thank you for trusting me with it."

"Thank you for being willing to keep this a secret," Blake said with a small smile.

* * *

The next day soon came, and after bidding the Digimon goodbye, the group were soon in the city again, continuing their exploration from the previous day. However, knowing how things had to be, the chosen steered the exploration towards the general area they wanted, and true enough, Zwei soon ran off, having seemingly found something.

Reaching the area where Zwei was sniffing around though…

"Doesn't seem like there's anything here." Blake said, trying to listen for anyone hidden, not able to hear any signs of anyone nearby.

"Zwei's nose hasn't been wrong before though." Yang countered.

"Doesn't this city have an underground though?" Patamon asked.

"Quite right… perhaps we'll find what we're looking for after a bit of digging." Oobleck noted.

"Literally or metaphorically?" Ruby asked.

"A bit of both I'd say." Oobleck said in amusement.

"Let's get to work then, try to find a good spot." Gyro said.

"How do we dig through the ground?" Biyomon questioned.

"Well...we COULD just make a hole," Agumon suggested. "A few well placed slams might open a nice big hole for us."

"Let's...avoid causing a cave in if we can help it," Weiss sweat dropped. The group continued searching the area, when Tentomon took a step, and suddenly several cracks appeared on the ground, followed by the section he was standing on to break away and fall into the ground...which would have been a problem had it not been him, as he was simply hovering over the new hole in the ground.

"That was a surprise," Tentomon sighed.

"But I think you might have found something too," Patamon said, flapping over to him. "Roads aren't supposed to just collapse, right?"

"Pretty sure they're not," Biyomon came over to them as well. "I wonder what's in there."

"If I were to guess, it could be another section of the city. Since the area above ground could only hold so many people, the expansion included building into the mountain itself," Oobleck mused.

"Well… that sounds like a perfect place for sneaky people to hide." Agumon said, looking into the hole.

"Indeed, now then, let us descend, quietly though." Oobleck said, earning nods from the teens and Digimon before they started slowly going down, Patamon, Biyomon and Tentomon slowly floating them down, and Palmon lowering them with her vines before joining them down.

"Ok, so, Blake, hear anyone nearby?" Ruby asked the faunus girl, who's ears perked and twisted slightly from side to side.

"Nothing, looks like this area is clear… though I THINK I hear something over in that area, but it's a little ways off." Blake said, pointing off the the left.

The group followed her directions, being careful to stay out of sight, and before long, they could hear voices...and the sound of working. "I think that's a good sign we're getting close," Palmon blinked.

When they got a bit closer, they recognized the voice. "Torchwick," the chosen and their Digimon deadpanned. Seemed Torchwick liked hearing the sound of his own voice if how much he was talking was any indication.

"Alright, so we know they set up shop here now." Weiss said.

"So, silent approach or rush them down?" Ruby asked, turning to Oobleck.

Oobleck hummed in thought "Only two members of your team might be able to properly sneak around without alerting them to their presence, so the silent approach might be more dangerous."

"Tentomon isn't the most silent flyer, and Biyomon can be spotted a mile away." Yang added with a frown, looking down at said Digimon who shrugged helplessly.

"So wrecking ball approach?" Agumon checked.

"While I don't particularly advocate destruction of property, in this situation I'll make an exception, so yes," Oobleck nodded.

"Whelp, that makes life a lot easier," Biyomon chuckled as their partners pulled out their Digivices.

"Time to play Rampage, guys," Yang chuckled, right as the Digivices began to shine.

* * *

Roman Torchwick was having an annoying day. Honestly, most of his days were annoying ever since they'd moved on from stealing Dust.

First, he has to work PR so that the Fang will work with him, and he HATES working PR, he usually leaves that to Neo who gives guys the pouty lip and they come running, and if they try anything, she just stabs them.

Then he has to actually WORK with those… animals! Seriously, always going on about "Faunus Rights this, Down with Humans that." It was annoying!

And that's without mentioning the various Digimon he recruited, all on his own thank you very much, and the fact they LOVED going through rations… AND merchandise sometimes too.

And now? Now they were working in a Grimm infested city, with MORE Digimon setting up shop overhead, ones that he had tried to persuade to help and instead got a heat seeking missile chasing him for a good while for his efforts, and he had to work with live explosives and arm a freaking train of all things! All for Cinder's little plan of blowing open a hole RIGHT in the middle of downtown Vale!

"Uh...Mr. Torchwick...we have a problem," came a voice over the radio.

"Oh good, we have a problem. It had better be VERY important, cause I have NOT been having a good day," Torchwick said in annoyance.

"Well...I think it's QUITE important," the person on the other end gulped...right before Torchwick noticed a chunk of BUILDING going flying and landing not too far away from where he was. Then the screaming started as a group of Digimon were now stomping through the area, apparently taking pleasure in just smashing everything. Now, that would be annoying enough...if he didn't recognize these particular ones.

"Guess who!" Gyro laughed from where he was riding on Greymon's head, team RWGBY actually waving at him almost mockingly as their partners were tearing up the area, and any Digimon who tried to stop them, got several hits to the face, taking them out of the fight.

Roman continued to stare for a good long moment, before he grabbed his cigar and tapped it a bit as he took a deep breath "Today is just destined to be crap, isn't it?" he said, before turning to the closest grunt he could find "We're leaving, now! Load up the train and hurry!"

"But we aren't finis-" the grunt didn't get to finish speaking, before Roman pressed his cane to his neck, pushing him against the train.

"Shut up, or YOU'RE finished, understand?" he said darkly, earning a nod "Good, now get to work."

"They're getting away!" Blake frowned, seeing Torchwick and as many WF members that were still around getting on the train and hastily starting it.

"We'll just have to follow them!" Ruby said.

"But before we do that, I don't recommend maintaining Adult form. These forms are just too large to use in the tunnels and we could cause a cave in!" Oobleck warned.

"Figured as much, it was really just to tick Roman off." Gyro said with a grin.

"So, after the train then." Yang added.

"Yes, though I do have to wonder why their going into the tunnels, they ARE sealed off after all." Oobleck wondered, the Chosen keeping quiet, already knowing the reason.

"Whatever it is, we can't just let them get away," Weiss said. With that the group was flying (the ones who couldn't fly reverting and getting on the flyers) after the train, and managed to get on the caboose RIGHT before it got into the tunnel, the group landing with a tumble as the flyers had to revert mid-flight to land on the train.

Inside said caboose, one of the grunts looked up, before going for the phone attached to the train, picking it up "Hey, I think they-" he didn't get to finish however, as a hand came down from the roof, literally punching a hole through it, and pulled him up through it, leaving him staring at Yang's vicious grin.

"Hello~" she said in a singsong voice before punching him off the train.

"And goodbye~" Biyomon added with a laugh as he tumbled on the ground, knocked out.

"Okay, we're on a train controlled by a bunch of crazy people. What's the plan?" Patamon asked seriously.

"We get to the front and stop this train." Oobleck said seriously.

"One problem with that Doctor." Ruby said, opening the hatch on the roof.

"Which would be?" he asked, looking through the hatch, seeing…

"The heavy artillery bomb they got packed there." Palmon answered, as they were all staring at the large explosive.

"That… looks pretty big." Gyro admitted, because it actually looked bigger than canon.

"And the situation only gets worse." Tentomon added as he pointed at the group of White Fang grunts running at them from the other end of the train.

"We have about two or three minutes I'd say before they reach us." Blake estimated.

"Then I guess we have no choice," Ruby frowned.

"Right, I suppose it WAS too much to hope for they go-" Oobleck started, cutting himself off as he heard a rather alarming sound, looking back at the bomb… and seeing it was primed, with a 30 second countdown ticking already "Easy on us." he finished lamely, before standing up quickly "To the next car! Quickly! And Blake! Detach the Caboose, it'll kill us all!"

"Yeah, with team killing." Gyro muttered with a tiny grin.

Meanwhile… deep in space… on another planet… in a box canyon… gunfire was heard.

"Dammit Caboose!" Came an annoyed shout.

"Tucker did it!" A dopey sounding voice said rather quickly.

"Oh come on man! Every fucking time!" another voice shot back, equally as annoyed as the first.

Back to the story…

As Blake got ready to cut apart the train's coupling, the caboose just detached itself on it's own, making her frown, seeing Torchwick was still following the same plan the twins had outlined, as she and Patamon went back to the roof "It detached itself!" she informed them, the caboose blowing up seconds later.

"They must be trying to blow up the tunnel, but why on Remnant would they do that?" Oobleck frowned. He got his answer when they heard the sound of claws against the ground...and turned to see a number of Grimm now chasing the train.

"Maybe its got something to do with the Grimm chasing us?" Tentomon said flatly, playing dumb as well.

"Highly likely, whatever plan this is, it's not good." Oobleck summed up with a frown.

"Neither is the part where ALL these trains are loaded!" Biyomon reported frantically, not cause of the part of the bombs no, but rather how they're ALL bigger than what the brothers had shown them. This was a Butterfly Effect, and for once, it was one that clearly WASN'T to their advantage. At that moment they detached another car on the train, the group quickly getting to the next car before it got too far. Though now they could perfectly see the Grimm coming into the train tunnel and following them.

"He's leading Grimm to the city." Oobleck realised.

"Well this mission just keeps getting more dangerous." Weiss frowned.

"Okay, so we know what he's trying to do with the bombs. I say we get to the front as fast as we can," Yang suggested.

"Good idea, but they're not going to make it easy for us," Blake frowned, looking at the White Fang members that were almost upon them.

"They DO realize if they go and fight us, there's a very real chance THEY'LL get blown up too, right?" Tentomon frowned.

"This is what hate does to people," Gyro frowned. "I don't think they CARE that they might die, as long as they get back at humans for years of discrimination. Heck, I don't think any of them realize or care just how much damage they're gonna cause to EVERYONE."

"They also don't seem to notice Blake's ears." Ruby added, a little surprised at that part.

"That or they see her as a 'Traitor' for siding with us." Yang said, putting up air quotes at the word traitor.

"...well, hate to say it, but I think the only way WE have is to go through them. Literally," Palmon sighed.

"An unfortunate, but very accurate observation," Oobleck sighed. Being a history teacher, he was VERY aware of what the WF was intended to be...and seeing what they were now in this time where there was SUPPOSED to be equality...it was honestly sad.

Once the White Fang grunts reached them, the group did their best to restrain themselves, only aiming to knock out the grunts.

Misguided these people may be, that doesn't mean they would jump right to killing them. Unfortunately, being on a moving train full of explosives that were regularly being detached and detonated...with the Grimm following...meant there was literally no way they could avoid accidentally killing a person or two...or ten with how these half mad faunus were throwing themselves at them.

But, they knew what was at stake, so they plowed their way through, knocking the enemies aside, while trying to do it in a way that minimized the chances of them getting killed...something that became harder when up ahead, several of the White Fang had hopped into what appeared to be smaller versions of the Paladins they encountered before, and looked ready to fire...or they would have, if Oobleck hadn't pulled out his weapon (which was also his coffee thermos, something that Gyro prefered not to think about seeing as where the fire was coming out from), and used Zwei, who'd jumped forward and launched the dog into an improvised ball of flaming death, which blew a hole through one of the suits, causing it to fall over and hit the tracks till it exploded a way behind.

"Try to stop the train from inside, I'll hold them off out here!" Oobleck ordered.

"We're not leaving you to fight alone!" Ruby said, to which Zwei padded back to Oobleck, while Palmon stood alongside her. With that, she looked at her teammates who all nodded and entered the train.

"Okay, who do we fight again?" Blake checked.

"Ice cream bitch, the big lieutenant with a chainsaw, then Torchwick himself in that order, assuming Murphy doesn't throw another curveball today," Gyro listed off.

Right as he said that, the door to the next car slid open, and in came lumbering what LOOKED like a FlareLizamon, except the fire of his body was black, while the helmet and claws were gold in color. Quickly checking their Analyzers, the found this to be DarkLizamon.

"Boss said I could have all the Fire Dust I could eat if I torch you kids." the DarkLizamon growled.

"I hate being right." Gyro groaned, before drawing his swords "You girls go on ahead, Agumon and I will handle this idiot." he said, to which they nodded and started to move forward, but he added one last thing. "Oh and Yang, remember, keep your cool. As much of a bitch she is, you'll want to save the 'freebie' just in case," Gyro cautioned.

Yang simply nodded, as they rushed past DarkLizamon, who tried to stop them, but was buffeted by a wind boosted Baby Flame barrage right in his face. "You're fighting us!" Agumon growled.

"Fine, I'll roast you two first!" DarkLizamon growled, focusing on them, flames welling up in his mouth.

"Don't think we're gonna be that easy," Gyro smirked, right as the flame was released, to which he created a small tornado, trapping the flames and killing them before they reached him and Agumon. "Let's go buddy!"

"Right!" Agumon nodded as both jumped forward. The train wasn't too big, but it was still big enough for them to have decent maneuver room. Agumon used his smaller size to get around DarkLizamon and struck with his claws when the chance presented itself. At the same time, Gyro did the same, using his swords, which were doing considerable damage due to the Chrome Digizoid coating. Furthermore, he used his wind to boost their movement or mess up DarkLizamon's attempts to attack.

"Argh! Hold still you little gnats!" DarkLizamon roared in frustration.

"If you seriously think we'd listen, you're dumber than you look!" Gyro smirked.

"And you looked plenty dumb to start with!" Agumon added with a laugh.

THAT got to DarkLizamon. "I'll show you two stupid!" he roared, firing a blast of fire...which Gyro used a burst of wind to send him and Agumon towards walls, which they rebounded from, both evading the flames and setting up for a strong attack, as two strong hits caught DarkLizamon in the head, the Digimon's eyes turning into Xs, as he fell over, out cold.

With the fight over, the two partners landed behind DarkLizamon, managing to give each other a high five before running to the next car. They didn't have anytime to waste.

* * *

While Gyro and Agumon had stayed behind to fight DarkLizamon, the others continued on, Weiss passing Blake an ammo clip full of Dust cartridges along the way as they entered the next car.

Not even a second later, the familiar form of Neopolitan dropped down from the ceiling, looking at them all before grinning.

"Looks like the runt came to play." Yang said tauntingly as she cracked her knuckles "You guys go on ahead, we'll deal with her."

"Be careful." Blake said, before they ran past Neo, Yang firing a shot from her gauntlets to distract the shorter woman, who narrowed her eyes at her.

Yang quickly pressed the offense, surging forward and delivering several strikes to Neopolitan, who blocked and evaded the attacks with her parasol, before countering. However, unlike what she would have done once upon a time, Yang didn't tank the blows, rather she moved to block the brunt of the blow, before letting the momentum push her back...with Biyomon ready with a Magical Fire when she was out of the way.

Neo glared, and used her parasol to block the attack, and then moved to attack the bird, who quickly got to the ground where she used her smaller size to evade the fast attacks, allowing for Yang to quickly tag in and start matching blows with Neo. The fight was a seesaw battle, as Neo was very good at blocking and evading, even managing to trip Yang up one time, but this time Yang was keeping her cool. She could feel her anger, but she kept it reigned in, allowing it to strengthen her blows, but not lose control. As a result, the fight was...really hard to predict, and Yang had to begrudgingly admit that Neopolitan was good, seeing as even with Biyomon supporting her, the girl was holding her own.

Still, it wasn't as if they didn't have more advantages. With each hit Yang was managing to score, even if Neo was blocking most of them, she was still whittling away at Neo's aura, and her parasol bent a bit here and there, thanks to taking repeated assaults from the Chrome Digizoid coated gauntlets. The ultimate turning point was when Neo noticed Gyro and Agumon enter the train car, and with an annoyed frown, broke away from the clash she was having with Yang, and with a flourish of her parasol, disappeared into another of her illusions.

Once they were sure the girl was gone, Yang let out a breath she had been holding, turning to Gyro and bumping fists with him "Guess the runt got scared of fighting a firestorm."

Gyro rolled his eyes at the joke, but he let her have this one.

* * *

Once they had cleared the car, Weiss, Blake and their partners looked around warily as they were in a seemingly empty car.

Suddenly, Blake's ears perked as she grabbed Weiss and tugged her down, Weiss not fighting the motion, and her head lowering just in time to avoid a chainsaw going across her neck, though a portion of her hair got an impromptu haircut.

The two quickly moved out of the way as Patamon turned and let loose an Air Shot at their assailant, which was blocked by the massive chainsaw sword.

Weiss idly looked at the several strands of hair she had lost, before scoffing "If he had done that to Yang, he'd be 7 kinds of dead already."

"Very likely." Blake said with an amused smile as she looked at the White Fang Lieutenant, wearing a mask to cover his face "Still as murder happy as ever I see Banesaw."

"You know him?" Tentomon asked.

"Partially." Blake said with a shrug.

"Belladonna, so, I see Adam was right, you DID turn traitor, siding with a Schnee of all things." Banesaw said with a growl.

"Better a traitor than a deranged murderer," Blake said simply. It was a statement, not a counter or even argument. She'd long gotten over any feelings of conflict about her leaving after she learned what the White Fang would fall to under these mad ideals. "The White Fang was formed to fight for Faunus Rights, not kill anyone who doesn't agree with them."

"Humans are just cowards, hiding in their spires as they force us Faunus to do their will." Banesaw shot back.

"I'll admit, a lot of us humans are bad, my father high on that list. But that doesn't mean you should fight fire with fire." Weiss said with narrowed eyes.

"Think you can take him on your own?" Blake whispered to her.

"Tentomon and I will take care of this oaf, you go deal with Roman." Weiss shot back, Blake nodding as she and Patamon ran for the last car, jumping over Banesaw and leaving him stumbling as his weapon went through a clone.

Once Blake and Patamon were gone, Weiss stepped forward with Tentomon. "Not that I think you'll listen, but if you keep doing what you're doing, you'll end up no better than the humans you hate," she said.

"Don't you dare compare us to them, Schnee!" Banesaw growled.

"I don't have to," Weiss frowned, readying Myternester.

"Let's get him!" Tentomon said, hovering in the air, earning a nod from Weiss.

Banesaw roared as he swung his chainsaw down, but both of them separated, Tentomon peppering him with Petit Thunder attacks, though his aura blocked most of it so far. At the same time, Weiss dodged to the side...and stabbed at his legs, catching him in the ankle, the momentum and impact causing him to lose footing for a moment, but he quickly regained it.

Weiss had been preparing for this fight ever since she learned the truth of the twins' knowledge. From their feedback, she'd been able to realize the biggest weakness she had in that timeline. She was too inflexible, applying her style to ALL situations, which could prove to be her downfall if used against enemies her style was weak against. While heavily armored Grimm were still something she needed work on, a large humanoid enemy...she had a good idea how to deal with them. After all, even the strongest of trees would fall over if you broke its roots. With that in mind, she slashed and stabbed at him, forcing him to block and try to counter, and each time she evaded his strong and/or wide swings, she'd take a strike at his legs, aiming for various key parts of it. Had this been herself from the web show, this tactic would be a gamble, due to the limits of Myrtenaster, and the possibility of taking too long and the enemy catching on. However...her weapon wasn't the same as her other self anymore. It was coated in Chrome Digizoid, and that gave it greater strength overall.

Of course, she couldn't take all the credit. Tentomon was a major key in this tactic as well. No matter how many feints she pulled, anyone with decent experience would realize after several hits that her real target was their legs, so with Tentomon buzzing around and drawing part of his attention away, it gave her more and more openings to execute her plan. With that, she leaped over Banesaw, right as Tentomon finished another attack, and landed several slashes on him, knocking him off balance. Once she landed, she quickly switched Dust, and sent a wave of ice Dust, which made for even shakier terrain for the larger man, and when he was starting to get off balance, she quickly launched a staccato of stabs, aiming for his torso, with several of them aimed for his legs, specifically the knees and joints.

"Hold...still…!" Banesaw growled, a mix of disorientation and building pain from the dizzying assaults getting to him.

"Not happening," Weiss said simply, before using a time glyph and creating several glyph platforms, allowing her to deliver a massive flurry of strikes from various angles. Banesaw tried to evade or block, but right as he moved...his leg gave out, leaving him helpless as he was assaulted from every angle, taking hits all over his body (including his legs again), before Weiss ended with a stab aimed for his chainsaw, damaging the inner mechanism which rendered the saw blade unmoving...and leaving her weapon in it.

Banesaw groaned when he landed, but struggled to get up, not noticing the rapier still in his weapon...and Tentomon charging up more electricity than usual. "Lightning rod, Tentomon," Weiss smirked.

"You got it!" Tentomon nodded, letting loose the strong current of electricity which struck Myrtenaster, and with it, sent the electricity right into Banesaw...who proceeded to dance thanks to the current flowing through him, before finally it stopped, and he fell over, Myrtenaster flying out of his weapon when he hit the ground again.

"Stand down," Weiss said simply.

"I...won't!" Banesaw roared, struggling to his feet. "I won't stop...till all you damn humans...pay!"

Weiss sighed when she heard that. "Then I guess you leave me no choice." she said, before raising her fingers, a glyph appearing in front of her as she closed her eyes and concentrated, the glyph starting to spin, faster and faster, until it flashed, and a figure formed up from it, revealing itself to be… an icy blue copy of Vademon.

"W-what?" Banesaw gasped in surprise, not expecting to see what was more than likely a Digimon be summoned, but before he could do anything.

"Demon's Blown Kiss!" the Copy-Vademon shouted as it blew a kiss at Banesaw… which turned into a hail of blue meteors.

Right then, Gyro, Yang and their partners arrived into the car just in time to see Banesaw get buried under the meteors, while Vademon's copy slowly faded away.

"Huh. That's actually kinda funny to see when I'm not the one being hit," Tentomon commented.

"Looks like you two cleaned house," Biyomon chuckled at the sight of the large man who was now seeing stars under the pile of meteors.

"I'm guessing your plan and training worked out well," Gyro smirked.

"Was there ever any doubt?" Weiss chuckled, before she got serious. "Come on, let's go."

"Right," Everyone nodded as they ran to the next train car.

* * *

Once Blake reached the front car, she wasn't surprised to see Roman standing there, looking as smug as ever.

"Why hello there kitty cat, I'm surprised you came alone this time, where are all your friends? Did they abandon you because of your ears?" Roman said tauntingly.

"How you got the White Fang to listen to you I'll never know," Blake said flatly, before readying Gambol Shroud. "Not that I actually care anyway. We'll take you AND the White Fang down."

"My, somebody is awfully confident." Roman smirked, lifting his cane and about to fire it, before he got an Air Shot right in the face, throwing him on his ass.

"Next time, look up when a door opens." Patamon said with a grin.

"Okay, you know what, I've had just about enough of you meddling kids and your pet monsters," Roman growled.

"Funny. We feel the same way about you," Blake glared, before she surged forward, the two soon clashing as her blade met his cane.

Roman growled as he aimed a strike at her, but Blake used the Dust she got from Weiss and created a fire clone, which exploded in Roman's face, knocking him back. Growling, he quickly countered with a shot form his cane, to which Blake made an earth clone which stopped the hit cold, followed by Patamon shooting at the damaged clone, causing it to explode into a shower of rocks, which pelted Roman, forcing him to block...and giving Blake an opening to land several more hits. Roman tried to counter with his cane...but soon found it stuck in an ice clone she'd made, stopping his movements, and giving a clear opening for Blake and Patamon to fire one last attack which sent him flying into the wall, which he fell off of, his cane clattering to the side...before he saw a foot come for his face then...darkness.

"Well, that was easy." Blake said after a moment.

"He isn't the strongest is he?" Patamon noted.

"Considering my other could beat him where Yang and Weiss lost their fights and I HIGHLY doubt she was that much stronger than them...yes," Blake said flatly. At that moment, the rest of their group walked in save Ruby and Palmon who were still up above with Oobleck and Zwei.

"Looks like we all won our fights," Agumon grinned.

"We've got Torchwick now, so what next?" Biyomon asked.

"Well...that's…" Gyro started, before gulping a bit. "Assuming we're in the same position...brace for impact very soon."

They all blinked at that, before understanding what he meant, as they quickly got to the roof of the front car, seeing Ruby and Palmon standing there, the two turning back to them "Dead end fast approaching!" Palmon said urgently.

"Group up! Weiss, time to shine!" Gyro said quickly, everyone grouping up together as Weiss stabbed her weapon into the roof, discharging the ice dust at the same time so it surrounded them in a protective layer.

The train reached the end of the tunnel and a violent impact occurred, rattling them all even through the protective layer. In fact, the protective layer was a REALLY good thing cause thanks to the impact, it was basically gone, and they couldn't see anything through the dust that it kicked up. When the dust cleared though….

"Well...this is still worse than I was hoping for…" Gyro frowned at the sight of Vale...and the Grimm piling out of the various holes the bombs had created.

"Looks like the hole's a bit bigger than we hoped for though." Yang noted with a frown.

"Still smaller than what would have originally happened at least." Ruby said, readying her scythe as she looked around, spotting various types of Grimm, from Beowolves, Ursas, Deathstalkers, Tajitus, Nevermores, even Creeps from the looks of it, and… "Oh wow I thought that one was just a story." she said in surprise as she looked up at a HUGE centipede shaped Grimm that crawled out of the hole, a Hell March, according to the stories about it.

"Ok… think we can cut loose a little bit guys, time to go Perfect." Gyro said seriously.

"You sure? What about us keeping 'you know whats' a secret?" Ruby checked.

"Not gonna help us if that thing levels Vale," Gyro frowned.

"Good point," Yang agreed, the group reaching for their D-Crests, which glowed brightly as the Crests appeared on the screens.

"Don't forget about us!" came Pierce's voice, as the group turned to see team JNPPR on one end of the square.

"We heard the explosion, so we came to check," Jaune said.

"Now let's go, time to save Vale," Nora grinned, as all of them had their D-Crests ready as well which began glowing.

 **(Play Brave Heart)**

"Agumon…"

"Palmon…"

"Biyomon…"

"Tentomon…"

"Patamon…"

"Veemon…"

"Gomamon…."

"Gabumon…"

"Salamon…"

"Wormmon…"

" **Blast Evolution!** "

The light was blinding to anyone who hadn't turned tail and ran, but when it subsided, 10 Perfect level Digimon emerged, and immediately began to fight off the Grimm, focusing especially on the Hell March.

The Hell March let out a hiss as it tried to maneuver around the incoming enemies...but was stopped when Lilymon wrapped vines around it, stopping its movements, followed by Garudamon helping her to pull, sending it into the air...right into Zudomon's hammer. "Fore!" Zudomon laughed as the Hell March was sent flying into the streets. It got up, hissed angrily and tried to shoot venom from its mouth...which was stopped harmlessly by a barrier generated by HolyAngemon and Angewomon.

"There's no point in prolonging this!" Angewomon said as she held out her arms. "Saint Air!"

The holy particles filled the air, causing the Hell March to screech in pain, while the smaller Grimm also let out shouts before they fell over dead, their bodies soon vanishing in the rain of holy particles. The ones who survived were easily cut down by their partners.

"Huh...convenient," WereGarurumon smirked, before surging forward, grabbing it by its 'tail', and began to slam it repeatedly on the ground, before tossing it aside, soon playing a small game of volleyball with AeroVeedramon, before they finally let the battered Grimm hit the ground where AtlurKabuterimon and JewelBeemon pinned it down.

"Hold it steady," MetalGreymon said, aiming his arm. "Trident Arm!"

The Death March stopped dead when it was impaled straight through the skull.

"That's one large Grimm down, and several more to go," Pyrrha frowned as they heard more destruction from other sections of town.

"You guys were with mom right? Where is she?" Ruby asked the members of JNPPR.

"Summer and Keenan split up from us before we got over here, they had to check on other holes that came up, smaller thankfully, but it still lead to a decently big force of Grimm." Ren informed.

"I hate that they managed to pull that even with our preparation." Pierce sighed with a frown.

"Butterfly effect is a bitch bro." Gyro sighed back "Anyway, let's split up and go around town, we need to clear every single Grimm out."

With that said, everyone nodded and split into smaller groups going to check around the city to clear things out.

 **(Song End)**

* * *

"Well now, this is a fine pickle we're in." Azure noted as he stood back to back with both Summer and Keenan, the three of them and their partners surrounded by a pair of Hell Marches and an honest to Oum three headed King Tajitu, along with quite a few other smaller Grimm.

"Been a while since I've seen some honest to goodness Hell Marches, those things usually live deep underground." Summer noted.

"Torchwick's actions may have stirred them to come up above." Keenan suggested.

"No surprise there. Those explosions could have woken the dead," Azure snorted.

"We should deal with these quickly," Renamon frowned.

"And with the city in mind, we should go Perfect as soon as possible," Wizardmon added, though he couldn't keep the excited tone out of his voice at the prospect of going Perfect.

"Good idea," Falcomon agreed.

"Alright, let's do this!" Summer nodded, pulling out the Blue Card. However, unlike normal, something was...different this time. Namely the card was glowing.

"Huh? That's never happened before," Keenan blinked, right as their D-Arks started to glow, the Blue Card breaking down into data, getting absorbed into the D-Ark, before the card creation screen appeared, and from it, each of them got a copy of the Blue Card.

"What the what?" Azure blinked. "What just happened?"

Summer looked at the screen...and noticed a small symbol appear for a moment, followed by the image of a crystalline being which soon disappeared, causing her to smile. "A little help from the other side," she smiled.

"Then let's do it!" Keenan grinned.

 **(Play 'Slash!')**

The three Blue Cards spun in the air before each of them grabbed one, then brought it to their D-Arks and scanned them. "Card Slash! Matrix Evolution!" all three of them called out. The light soon caused Renamon and Falcomon to evolve to their Adult stage, before the next stage began.

"Matrix Evolution!" the D-Arks called out, as the three of them held them to their chests, followed by a burst of light as three Matrix Crystals were created, Summer and Keenan's silver and dark purple crystals glowing like normal, entering their partners as normal. From Azure, came a dark blue Matrix Crystal, Azure's grinning face reflected on it, before it entered through Wizardmon's open hand.

"Kyubimon…"

"Peckmon…"

"Wizardmon…"

" **Matrix Evolution!** "

Kyubimon and Peckmon soon evolved into their respective Perfect forms, revealing Taomon and Yatagaramon.

Wizardmon pulled off his cape and hat, his body glowing with light as he jumped upward, a magic circle appearing overhead which he passed through, his body changing, growing taller and stronger. Gleaming white armor began materializing around his body, attaching to it from various angles, and from his upper back a new cape emerged, followed by a sorcerer's hat appearing over his head. His staff flew through the air, going through another magic circle, transforming it into a mystical sword which soon ignited in flames when he grabbed hold of it. As he landed on the ground, he slashed at the air with his new weapon, and released a burst of magic, the moon covered in mist appearing behind him, said mist rushing into his free hand as he held it up high, forming into a crystal ball. "Mystimon!"

 _Digimon Analyzer: Mystimon_

 _Mystimon. Virus Type. A Perfect Level Magic Warrior Digimon. A Mysterious Digimon who hails from Witchelny, said to be a powerful warrior of that land. Well verse in both knighthood and witchcraft, he can attack with both high level spells and impressive sword techniques. His special attacks are Blast Fire, manipulating the flames of his blade to strike at the enemy from afar, and Core Dart, shrouding his crystal ball in fire before throwing it at his enemy._

"Looking good, partner," Azure grinned as he saw the new form of Wizardmon.

"Feeling good too," Mystimon chuckled. "Now, let's send these Grimm packing. Blast Fire!" he called out, launching what could be summed up as a flaming sword beam, which cut several of the Grimm in half, while Taomon had trapped the three headed King Tajitu in a sphere, which was lifted up, then exploded in the air. At the same time, Yatagaramon was peppering the field with shots which destroyed the smaller Grimm while the larger Grimm were forced to evade, but they too took several shots, weakening them for the Huntsmen who came after them, hacking away at them.

"Mikafutsu-no-Kami!" Yatagaramon called out, hitting one of the Hell Marches...which shrieked as it soon broke down into data.

"Well...that's honestly pretty scary," Summer sweatdropped.

Apparently she wasn't the only one who felt that way, as a few of the remaining Grimm looked at each other, and started backing off...only to back up into an invisible wall.

"Who said you were allowed to run?" Mystimon chuckled, using his crystal ball to create a battle barrier around them.

"Time to earn our keep," Azure chuckled, spinning one of his kukri, as the group prepared to slaughter the hapless Grimm trapped inside with them.

 **(End song)**

"...oookay, they don't need any help. Moving on," Blake deadpanned as she, HolyAngemon, Weiss, and AtlurKabuterimon all sweat dropped and proceeded to go find other places where the Grimm were attacking, tuning out the sounds of claws against a barrier as several Beowolves were clawing at the barrier, the image of 'Oh god let us out!' on their normally fearsome faces.

* * *

"Ok, this is a LOT better than being Junior Detectives like Gyro said we did in canon." Sun grinned as he shot a Beowolf's head off.

"I think he said we just flashed out badges and then didn't do much because Team CFVY showed up and overshadowed everyone with badassery." Neptune mused as he spun his weapon around, chopping off the heads of a few Ursas rushing him.

"And me and Sage weren't even there for that in that freaking webshow? God that's a right kick in the bollocks!" Scarlet griped as he shot and slashed at the Grimm rushing him, jumped over a few and gliding over them, slashing their heads off while they were surprised.

"While I wouldn't use those exact words, it IS rather… vexing." Sage agreed as he slashed his sword in a wide arc, shopping off the stringers of a few attacking Deathstalkers.

"I'm just glad I hopped off my 'canon' path early, don't like the idea of fighting Blake." Ilia said as she lashed out at the Grimm with her whip.

"I believe I can understand that to an extent, considering what I have been informed my 'canon' fate was to be… it is a LITTLE awkward to be around Miss Nikos, but I manage." Penny added, grimacing a bit, before she focused on tearing apart the Grimm, waving her swords around, while others of them shot in their blaster modes.

"Yeah, Gyro is thinking one of you should throw the fight JUST in case," Ilia grimaced. She'd heard that, and from what she could tell, Penny did NOT deserve to be killed...over some stupid plan to sow fear and distrust at that.

"That'd be a reasonable suggestion yes," Monodramon nodded. "Especially seeing as we'll not be able to conclude the festival anyway."

"Girls, averting future death later. Avert possible current death now!" Coronamon reminded.

"Right, time to go all out!" Kotemon nodded. However, before they could go for their D-Cores, they started to glow brightly.

"What the heck?!" Neptune said in alarm, as they all drew their D-Cores, and suddenly the world stopped, literally turning grayscale save for themselves and their Digimon. The light from the Digivices gathered and before them the semi-transparent image of a crystalline figure appeared.

"Digidestined… the time has come. Are you prepared to walk this rocky path hand in hand?"

"What the heck is going on?!" Scarlet asked in alarm.

"This presence...could it be? Are you...Yggdrasil?" Betamon asked in awe, the Digimon suddenly looking rather subdued.

"Who is...Yggdrasil?" Sage asked.

"He's...basically our god," Koemon said.

The humans (and faunus and android) all stilled at that, before looking at the figure in awe "Oh… so we're looking at god… well holy shit." Sun summed up what they were all feeling in a few words.

"Uh… why IS a god talking to us though?" Neptune asked, completely confused.

"I ask again, are you willing to walk down this hard path alongside your Digimon, to forge a covenant to fight alongside each other till the very end?" Yggdrasil spoke again.

"I don't fully get what you're asking, but if you're basically asking me if I'm always going to help Coronamon, then the answer is hell yeah!" Sun grinned, with Coronamon smirking a bit.

"Same goes for me and Kotemon." Ilia added with a smile, making Kotemon blush sheepishly.

"I too wish to fight with Monodramon," Penny nodded.

"We'll fight too," Neptune, Sage and Scarlet said.

Yggdrasil paused for a moment, before speaking. "All of you have a true bond...yet only 3 are ready. But fear not, in time when you are ready, this power will come as well. Until then, go forth chosen ones, and protect this world with your friends at your side," Yggdrasil said, before the D-Cores of Sun, Ilia, and Penny started to glow brightly, their forms changing, and when the light subsided, each of them held a D-Ark. Sun's was colored dark orange, Ilia's brown, and Penny's dark green. And with that, the image of Yggdrasil faded away, and the world soon returned to normal.

They all looked around in confusion "So… that just happened, right?" Koemon asked, a little confused.

"Yeah, it happened banana breath, I'm just as stumped as you though." Tinkermon sighed.

"So… upgraded Digivice huh?" Coronamon grinned a bit as he looked up at his partner.

"Looks like it yeah." Sun grinned back.

"I wonder if we'll be more powerful with these?" Monodramon mused.

"There's only one way to find out." Penny smiled, before holding out her new D-Ark.

 **(Play EVO)**

"Evolution!" the three new Digivices said in a drone like voice, before a wireframe cocoon formed on the screen, followed by releasing waves of energy in the same color as their respective Digivices, with Coronamon, Kotemon, and Monodramon soon encased in the cocoons of energy.

"Coronamon…"

"Kotemon…"

"Monodramon…"

They all began as their skin peeled away, revealing a wireframe underneath.

" **Evolution!** "

Coronamon's body grew larger, turning quadrupedal as wings formed. The skin began to reform, and the cocoon burst open to reveal Firamon in his glory. "Firamon!"

Kotemon's body shifted, growing rounder as her limbs thinned out, seemingly becoming covered in armor, as the texture formed back over the wireframe, the cocoon bursting open to reveal Gladimom with her swords at the ready "Gladimon!"

Monodramon's body grew larger, his arm-wings receding into his arms, while his claws shifted into a triangle formation on his arms. Armor began to form over his head, shoulder, and tail, while his new skin formed, and when it was complete, the cocoon burst, revealing Strikedramon at the ready. "Strikedramon!"

"I dunno about you guys, but I'm feeling stronger than ever!" Firamon grinned.

"I feel like I could take on a whole army!" Gladimon added.

"Let's go!" Strikedramon shouted as he rushed in and started barreling through the Grimm, Gladimon and Firamon copying him.

"Yeah! They got the right idea!" Sun cheered as he attached his gun-chucks together into a staff and started clobbering the Grimm.

"I guess that works." Ilia shrugged, while Penny held two of her swords in her hands.

"I shall assist in this Grimm decimation!" she said, before starting to swing her swords around wildly as she rushed into the Grimm.

"... she scares me sometimes." Neptune admitted, looking at Penny blankly.

"You and me both man." Scarlet deadpanned.

 **(End song)**

Not far away from them, Jaune and Pyrrha paused in their search to see how they were doing, before looking at each other and nodding "Then can handle themselves." continuing on.

"Man, those guys are crazy sometimes." Zudomon said, before WereGarurumon pulled him along by the tail.

* * *

"Why does this keep happening to me?!" Takato wailed as he was clinging for dear life around Growlmon's neck, who was currently fighting off several sizeable Grimm.

Growlmon roared as he fired another Exhaust Flame, incinerating several Ursas, before the ground shook, and pair of King Tajitu emerged, catching Growlmon by surprise and wrapping around him. The sudden movement caused Takato to lose his grip, sliding down the side of the scaled bodies and landing on his butt. "Ouch…" he groaned, getting up just in time to see his friend trapped in the coils. "Hey! Let him go!" he shouted, and despite his fears, grabbed a rock and started hitting the King Tajitu for all it was worth….and attracting the attention of their second heads.

The heads hissed angrily, causing Takato to stop in fear, but hearing his friends angry roars reminded him of the situation and with determined eyes, he threw the rock at one of the heads, drawing an angry hiss from it, to which it suddenly lunged at him, the boy barely in the middle of turning to run in hopes of it losing focus on his friend. At that moment though, the King Tajitu heads recoiled when a bright light covered him, to which he realized that it was coming from his pocket. Reaching in, he drew out his D-Core, and for a moment, he saw the faded image of a crystalline being which smiled and nodded, the D-Core soon transforming into a red D-Ark, followed by a screen appearing, and a Blue Card forming.

"This is…!" Takato gasped, touching the card, before a question went through his mind. 'Are you willing to fight alongside your friend, even if it risks your life?'

Takato blinked, before his eyes narrowed with determination. "I'm not leaving Growlmon!" he said, before scanning the card.

 **(Play EVO (Again yes))**

"Matrix Evolution!" the D-Ark declared, before on instinct, Takato held it to his chest, a light shooting out of it as a red Matrix Crystal emerged, showing his smiling face on its reflective surface, before it soon flew to Growlmon, entering his chest.

" **Growlmon, Matrix Evolution!** " Growlmon roared, as his body changed, mechanical parts appearing over his torso while his arms turned into axe-like weapons with claws. A mechanical tail extended from the upper armor, while a mechanical guard appeared over his mouth. "MegaloGrowlmon!"

The King Tajitu didn't know what hit them, as one moment they were squeezing the life out of the Digimon, and the next, they were promptly cut apart by a pair of axe blades, falling to the ground in pieces.

 _Digimon Analyzer: MegaloGrowlmon_

 _MegaloGrowlmon. Virus Type. A Perfect Level Cyborg Digimon. Having grown to gigantic proportions, his body is covered in Chrome Digizoid armor, having gained the ability of flight thanks to the two vernier attached to his shoulders. The armor is rumored to have been constructed in an effort to contain his Digital Hazard, as it contains a lockdown mechanism to prevent him from running rampant. His special attacks are Atomic Blaster, firing nuclear powered beams from it's twin chest cannons, destroying the enemy at the atomic level, and Double Edge, slicing his foes apart with the Pendulum Blades equipped to his arms._

"This is...a new evolution...!" Takato gasped in awe.

The remaining Grimm seemed to be rattled by the display, but several brave (or stupid) ones continued on, including another Hell March that had emerged, but…

"Double Edge!" MegaloGrowlmon roared, and they were promptly dismembered. A challenging roar from the cyborg was the last straw for the Grimm who turned tail and ran.

"You'd better run!" Takato cheered. Of course, that was when more explosions happened, and he noticed that there were still more Grimm all over the city. Then the airships came.

Up from the air, the airships opened, dropping an army of Atlesian Knights who began firing away at the smaller Grimm, quickly helping to cut their numbers down.

"Well, seems like you two have this under control," came a rather intrigued voice, causing both of them to turn and see one Peter Port holding his Blunderbuss. He also wasn't alone, as coming behind him was Leomon, and behind them, cleaning up some more of the Grimm were Team CFVY with their partners.

"Wow, that kid's got a big one," Coco whistled in surprise when they saw the large Digimon who was partnered with the little kid.

"Not surprising. That's a Perfect level Digimon," Leomon grunted.

"Seriously? How'd you manage that kid?" Fox asked, intrigued.

"I'm not really sure, it kind of just… happened." Takato said with a shrug.

Suddenly, they all turned to MegaloGrowlmon as he started, well, growling "Something's coming." he said, everybody tensing as they looked around, Takato climbing up on his partner just to be on the safe side.

That was when the ground started shaking, and before long, the area where the train had broken through started cracking up further, before 8 snake heads broke through, all of them more armored than the usual Tajitu head, and all seemingly attached to the same body.

"My word… an Orochi… they should only be a myth." Port said in shock.

At the same time, Lilymon and Garudamon were approaching the area...and they and their partners saw the Orochi. "Okay, I knew Murphy would give us problems eventually, but this is too much," Yang grimaced at the sight of the large Grimm.

"Yeah, and the only giant Grimm that SHOULD be nearby is the Wyvern in the mountains," Ruby frowned.

"Doesn't matter, we'd better help," Garudamon said with a frown, earning a nod from her friends.

Back below, the fight was on, as team CFVY and Port, along with the Digimon opened fire, causing some damage here and there, but the large Grimm was mostly shrugging it off. In retaliation, the Orochi hissed, before lunging for them, forcing everyone to evade, while MegaloGrowlmon tanked one of the heads, his sturdy armor allowing him to hold it back, before with a roar, he managed to pull it to the side, actually toppling the Orochi to the side. The other heads hissed in anger, and charged at him, this time managing to knock him backwards a bit, forcing him to a knee...which scrapped rather hard against the ground due to it lacking the protective armor. When that happened, Takato felt a jolt of pain go through his leg.

The Orochi reared more heads back, ready to strike again...only to hiss in pain when a bird of fire came down, burning its scales followed by several blasts of Lillymon Flower Cannon. "Sorry we're late, took a while to get the hang of these new forms!" Yang shouted, drawing their attention.

"Any assistance is appreciated!" Port called back, Leomon smirking a little at the sight of the chosen. He knew they could end this anytime...but for the sake of keeping the Crests secret for a little while longer, they were purposely holding themselves back as much as they could.

"Try to draw its attention! It can't fight properly if its focused all over the place!" Ruby suggested as Garudamon and Lillymon split up, before dropping their partners who landed hits on the Orochi on the way down, their Chrome Digizoid coated weapons managing to bypass the hard scales, drawing angry hisses from the Orochi.

"They've got the right idea," Velvet agreed as she and Meicoomon started to keep one of the heads busy.

"You heard them, let's go!" Coco agreed, as the rest of the team joined in, the Orochi soon completely confused as it was peppered with attacks from 8 directions, forcing it to split its focus.

"Let's not be left out," Leomon smirked.

"I couldn't agree more!" Port laughed as they joined in, the Orochi now taking a beating from being unable to keep track of all the opponents.

Back with Takato and MegaloGrowlmon. "Can you still keep fighting?" he asked, just to make sure. MegaloGrowlmon let out a defiant roar as he forced himself to stand again. "I'll take that as a yes," Takato chuckled. MegaloGrowlmon set his sights on the Orochi, and the cannons on his torso armor began to charge up. Seeing that, Takato's eyes widened and he turned to the Huntsmen fighting. "Everyone, get ready to clear out!" he shouted in alarm, the faunus and Digimon of the group able to hear him...and thus were able to warn their respective partners, enough so that when they saw that the charge was reaching critical, they all landed one last hit to the heads, dazing them a bit then cleared out. Just in time too…

"Atomic Blaster!" MegaloGrowlmon roared, as he fired, the blast hitting the Orochi square in the torso, the force pushing it back, while MegaloGrowlmon shifted his torso upwards a bit, the blast now carrying the Orochi into the air where it soon punched a hole right through the body, the Orochi flying through the air and landing in the outskirts of town, very much dead considering it was missing most of its torso.

 **(Song end)**

Once the Orochi was dead, it was as if that was the key to ending the fight, as the last of the Grimm were finally killed, and Miss Goodwitch arrived, using her semblance to patch up the holes.

Once everyone was sure no Grimm remained, they all finally relaxed, the evolved Digimon reverting to their smaller forms, though, Takato was surprised when MegaloGrowlmon became MUCH smaller, and he was now holding a small and round red Digimon with small bat wings on it's head and four stubby legs.

Similarly…

"So, this is your Child level huh?" Azure asked in amusement as he looked down at Wizardmon, or rather, Candmon, who was looking up at him and floating off the ground a bit.

"Yeah, well, first time I went Perfect, it was to be expected." Candmon said with a shrug.

With the crisis averted (and some cleanup from Glynda who patched up the roads in minutes), all that was left was cleanup and rounding up. With Oobleck and Zwei's help, they rounded up any WF members who had still been on the train when it crashed, and soon they and Torchwick were being loaded into airships for transport into a prison cell.

* * *

"Despite the heavy collateral damage, thanks to the combined efforts of the Huntsmen, Digimon, and the Atlesian Military, civilian casualties were kept to a minimum. Additionally, a good number of the White Fang were arrested and are now facing incarceration, as well as notorious crime lord, Roman Torchwick. This is Lisa Lavender, saying once again, thank you everyone for saving Vale," the news played before Gyro turned off the scroll.

"Well...objective complete or not, that was...a really big mess," he sighed.

"Yeah, if this was everyone back in normal RWBY, this would have killed everyone, if not released the Wyvern then and there," Pierce sighed, pinching the bridge of our nose.

"But...everything turned out okay, right?" Nora asked.

"Yes, but we've been way too complacent about how big an impact the Digimon have on the timeline," Gyro sighed tiredly. All of them were at their dorm room, and had already changed to their sleeping attire, ready to turn in at any time. "We can't keep going expecting things to more or less follow the script anymore, or we might be caught unprepared the next time a major change like this happens…"

"So, basically, take the script as more of a rough guide, and not the exact product." Yang summed up.

"Sounds about right, we'll have to plan for the unexpected then." Weiss sighed.

"Everything is REALLY complicated these days." Agumon groaned.

"Tell me about it, we saved the Digital World, no issues there, but now saving Remnant is a LOT more work." Veemon added with a sigh.

"It's what we signed up to do though, no backing out." Gomamon said.

"Thanks again for that guys, we'd be toast without you." Jaune said with a chuckle as he rubbed Gomamon's back while the seal sat in his lap.

"Let's just hope the next big thing is the Vytal Festival and not Grimm Eclipse," Gyro yawned.

If there was music in the air, it would have come to a halt, complete with a record screeching.

"Grimm Eclipse?" was the question that came from everyone other than the two brothers.

"...now why did I choose to open my big mouth?" Gyro said dryly.

* * *

Meanwhile, somewhere far off from Vale, on an island somewhere…

"Hmm… yes… this data is truly fascinating… I wonder if these Digimon would react to the substance the same way the Grimm do?" a man mused as he stood in front of a computer screen, typing away.

"To think, that creatures made of sentient data were possible. It's as unique as that black goop some of the mutants release, spawning more of the Grimm." the man continued, before smirking.

"Well, I suppose it's time to begin my next experiment. Soon… soon the world will know my name, and they'll see that I was right." the man said, before starting to laugh.

* * *

 **And done!**

 **This chapter REALLY dragged on for us. Even Timeless was starting to get pretty tired of writing it.**

 **But we pushed through, and now Volume 2 is wrapped up... and the next arc is set up.**

 **As always, we'll see you next time, because...**

 **The Adventure Evolves.**


	55. 54: Grimm Eclipse

**Hey everyone! Welcome back to another Digital Story!**

 **It's been a bit since the last chapter, but don't worry, this one is extra meaty just for the ones of you that were patient.**

 **Not as meaty as the last chapter mind you, but still pretty big.**

 **Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

 **Grimm Eclipse**

* * *

"Okay, remind me again WHY you didn't think to tell us about the part we had a video game, especially considering we're on our way to the start of said events," Weiss sighed as currently team RWGBY and their partners were in the forest on their way to repair a few security network nodes that had been malfunctioning recently. It had been a little over a week since the Breach, and life was going on as normal.

"To be fair, it was originally a fanmade game, so we weren't sure if it would actually become part of the story or not," Gyro sighed.

"Well, guess it is," Agumon shrugged.

"So… was the game any good?" Yang asked curiously.

"Oh yeah, pretty good for such a short game, it had about 10 to 12 missions if I remember, starting in the Emerald Forest, then Mountain Glenn, then some catacombs, then Forever Fall, then an island, and then a lab on said island… it's been a while since I played so I might get some details wrong, but, anyway, the game, when it released, let players choose any one member of Team RWBY and pair up with 3 other players online to go through the story, later on they released a DLC that lets you play as the members of team JNPR as well. Personally the character I was most comfortable playing as was actually Jaune, it was actually possible to wrack up a 100 hits combo as him pretty easy." Gyro explained with a chuckle.

"Huh, considering how Jaune was in the story before you showed up, that's pretty impressive," Blake couldn't help but say.

"Well, at least we'll know what to expect. Though...do we have to sneak onto a crate?" Tentomon asked.

"That's the only way I can think of for us to get to Merlot's island and lab, so yeah," Gyro sighed. "It's not like Remnant has been fully explored in the show. Heck, I've never seen Vacuo or Atlas until I came here save for a few shots and those were mainly in the Schnee Manor."

"Huh, you'd think people who make these stories would make a clearer image first," Palmon mused.

"To be fair, I don't think anyone expected it to become as popular as it did," Gyro sighed.

Any further conversation was cut short when Ruby's scroll rang, revealing it to be a call from Professor Port. "Nice work, students! As you know we've been having some trouble with the security network in this area. We need boots on the ground to investigate. That means you, team RWGBY! Onward!"

The moment he ended the call, the group reached what could be described as a circular stone area...to which a number of Beowolves and Creepers emerged from the shadows. "Looks like the welcome wagon is here," Biyomon frowned.

"Let's clear them out and keep going," Yang grinned.

"Somehow I don't think that's gonna be an issue," Patamon chuckled lightly. True enough, it wasn't an issue. Between the larger group than in the game, the Digimon having grown much stronger over the time they'd been together, the fact that these were weaker Grimm, and they had Chrome Digizoid coating...yeah, the Grimm didn't even put up a fight seeing as the armor didn't even SLOW the strikes from their weapons.

"Well that was mildly disappointing." Weiss said with a raised eyebrow as she rested her blade.

"Well, to be fair, I think we're kind of OVER prepared for anything Remnant has to throw at us at this point." Ruby said with a shrug.

"Highly possible." Blake said in deadpan.

"Well, even though we're over prepared for Remnant, there's no telling when trouble might pop up in the Digital World again." Yang said seriously.

"Yeah, so that's why we need to keep getting stronger, just in case more trouble pops up over there." Gyro said with a nod.

"Whatever it is, I hope it doesn't escalate too far," Agumon sighed.

"Yeah, the Dark Masters were bad enough. I just hope the darkness that made them is the worst we'll have to face," Palmon agreed.

The group soon continued onward with the path that had been set for them, killing any Grimm that got in their way with ease. The group soon went up a hill and approached a bridge that lead into a cave.

"So, first one is in there, right?" Biyomon asked.

"Yes, the first of the security nodes, the next is further beyond." Weiss said, looking up a map on her scroll.

"Ok, so… what IS the problem anyway?" Yang asked, turning to Gyro.

"Someone Ozpin knows is trying to get attention, no, it's not HER, this one is one of the reasons Mountain Glenn fell, his name is Merlot, he's a crazy scientist." Gyro said, cutting them off when they almost jumped to the conclusion of Salem.

"Merlot… I THINK I heard the name before… possibly a former business partner for my father that quickly fell through. He might have mentioned it here and there." Weiss said in thought.

"It's possible, he had his own company, Merlot Industries. Though it quickly fell through before any of us were born apparently." Gyro said, earning a nod from the heiress.

Before long the group found the first node inside the cave. And it was surrounded by Grimm.

"Well, here we go," Ruby frowned. "We'll keep the Grimm busy. Weiss, you try and get to node to start working again."

"Right," Weiss nodded, before the rest of her teammates charged forward, clearing an opening for her. When the path was cleared, Weiss went straight for the node, and started getting to work. The first thing she noticed was a little red box that was on the node, and upon closer examination, it was causing the node to malfunction. "It's just as you said Gyro, Merlot's the one responsible for the malfunction!" she reported as she started working to counter the device and restart the node. While that was happening, the rest of team RWGBY was buying her time...which wasn't hard since only weak Grimm were showing up so far. Even the Alpha Beowolves and… well, they didn't have a name for them, but the Alpha style of Creeps weren't that difficult to fight off.

Between the lack of any real danger, and Weiss having developed an aptitude for programming due to her time in the Digital World, the situation was dealt with fairly easily. They soon received another call from Port. "Well done team, we've just received confirmation that the security in that area is back to normal," he said. "What was the problem?"

"This," Tentomon said, pressing on the camera app to take and send a picture of the device that had been causing the security device to malfunction.

"Hm...that is troubling. Furthermore, I feel I've seen that symbol before. I'll be sure to let you know if we find anything. For now, please continue to the next security network," Port said, before ending the call.

* * *

Once they were out of the cave, the team made their way towards some ruins within the forest "You know, we REALLY should try to explore more of the forest sometimes." Yang said, whistling a bit as she looked at what appeared to be some sort of temple remains.

"It would certainly make for some interesting sightseeing." Blake agreed with an amused smile.

"Already made a note of this location," Ruby chuckled, showing that she'd marked the coordinates for later use. The group continued through the path, and came across more sections of the ruins, including a part that held a rather breathtaking view of the forest (Weiss snapped a photo along the way). The only problem was the Grimm around the area, this time including several Boarbatusk on top of the Beowolves and Creepers but...those weren't an issue either. The group soon came across a bridge that had been pulled back, leaving a gap and a gear next to it...but Gyro wasn't in the mood for attracting more Grimm, so he just used his wind to help everyone get across.

"This is turning from a hack and slash to a beat em up," Yang sighed as they made short work of another group of Grimm waiting on the other side after they continued further. Honestly, after the Digital World, hunting Grimm was...easy…

"Let's just take it as a being glad they're not able to put up much of a fight," Patamon said as he hit another Grimm with an Air Shot, knocking it into a couple more.

The group continued to mow down any Grimm in their way till they found the second Control Center in another section of the ruins, once again the red box was present, and once again the Grimm seemed attracted to it.

This time though, they also found cages.

"Is he… trying to catch Grimm?" Ruby asked incredulously.

"Yeahp, reason why though… I'll let that one surprise you a bit, I want to see your faces." Gyro said with a grin, the girls all rolling their eyes, but they supposed they could allow this one since he sort of technically warned them.

The group did the same routine as before. Weiss fixed the Control Center, while everyone else beat up Grimm. The pace was honestly so straight forward, Agumon decided to evolve into Greymon out of boredom and proceeded to play stomp with several Grimm, causing the smarter ones to decide this was NOT worth it and run away, leaving the stupid ones to die.

"If Gomamon were here, he'd probably go Perfect just to play Whack-a-Grimm," Biyomon couldn't help but say with a laugh.

Eventually….

"Done," Weiss said, having finished undoing the damage done by Merlot's device.

"Excellent work," Port said from the scroll as he confirmed the next control center that had been fixed. "Also, we've confirmed the logo you've seen belonged to Merlot Industries. However, it should have fallen along with Mount Glenn long before your time," He frowned. "Now the question is...what is technology from them doing here and now?"

"Maybe we should look into any surviving records? The building is probably still standing, right?" Gyro asked the professor, even though he knew this is what was GOING to happen.

Port hummed in thought "Yes… yes, good idea, I'll send someone to pick you up and bring you over there, I'll also try to find Bart so he can help you out, since this is more his area of expertise."

With that the call was ended.

"...what are the odds they'll actually find something so we don't HAVE to go to Mount Glenn again?" Blake asked flatly.

Everyone looked at each other, considered their luck on these things, and came to the same conclusion. "Zilch."

* * *

"Mount Glenn….its as dead and dreary as it always is," Agumon sighed as the group found themselves in the very same abandoned city they'd been in not too long ago, and already they were being attacked by Grimm...which they were beating down without TOO much difficulty.

"What were we looking for again?" Palmon asked.

"The Merlot Industries main building," Blake reminded.

"It's the huge one that can see from here." Gyro said, pointing at the last remaining skyscraper of the city.

"Well that's easy then." Ruby said.

"Too easy if you ask me." Weiss shot back skeptically.

"Yeah… our path there isn't exactly standard, we'll have to cut through the old water system. Though, we might want to check up on Junk Town while we're here, just see how things are with less Grimm to worry about after the breach." the gogglehead suggested.

"Good idea, hopefully things are doing better for them." Blake said with a hopeful smile.

The group kept going and soon found the town...and they noted something else too. "Were they attacked recently?" Yang frowned, as true enough, the walls had been rather badly damaged, and were being quickly repaired. Not just that, they also noticed a Digimon they hadn't seen before overseeing the defenses.

Said Digimon looked to be a robot build out of bronze colored parts, with a valve on his chest, his design looking rather steampunk inspired.

"Be careful with that section, one of those big ones crashed into it, so it might be a bit more unstable than the others." the Digimon called up to a Meramon that was handling some of the repairs, the flaming Digimon sending back a thumbs up while working.

"Uh, excuse us…" Biyomon trailed off unsurely as the group went up to the Digimon, who turned to them and seemed to be happy.

"Ah, Chosen Children, nice to see you again." the Digimon greeted them as if he knew them.

"Um… not to be rude, but have we met?" Tentomon asked in confusion.

The Digimon blinked, before realising something "Oh yes, you've never met me in this form. I am Guardromon, the Adult Level of Andromon."

 _Digimon Analyzer: Guardromon_

 _Guardromon. Vaccine Type. An Adult Level Machine Digimon. A Digimon that acts as protector for defensive walls within computer networks, it is always vigilant for intruders. Though it has been said that sometimes Guardromon are easily hacked by others to turn them into personal bodyguards. Its special attack is Destruction Grenade, firing missiles from its wrists._

The eyes of the Chosen widened at this "Wait, Andromon?! What happened to you?" Agumon asked in shock.

Guardromon looked slightly sheepish "We were suddenly attacked by some rather ferocious Grimm a bit after you left the other day, and they had a… well I don't know the name, but it looked like a Mammothmon. It started just attacking wildly for some reason and trashing the place, and while it got me good, I did manage to destroy it, though I ended up regressing to my Adult Level."

"A Goliath? Must have been a young one, those are usually smart enough to stay away from cities." Yang mused with a frown.

"Unless they're absolutely sure they'll live, but yeah," Gyro mused, remembering the Goliaths that started showing up in the Battle of Beacon, and later after Beacon was totalled...he made a mental note to destroy any Grimm Ruby froze in the future just in case they attracted more smaller Grimm like the Wyvern does.

"Well, glad the place is okay at least," Patamon said, to which Guardromon nodded.

"Regressing was admittedly annoying, but it was a small price to pay overall," he said. "But enough about that. What brings you all here and is there something we could assist with?"

"Well, we were mostly just coming to check in on you all after we had our mission the other day, it ended with lots of big Grimm attacking Vale. So since we had another mission in this area, we stopped by." Weiss explained.

"I see, thank you for that then, and we're doing fine as you can see." Guardromon told them, and they got the feeling he was smiling.

"Well, nonetheless, how about we drop a call to Vale to have them send you guys a few supplies? No doubt that Grimm attack set you back a bit." Ruby suggested with a smile.

"That would be greatly appreciated, thank you very much." Guardromon nodded at the idea happily.

After exchanging a few more words, the group continued on their mission (though not before doing the call, with Oobleck promising to give the message and keep them updated on the status, even if he doubted it would be an issue). The group followed a map they'd been provided...but found that a key bridge was blocked...and they simply bypassed it using Kabuterimon to fly them over it. In fact…

"You know...I just realized," Ruby said. "Why don't we just fly straight to the building like this?"

The group looked at her...and collectively facepalmed at not realizing the easy way they could have taken.

With Kabuterimon, they made the trip quickly, any Nevermores trying to get in their way quickly dealt with using the Mega Blaster move. It wasn't long before they reached the Merlot Industries building and landed, Kabuterimon reverting to Tentomon. Right as he did...several more Grimm showed up.

"Don't you just hate annoying timing," Gyro said flatly, before they started fighting.

"Honestly...I'm starting to think it doesn't really matter anymore when Grimm like these are involved," Agumon said as he torched another Beowolf. After all the fights they'd been through, their powers at Child Level now could fight an Adult to a standstill and even beat some of the weaker ones. Grimm like these...weren't even an issue anymore. Even with the Ursas showing up...it was a slaughter.

"And that's the last one," Tentomon said with a small sigh. "What happens next?"

"Well...there was the cave in…" Gyro mused, and as if someone upstairs was feeling nasty, right as he said that...the area began to shake violently. "Of course…" he sighed, right before the building caved in and made the area cave in as well, sending them all down to the lower levels of the city.

Once they all recovered from the sudden fall…

"It really feels like the universe wants us to be its chewing toy at times." Blake said in deadpan.

"Tell me about it, doesn't help when it likes to pull stuff like that one the ONE moment where it shouldn't happen." Patamon added dryly.

"Let's just get through the undergrounds, who knows, maybe we'll find some basement levels for Merlot Industries." Ruby suggested, the others nodding as they went to exploring.

"So… when do things even get interesting?" Yang asked after a few minutes of them walking, going through an old part of the city with a railway system they were following.

"Should be right about now actually, thread carefully and quietly, we're about to see our first curveball." Gyro told them seriously, the others all slowing down in their steps and being more quiet as they went onwards, eventually finding what LOOKED like a Creep, but… different.

Instead of the usual red highlights on its body with glowing orange eyes, said colors had been replaced by shades of green and blue, along with glowing spikes of that same color on their back.

"I'm gonna guess THIS is the surprise you warned us about," Biyomon said flatly.

"Yeahp, don't get close to it, shoot it from afar and you'll see what it does." Gyro told them, Ruby nodding as she readied her rifle and aimed, firing a few shots after a second, and they watched as the Creep seemed to become bloated for a second… before blowing up… and spewing acid everywhere.

They all stared silently at the sight, before looking to Gyro "Suicide bombers? Seriously?" Weiss asked incredulously.

"Yeah, thankfully that's only the Creeps that are affected in that way, but yeah, don't stick close to them, make sure you strike from afar as it's the safest option." he told them, earning nods all around.

With that bit of info...the fight was once again a slaughter. Heck, Gyro even used his wind to group a few Creepers together...with everyone else opening fire, causing a chain reaction. Before long they'd cleared out the area. "They're definitely different...but once you know the trick they're not much of a challenge," Weiss frowned.

"Sorry it was either that or let everyone else find out by experience. I figured you'd all prefer it if I warned you about the surprise first," Gyro chuckled.

"Yeah, thanks for not waiting for us to have Grimm explode in our faces," Blake deadpanned.

"Well anyway, let's keep going," Gyro said. "I'm pretty sure there's nothing else for us to worry about other than Grimm."

5 minutes later….

"Nothing else to worry about, huh?" Tentomon asked dryly as they were staring at a BOMB sitting on the tracks.

"Yeah...I forgot about that one…" Gyro admitted.

"How long since you played that game?" Yang asked him.

"2 years." was the quick answer.

"Fair enough then." she shot back, two years was plenty of time to forget about this kind of stuff after all, especially when you thought it wouldn't be relevant.

"Besides, its cool. I remember the details now. No direct tampering or it'll go boom. Load it up with Dust Crystals and it'll follow the tracks right off a broken bridge," Gyro reassured. "There's plenty of Dust Crystal dispensers around here, we just have to worry about the Grimm coming for us though…"

"...is it weird that that thought doesn't even phase us anymore?" Ruby couldn't help but ask.

"Our sanity has been dead since we came back from the Digital World, and the fact we STILL haven't gotten therapy probably isn't helping," Weiss said dryly.

"We really SHOULD look into that." Palmon muttered.

"Once the Digital World is open again, that's the first thing we're doing," Gyro nodded. "But first things first. Bomb."

"Right," the group nodded.

"Let's split into two teams. Digimon guard the bomb, huntsmen get the Dust," Ruby said, earning more nods as they went to work. Once again, the group was hounded by the Grimm, along with a few of the mutants...all of which didn't last long. Seriously, it was VERY hard not to feel boredom when their weapons cut through the bone as if they were made of paper. Regardless, they successfully powered the cart enough that it soon drove itself off of the broken bridge where it exploded harmlessly deep down below.

"That's that," Patamon sighed in relief. "What now?"

"We call the teachers, and the next level is Forever Falls," Gyro said simply. "Guess we didn't find any underground archives after all though…"

"Well, at least we know where to head next." Ruby said before she contacted Oobleck, relaying what had happened while the group took a path upwards, light starting to pour in from the tunnel they were taking, until, finally, they were surrounded by falling leaves.

"Good to know there was a path to this place from the caverns." Yang sighed.

"Alright, so, obviously we have to follow a path here… probably beyond one of these doors." Weiss said, looking at a large pair of doors.

"Yeah, they both go to the same spot right after opening, and the key is nearby, should only take us a minute or two to find it if we look." Gyro told them, earning nods as they looked for the key in the immediate area.

After just a minute of searching… "Found it!" Biyomon said as she held up a cube shaped object, perfectly sized to fit into the hole on one of the doors.

Placing the object in one of the doors, once it had lowered, they were met with… Team JNPPR?

"Huh… guess you were right Pierce." Veemon said after a moment.

"Told you that was today." Pierce grinned before looking back to Team RWGBY "Hey guys, so, on to Level 5 huh?" he asked with a chuckle.

"Yeah, what are you guys doing out here though?" Blake asked with a raised eyebrow.

"We took a small mission to clear out some Grimm in Forever Falls, even encountered some mutated Creeps that almost blew up in our faces." Jaune explained.

"Yeah, I remembered just fast enough to tell them to get far back from those things." Pierce said sheepishly.

"Well, since we're all on the same page, we might as well team up," Ren suggested.

"Probably a good idea if these are just the FIRST of the Mutated Grimm we'll be fighting," Gabumon agreed.

"Kinda funny how no matter what happens, we always end up forming our one big group." Nora chuckled a bit.

"Who knows, maybe it's like some sort of destiny to never be split up." Salamon added with her own laugh.

"That's the kind of destiny I can like." Pyrrha said with a smile.

"Considering these guys," Pierce said, holding up his D-Crest to which the Crest of Miracles appeared. "I think it's safe to say we ARE destined to stay together."

"Not that anyone is complaining," Veemon added with a laugh.

"Anyway, let's keep going," Weiss said, though she had a smile on her face. The group continued onward, and soon found some train tracks that seemed to be headed upward a hill.

"Let me guess. Follow the tracks?" Gomamon chuckled, already seeing where this was going.

"Eeeyup," Gyro and Pierce nodded. With that the group continued onward, fighting through Grimm...and a few mutated Creepers.

"You know, the exploding bit was a BIT scary, but once you get used to it, it's REALLY not that big an issue…" Jaune mused as a few quick shots from the members who had ranged weapons made them explode, taking out their own allies with them.

"That's kinda how it feels for most players," Gyro said simply. "Just like fighting Dead Hand."

"You mean that creepy boss from Ocarina of Time?" Agumon shivered. He was not ashamed to admit he screamed when that thing suddenly showed up.

"That's the one," Pierce nodded as the group continued their path of carnage on any Grimm who were too stupid to realize they were running to their deaths, while the smarter ones quickly vacated the location after seeing their brethren cut down without mercy.

"It's kind of funny that instead of being worried about the Grimm we're mostly just enjoying the scenery." Wormmon said as he tied up a Beowolf before Ren cut its head off.

"This reminds me of the recent Tales of games that have DLC, they ALWAYS have some DLC that lets you get about 40 free level ups, so this is like if we'd used those to suddenly jump WAY above the required level, while ALREADY being overleveled." Pierce said, laughing a bit at the analogy.

"In short, we're freakishly overleveled right now," Yang laughed.

"And thus, we are absolutely NOT scared of any run of the mill Grimm." Gomamon added with a chuckle.

"Just don't let your guard down," Blake reminded. "We only kill them easily. They can still do the same to us."

"Blake's right, but it's still fun just being able to kill them without any issues," Nora laughed, swinging her hammer and casually caving in the skull of another stupid Grimm.

The group continued on through the ruins till they reached a circular area, and waiting for them were more Grimm...and a few Beowolves that were glowing green. More mutants.

"Okay, what does this one do?" Patamon asked.

"Slams the ground and sends a wave of crystals/spikes at us. Just side step it," Gyro said without missing a beat, and to emphasize it, he surged forward, easily side stepping the attack, and beheaded the Beowolf. Once again, a slaughter ensued, and between the 20 of them fighting...yeah…

"Next," the group shared a small laugh.

* * *

Eventually they reached a point where they couldn't see any visible train tracks.

"Ok, so what now?" Gabumon asked.

"We just need to keep on heading forward, we'll end up finding Merlot's ship soon enough and we'll need to sneak onto it." Pierce said, earning nods as the group continued on, decimating any Grimm stupid enough to get in their way, eventually reaching a spot where they caught a glimpse of the ship in question, along with some shipping crates that were being loaded onto it, all by automated machinery from the looks of it.

"Alright, so, should we just fly over to that spot?" Biyomon asked, ready to evolve.

"No, a bit too risky, he probably has some kind of security camera that would alert him to that." Ruby mused.

"Yeah, we suspected that as well, but there's a path we can use by cutting through some ruins, we won't be spotted through there." Gyro said, the group just having to search a bit before getting into said ruins, spotting more cages with some Grimm actually being held captive within… of course, with them being so close, the Grimm started acting up.

"Yeah, yeah, just keep barking ya mutt." Gomamon said in deadpan as he looked up at Beowolf that was snarling at him and trying to claw through the cage.

"These things don't break out of the cage right? Not that I'm actually worried," Tentomon asked.

"Eh...nope. Merlot built the cages well, we'll give him that much," Pierce shrugged.

"Ok, so… just keep going then I guess." Jaune said with a shrug as they walked through the small ruins, breaking open a rather weak wall to get out and end up sneaking into the loading area of Merlot's ship.

"Ok, so we just have to find an open container now." Weiss said quietly, just in case Merlot's possible cameras had audio.

"I see one over there." Ren pointed off in a direction of the area, the rest of the group following him until they reached the container and closed the door once everyone was in, Pyrrha using her semblance to lock it from inside.

"Uhhh…" a voice that DIDN'T belong to the group trailed off, making everyone turn on the flashlights in their scrolls… and see Takato and Guilmon in the container with them.

Everyone was quiet for several moments, until Blake broke it "Just… how?"

"Guilmon dragged me here when he sniffed something out." Takato said sheepishly.

"Oh all the days for us to not have the other D-Ark users around the keep you grouped up with." Yang muttered, as originally, the team had actually been planning on asking Ilia if she wanted to come with them, but she actually had to help Azure with something for the day.

"Well… you know that the least you gotta do is stick close to us, right?" Nora asked the boy, earning a nod, and then shrugging "Then I think he'll be fine, and I mean, Guilmon will maul everything that gets close to him, right?"

"Not like we can do anything about it at this point," Gyro said with a sigh. "So get comfortable. I don't actually know how long this is gonna take, but it's gonna be a while. With that in mind…" he pulled out a Nintendo Switch screen, and hooked it up to an expanded scroll. "Anyone want to build up frustration so we can take it out on the Grimm that are no doubt waiting?" he punctuated that by holding out a dreaded title. Mario Party.

"...eh, sure," Jaune shrugged. Not like they had anything actually better to do.

* * *

The crate was set in the unloading area of it's destination, sitting there for a few minutes, until a red robot came up to the crate, and was reaching towards the do-

 **BANG!**

The door went flying off its hinges and crashed into the robot, sending it flying until it was crushed into a stone wall by the door, while back at the crate, Yang was seething, her eyes red, and her fist extended "We're never playing Mario Party again."

"Agreed." everyone else said, seething just as much as she was as they all stepped out, Takato hanging back a bit and looking nervous.

"Suddenly I regret having super luck at video games." he muttered to Guilmon, who just looked at him in confusion. Takato decided to wait for a bit longer, and when he came out...well...he couldn't help but gulp a little at the sheer carnage the teenagers had wrought on the unsuspecting androids, what with all the parts littering the ground, the torn apart bodies, and a few Grimm who had showed up only to be brutally killed.

"Ah...I feel MUCH better," came Yang's voice as the boy and his Digimon ventured out to see the Huntsmen busy cutting a figurative bloody swath, all of them looking MUCH happier than before.

"Uh…" Takato sounded out, a bit afraid of the carnage as he hid behind Guilmon.

"Relax kid, we hate how you kept winning, but we aren't going to hurt you, just never play Mario Party with you… ever." Gyro said simply.

"I didn't even know what Mario Party was until today honestly and I kind of wish it had stayed that way." Takato admitted.

"Sorry kid, it was really just the best way to ramp up our adrenaline for a bloody entrance and show the jerk who owns this place we mean business." Pierce said sheepishly.

"Anyway…" Ruby trailed off, holding up her scroll, getting nothing but static on the other end "We really need to fix this, I'm guessing the towers are our best bet?"

"Yeah, we can use those to boost the signal." Gyro nodded "Also, be ready, there's no telling WHAT we'll find on the island with how much the world has changed from how it originally was." he said, honestly, he wouldn't be surprised if they ran into new kinds of mutants.

As if on cue, several more Grimm appeared, all of them glowing green and with a few oddities with their bodies. There were the Creeps and Beowolves they had encountered so far, but now they could also see some Ursa with large green claws and huge spikes on their shoulders, Boarbatusks with straight up goring horns made for impaling people, and human sized Nevermore with bladed feathers.

"Huh. The universe didn't waste time to prove me right," Gyro said flatly.

"Well, glad we got SOMETHING new to fight." Yang said with a grin as she punched her fists together.

As for how they handled these new variations…

With the Ursa, it was a matter of avoiding it's now longer reach before countering them.

For the Boarbatusk, really, they just had to flip them on their belly still, it was just now a bit more dangerous to attempt thanks to the sharper tusks and the fact that when they went into a spin dash they essentially turned into a buzzsaw.

And for the Nevermore… just shoot them quickly honestly, don't let them fire their new feathers at you, or get close enough they can swipe at you with them, just SHOOT.

Once the Grimm were dealt with, they finally reached the first of the towers, activating it to boost the radio signal.

"Whatever you did… keep doing… The Radio… somewhere else… must make… and then…" was all they got from the signal, earring some short snippets of Oobleck's voice.

"So… that means we're on the right track, right?" Takato asked after a moment.

"Yeah, I can see another tower from here as well." Biyomon said as she was flying up.

"And I think there's another even further." Patamon added.

"Let's head towards them then." Ren said with a nod.

Once again, they had to fight a few Grimm on the way towards the next tower, but it wasn't anything they couldn't handle as they reached the second tower and activated it.

"It's working! The signal seems better but… a little more and I can pinpoint… Nevertheless, keep it up!" they once again heard Oobleck's voice, though there was less static than last time.

"Well, we're on the right track, just one more should do it." Pyrrha said with a nod.

"Well then let's not take longer than necessary," Ren said as they continued onward, cutting down literally anything that tried to get in their way be it android or Grimm mutated or otherwise.

As such it wasn't long before they reached the third tower and soon activated it. However, instead of one of their teachers...someone else was contacting them.

"Ahh, that's better. Sorry, but the reception is always so bad all the way out here. I do hope you're enjoying your stay on the island. You're the first visitors I've had in, well, you ARE the first." the new voice said.

"Alright, who are we dealing with here?" Gyro sighed, playing dumb so Ozpin, who was likely listening, wouldn't catch onto anything.

"Oh, where are my manners? Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Dr. Merlot. You might not know me, but I most CERTAINLY know who you are." Merlot introduced himself, and it sounded like he was trying to be intimidating, and if they didn't already know about him, well… he might have been. "Nevertheless, I'm thrilled to have you here. You might be just what I need for a certain… experiment." Right as he said that, the group all heard an unlocking mechanism, as some hidden doors built into the various stone walls opened up, and mutated Grimm fell out of them "For such excellent students like yourselves, I'm sure this will be a simple test."

The group charged, fought the Grimm which they'd been fighting all day already, thus knowing exactly how to fight them...and the fight was over in like...less than a minute.

"...oh my…" was the only thing Merlot could say at the sight of the mutated Grimm defeated so easily. "I must say...this generation is quite impressive." he was heard saying… before more Grimm came pouring in "But that doesn't mean the test is over."

"I shouldn't be surprised." Gyro sighed, before holding up his scroll "Professor Ozpin, you're listening right? Think you can do… something?"

"Ozpin?" Merlot said in surprise.

"It's been a long time Merlot." Ozpin responded. "I thought you had perished in the Mountain Glenn disaster, a tragedy you played no small part in."

"Twas a mere speedbump on the superhighway of scientific progress. You couldn't possibly imagine the ramifications of my latest research." Merlot shot back.

"The world was a much safer place without you, Merlot." Ozpin answered simply.

"You're calling ME the reckless one? Sending your students out on an excursion like this?" Merlot asked incredulously.

"THESE students are more than a match for your mindless machines and your mutant Grimm. What you're doing here is wrong Merlot." Ozpin said, and the two teams couldn't help but feel bashful at the compliment.

"Trying to make the world a better place is wrong?" Merlot scoffed "Say what you will about me, but it won't change the fact you're powerless to stop me."

"You'll botch this somehow… you always do." Ozpin said, the smirk audible in his tone.

"Well, let's agree to disagree. I tell you Oz, it has TRULY been a pleasure catching up, but unfortunately, I have work to get back to. Farewell old chum." Merlot said, his tone of voice grave as he cut the connection, leaving only Ozpin on the line as the group finally finished up the last of the Grimm that just kept pouring in.

"Students, we're attempting to locate Merlot's island. We're coordinating with the Atlas Military to do so. I need you to keep exploring the island and inform me of any important details that might help us ascertain its location." Ozpin informed the group.

"If it helps, we were in a shipping container for about 2 hours, so that should tell you how far we went, and we started from Forever Fall." Weiss informed the headmaster.

"That does help narrow down the area yes, thank you, keep me informed of anything else." Ozpin said, before the line went silent.

"Right, well, no point in wasting time here, let's move on and hope we find something good." Jaune said, the group nodding as they trekked on, evening slowly turning into night, as they came upon a certain area.

"So, looks like we found the mutagen." Ruby said, looking at the puddle of green goo, before activating her scroll "Professor, we've found some green goo, we think it's the mutagen Merlot's been using on the Grimm to power them up."

"I see, then that would mean the substance comes up naturally on this island if he's harvesting it." Ozpin mused.

"Yeah, we can see some pipes sucking some of the stuff up." Nora confirmed.

"Keep up exploring students, and remember, be careful." Ozpin told them before the line was once more silent.

"So… think we should expect some actual difficult stuff soon?" Blake asked the twins with a raised eyebrow.

"Possibly, we're not sure yet." Pierce said.

"In any case, like Ozpin said, we have to be careful." Pyrrha said with a frown.

With that, the group pressed on, following the pipelines through the area, fighting more and more mutant Grimm along the way.

"Your students are proving to be quite annoying Oz." Merlot's voice was eventually heard.

"I know several people who would say the same about you. After all, your obsession with experimenting with Grimm was part of the reason that Mountain Glenn fell, and it will eventually lead to your own downfall." Ozpin shot back.

"The Grimm are the perfect test subjects! Raw, unbridled aggression, and a need for destruction. They are the perfect vessel." Merlot said, before chuckling ominously "Though… I can just about say the same for Remnant's new arrivals."

THAT set off warning bells in the minds of the chosen "Oh that can't be good." Agumon summed up what they were all thinking.

"What did you do Merlot?!" Ozpin asked, the anger clearly audible in his tone.

Merlot simply laughed "I'm sure you'll see in time old chum."

"Students, hurry, I have a bad feeling about this." Ozpin urged the group on.

"You and me both Oz." Gyro muttered as the group started running towards Merlot's lab, eventually reaching a large door which was most likely the entrance… and was being guarded by several of Merlot's robot along with mutated Grimm.

"Ugh, this is honestly getting annoying," Nora frowned.

"Let's not take longer than we have to!" Agumon agreed. "Let's Evolve!"

"Hold on, with this many, going too big will just make you a bigger target. Only the ones with smaller or faster frames should evolve," Ruby said.

"Good point," Wormmon nodded, before he, Salamon, and Patamon jumped forward.

"Wormmon, Evolution! Stingmon!"

"Salamon, Evolution! Gatomon!"

"Patamon, Evolution! Angemon!"

The group immediately charged forward, Stingmon firing several spikes to thin the herd a bit, while Angemon used his Heaven's Knuckle to blast away a good chunk of the mutants. Gatomon also zipped through them, knocking them away at high speed, throwing them into confusion and thus allowing the others to take out the Grimm in large numbers.

The androids were a bit harder to distract, but they weren't that much stronger than the Grimm and thus were soon torn apart again, though there was the annoying part of a few of the androids having grenade launchers, but they could still be handled.

"Well now… I do believe it's time for your final exam." Merlot said ominously, before the door to his lab slowly opened up, revealing… something, to be standing behind it.

Once the door fully opened though, they were able to get a good look.

It was a Beringel… a BIG Beringel… a Big Beringel with huge bulging muscles that had glowing green veins on its body, what appeared to be a tank of mutagen strapped to its back while a few tubes went from it into his spinal cord, feeding the mutagen directly into its body.

"...its Bane...Grimm edition…" was all Pierce could say at the sight of the monster before them.

"Yeah...that is a very apt description…" Gyro gulped. "Now let's get moving before it smashes us!"

The group didn't need to be told twice as the Mutant Beringel lunged for them, forcing them all to scatter, and where it hit the ground, it cracked and actual shockwaves hit them, sending them tumbling back.

"Okay...this guy might be a bit stronger than the others," Yang frowned. "So what's the plan?"

"First we need to determine what we're up against. Mighty Glacier or Lightning Bruiser," Gyro said.

"I'd say that thing is a bit too fast for a Glacier," Weiss said flatly.

"...okay, so first things first, don't get hit," Ruby frowned. "Anything else?"

"Those cords feeding it mutagen," Blake said. "That's got to be a weak point."

"True, but I don't think just cutting them is gonna be enough," Jaune frowned.

"What if we shoved Dust into them? Wouldn't Dust going off inside cause a lot of damage?" Gatomon suggested.

"...that works," was the general response, before they soon went to try and implement it. Easier said than done as the Beringel was fast and strong, but with so many of them, it was hard for it to choose a target.

The group noticed that and made sure to confuse it, each of them quickly taking some of their Dust ammo or crystals. They needed just one chance. Just one was all they needed at this point. The opening soon came when the Beringel made the mistake of targeting Angemon, who dodged, and using a Heaven's Knuckle, blew off its arm, albeit with some effort. The moment he did, they jumped on the Beringel, stuffing several bits of Dust which soon started to react...badly with the Mutagen.

"Its gonna blow!" Gomamon shouted, the group getting away before the Dust and Mutagen caused a chain reaction which well….left the Beringel missing everything from the waist up.

"Ew…" was all some of them could say before the Beringel fell over and dissolved.

"Is it over?" Takato asked, having stayed on the scaffolding when the others jumped down.

"Yeah, we're done here for now," Agumon sighed a bit.

"Still, that was pretty intense," Gyro mused. "Definitely wasn't expecting that."

"Then we'd better be extra careful moving forward," Palmon frowned.

"Right," everyone nodded and quickly continued onward, soon finding their way into the laboratory.

"Huh… he's actually got a half decent looking lobby for an evil scientist." Pierce said in mild surprise as he looked around the lobby that had chairs to sit on, some potted plants, and even a receptionist desk.

"Not gonna lie, didn't see that coming." Veemon admitted before Gyro went up to a panel and pressed a few buttons on it, a large door in the lobby sliding up, while an automated message from Merlot started up on the large TVs that were hanging from the ceiling, being able to tell it wasn't a live feed due to the Merlot on the screen not having a cybernetic arm nor a glowing eye.

"Yadda yadda, no one cares." Yang said dismissively as the group walked through the corridors.

"Students, try to keep an eye open for any maps, schematics, or even access terminals that would allow us into Merlot's network." Ozpin advised them.

"Will do professor." Ruby answered simply as they reached an elevator and went down a floor.

"Ah, I see you're all making yourselves quite at home." Merlot, the real one this time, said from the screens "I can't say I mind too much, but I wonder if my security team feels the same way?" he mused with a grin.

"Whatever, just send those stupid robots of yours so we can smash them again." Nora said as she hefted her hammer.

Merlot though, to their surprise, laughed "Oh, my dear girl, who ever said anything about robots?" he asked as a door in the room slid up, revealing…

"What… the hell?" Jaune said slowly as he and everyone else looked at two Digimon, at least, they all THOUGHT those were Digimon.

Said Digimon LOOKED like Greymon and Garurumon, the Greymon look alike having a more muscular body while his stomach was a more pale color, three white horns coming out the back of his helmet, two more on the sides, and a final horn on the snout, while the Garurumon look alike was a bit smaller, with just a few blue markings on its forehead, metal bracers on its legs, just above the paws, and 6 large iron blades on its back.

"Allow me to introduce my own PERSONAL brand of Digimon that I've been working on recently. I call them, Digimon X." Merlot introduced his creations with a cruel smile.

"That's...not good at all," Pierce frowned. "Not that I expect it, but...anything?" he asked Weiss, who shook her head.

"Nothing whatsoever. Whatever he did, he's created a new subspecies!" she said.

"And looks like we get the 'honor' of being the first to fight them," Salamon frowned.

"Well then, anyone up for a mirror match?" Gyro said, earning a nod from Agumon and Gabumon.

"Agumon, Evolution! Greymon!"

"Gabumon, Evolution! Garurumon!"

"And of course we're helping." Pyrrha said as she stepped up with her spear.

"Obviously." Gyro chuckled as he drew his swords.

The two Digimon X roared and charged forward, meeting their original species head on. Greymon and Garurumon grunted at the impact, but they held their ground, albeit slowly being pushed back. "Whoa, these two are really strong!" Garurumon growled.

"If they weren't I'd say that kinda beats the point of being a subspecies," Greymon grunted.

"Well stronger or not, they've got all of us to deal with!" Pyrrha frowned as she threw her shield like a discus, aiming for Garurumon X's head...but the Digimon X noticed it, stopped its assault and immediately evaded, in a way that caused Garurumon to stumble forward and accidentally get knocked on the side of the head. "Okay, and it looks like this one is smarter too," Pyrrha blinked, surprised at the sudden shift, while Garurumon just shook his head. The shield didn't hurt much, but it was still a surprise.

"This one seems to be more aggressive!" Gyro reported, having managed to land several strikes on Greymon X...but the Digimon seemed to barely be feeling his attacks despite the data leaking out of it.

"Okay, we're not gonna win this going head on!" Greymon growled, before shifting his weight, causing Greymon X to lose some balance, followed by a tail strike, knocking Greymon X into Garurumon X.

"Fox Fire!" Garurumon called out, sending the flames into the two Digimon X, who roared in pain but quickly regained their balance, damaged but still very much able to fight. "Okay, so he improved the sturdiness. Starting to wonder if we aren't biting off more than we can chew here."

"I'd say its more than just that," Merlot chuckled. "I took these Digimon and made them more than they were, I made them better, just as I will do to the Grimm and turn them to something more productive."

"Have we told you that you're a sick and twisted man?" Gyro said in annoyance.

"You haven't, but many already have." Merlot answered with a shrug.

"Well then, how about we stop holding back," Greymon suggested.

"Yeah, let's wipe the smirk off of his face," Garurumon agreed, to which Gyro and Pyrrha pulled out their Digivices.

"Greymon, Super Evolution! MetalGreymon!"

"Garurumon, Super Evolution! WereGarurumon!"

Merlot's eyes widened as the Digimon evolved, and before he could enter orders for his Digimon X into his computer… the two were quickly deleted by the freshly evolved Chosen Digimon. "Impossible! How could my creations lose so easily?!" he gasped. Those two alone had easily decimated hundreds of Grimm.

"There's a lot of secrets about Digimon you don't know, and you're not going to unlock any of them by treating them like tools," Gyro said, glaring at the closest screen.

"And we're going to make sure you never hurt another person or Digimon ever again," Pyrrha agreed, both of them earning roars of agreement from their partners who began smashing apart any androids that had been released.

Merlot growled "You…" it was easy to see that he was angry, especially when he started tapping away at his computer, and more doors were opened, as more of his Digimon X appeared, some of them the same Digimon they were partnered with in various stages, all of course slightly different in appearance, though all only in Child and Adult level.

"Guys! Go all out!" Ruby shouted as she and everyone else held up their Digivices, Takato scanning his blue card.

"Palmon, Blast Evolution! Lillymon!"

"Biyomon, Blast Evolution! Garudamon!"

"Tentomon, Blast Evolution! AtlurKabuterimon!"

"Patamon, Blast Evolution! HolyAngemon!"

"Gomamon, Blast Evolution! Zudomon!"

"Veemon, Blast Evolution! AeroVeedramon!"

"Salamon, Blast Evolution! Angewomon!"

"Wormmon, Blast Evolution! Jewelbeemon!"

"Guilmon, Evolution! Growlmon! Growlmon, Matrix Evolution! MegaloGrowlmon!"

"Break everything!" Pierce shouted, as everyone started doing just that, rushing through the whole complex and destroying everything in their path.

Computers? Crushed. Mutagen tanks? Destroyed. Androids? Broken. Mutant Grimm? Annihilated. Digimon X? Deleted.

Merlot was glaring at the screens in rage as these meddling children were literally tearing his life's work apart...and they seemed to be having fun too judging by how the girl with the hammer just used an android head as a golf ball. "Fine then, I'll release my finest creation!" he growled, hitting a button, as a large cage was opened, and out came a Mutated Deathstalker...which promptly met its end when MegaloGrowlmon casually slashed it with one of his arm blades, cutting it in half without so much as stalling the blade. It literally didn't last 10 seconds. Merlot's jaw was understandably hanging open at that. "This...this can't be…!" he gasped, backing off and accidentally pressing a button. It released what appeared to be a holding area with a few DigiEggs and a vat of mutagen and what appeared to be black goo. Of course, with the carnage going on, nobody noticed them (they'd conveniently opened BEHIND them) until the vibration caused stuff to fall, the eggs falling into the mutagen and the goo dropping into it as well, causing a bizarre reaction, the instruments in Merlot's control room suddenly going crazy as they picked up on a bizarre energy reaction from the accidental mix.

"Uh...guys? Is it just me or does that vat look like it wants to explode?" Jaune asked, having idly looked behind and noticed the vat.

"Yes, I'm pretty sure it is going to explode," Ren said flatly, past experience with Nora teaching him that much.

"...hit the deck!" Yang shouted, as everyone dove for cover or braced themselves, as the vat exploded, destroying sections of the wall it was near.

When they looked back, the thing that was there was… huge.

It was avian in appearance, with 6 large wings of black feathers, some that glowed green. Its talons had 5 claws each, said claws looking like serrated blades that were, again, glowing green. Various bone plates littered its body in an almost random pattern, the plate on its chest looking asymmetric. Finally, it's head was covered in a white bone mask with glowing green eyes and four large green horns coming out the back of it, the creature letting out a loud roar that rattled the whole complex.

"Ok… that's… new." Pyrrha summed up.

"The hell is that thing supposed to be though?!" Yang asked in shock.

"Weiss?" Blake turned to their expert, whom was currently looking through the Analyzer.

"Well… it's not something we've fought before, but it looks like something called Valdurmon… except grimmified and mutated." she said with an unsure frown.

"So, I guess this thing would be GrimmValdurmon X if we go by what we know." Jaune summed up.

Where he was, Merlot was laughing. "Magnificent! Simply magnificent!" he laughed. "Yes, this is truly my masterpiece!" he said before going on the comms. "Now my creation, I order you to destroy them!"

GrimmValdurmon X looked to the source of the voice, before opening its mouth, energy gathering and firing. Merlot barely had time to widen his eyes before the blast ate through the walls and hit the room he was in, incinerating him completely.

The group gulped a bit at the sight of what just happened.

"Ok, so what info do we have on normal Valdurmon?" Ruby asked, sounding just a little bit nervous.

"An Ultimate level Digimon, Vaccine, it's a Holy Bird, existed since the dawn of the Digital World… it has enough power to blow up a STAR." Weiss summed up the important bits, citing the last one incredulously.

"Well… change this one to Virus and Devil Bird and the information is probably similar." Pierce quipped with a nervous laugh.

"Full power people! Now!" Gyro shouted, everyone snapping out of it and grabbing their D-Crests, which quickly started glowing.

"MetalGreymon, Ultimate Evolution! WarGreymon!"

"Lillymon, Ultimate Evolution! Rosemon!"

"Jewelbeemon, Ultimate Evolution! GrandisKuwagamon!"

"Garudamon, Ultimate Evolution! Phoenixmon!"

"Zudomon, Ultimate Evolution! Vikemon!"

"AtlurKabuterimon, Ultimate Evolution! HerculesKabuterimon!"

"Angewomon, Ultimate Evolution! Mastemon!"

"HolyAngemon, Ultimate Evolution! Seraphimon!"

"WereGarurumon, Ultimate Evolution! MetalGarurumon!"

"AeroVeedramon, Ultimate Evolution! UlforceVeedramon!"

With all the Ultimates gathered, the lab was getting packed, and with a burst of energy, the roof was blown open, allowing the combatants to move to a more...open area.

"So… since when can you guys do that?" Takato asked from MegaloGrowlmon's shoulder as he flew next to Vikemon… who was doing jumps in the air to keep himself afloat… and the bottom of the maces on his back were acting like rockets.

"Eh… a while honestly, we've just been keeping it secret for a good reason." Jaune said.

"A VERY good reason." Vikemon added with a sigh.

"Yeah, we could level a city by accident if we're not careful in these forms," Rosemon nodded.

"Not that we have to worry about that out here," MetalGarurumon smirked a little.

The GrimmValdurmon X roared as it began to be wrapped in a dark aura.

"Dunno what that is, but I'm not waiting to get hit. Blast it!" WarGreymon instructed, to which everyone did just that. The attacks flew, but mid-flight, the burst of dark energy was released, the attacks hitting the GrimmValdurmon X, but only knocking it back. At the same time all of them felt like someone had just poured a bucket of cold water on them.

"The hell?" GrandisKuwagamon shivered.

"I feel… weaker." Mastemon groaned.

"Is it… restraining our power?" Seraphimon hazarded a guess.

"Well… the normal Valdurmon can nullify attacks coming towards it… so… maybe this one can weaken us just by being close." Weiss said in worry.

"That… is VERY bad." HerculesKabuterimon summed up simply.

"How do we fight it?!" Takato gasped.

"Keep hitting it till it falls. It may be weakening us, but we're still causing damage," Blake said.

"About the only thing we can do," Phoenixmon frowned.

With that the group began their assault, keeping their distance while taking shots anytime they could. The attacks hit their mark, but with the monster constantly releasing its aura, the attacks were doing lower damage.

MegaloGrowlmon had it worse though, being only a Perfect level up against the beast, his attacks were barely doing any damage against it.

It was when he tried to attack it from below, hoping to catch it off guard that things started going… wrong.

Obviously, GrimmValdurmon X had noticed him, and ended up firing a simple ball of energy at him, MegaloGrowlmon blocking it, but it knocked him back, and caused Takato to fall off of him.

"Darn it, what is it with me and landing on my butt?" Takato groaned, before looking up, and paling at what he saw.

GrimmValdurmon X looking directly doing at HIM and charging the same attack he had used to destroy Merlot earlier.

"Wait, no!" Gyro shouted when he and the others finally noticed, WarGreymon trying to fly down fast enough to get in the way of the beam and block it with his Brave Shield, but it was too late, as GrimmValdurmon X fired it down on Takato.

Takato closed his eyes right when the beam was about to hit him… except it didn't.

He felt pain… but only in his arms.

Hesitantly, he opened his eyes, looking up and seeing his partner trying to block the beam, guarding against it with his arms, the armor on them slowly cracking. "Takato, run!" MegaloGrowlmon grunted, trying to hold the blast back, the force generating shockwaves which made it harder for the others to get close, and by the time they WOULD reach them, it'd be far too late.

"No! I'm not gonna leave you behind!" Takato shouted, going for his D-Ark and started randomly pressing. "Come on come on! There's gotta be something ANYTHING that can help!" he said in desperation. At that moment, the D-Ark started to glow, and time stood still.

"What?" Takato blinked, remembering this, right before the Blue Card floated out of his pocket, spinning in the air for a moment, before it flew at the surprised boy, and cut him in the back of his hand. "Ouch!" he shouted, holding the hand which had a small trail of blood, blood that was now on the edge of the card as it floated before him.

"Are you prepared?" Yggdrasil's voice was heard. "Are you prepared to live and die with your partner? To fight alongside him to the bitter end?"

Takato was understandably more than a little afraid but… "I will! Guilmon is my friend and I won't leave him no matter what!" he shouted, a shout from the bottom of his heart. Whether the boy fully understood or not, the fact remained...he had the resolve that was needed.

"Very well then. Take your new power, and seal this coven between you and your partner," Yggdrasil's voice said, before the bit of blood spread along the Blue Card, and before long, it had turned a bright red in color.

Takato looked in wonder as he touched the card, grasped it and brought it to his D-Ark.

Back outside, it felt like it had only been a second or two, the chosen struggling to get through, but suddenly a light started to shine from where MegaloGrowlmon and Takato were...followed by an explosion as the beam seemingly finally overpowered the cyborg Digimon.

"NO!" Blake shouted in despair, not wanting to see her friend's child dead.

However, a beam of energy lanced out of the dust, hitting GrimmValdurmon X in the chest, causing it to reel back as it hadn't been able to defend against the sudden attack. Once the dust settled, instead of a crater, stood a brand new Digimon.

It appeared to be a knight, wearing shining white armor with several gold highlights on the edges of some armor pieces, the ankles, knees and shoulders having red armor, while a long red cape flowed from his back. A pair of red belts were tightly wrapped at his waist, and just above on his chest, the Digital Hazard was visible. His helmet was white for the most part, with a small red piece that looked vaguely like Guilmon's head, bat shaped ears included, as a long white plume fell down his back, yellow eyes visible beneath the helmet. In his right hand, he held a large jousting lance, while in his left, he held a large shield with a red triangular symbol on it.

"What the…?" Ren trailed off in confusion.

"What IS that Digimon?" Ruby wondered.

Weiss was in awe for a moment, before looking through her analyzer, her eyes going wide "That's… Dukemon… MegaloGrowlmon's Ultimate Level."

 _Digimon Analyzer: Dukemon_

 _Dukemon. Virus Type. An Ultimate Level Holy Knight Digimon. One of the thirteen Royal Knights said to uphold order in the Digital World, Dukemon wields the holy lance Gram and divine shield Aegis in the battle against dark forces. It is a living contradiction, existing as both a Virus Type and a guardian of the Digital World, with a risk of becoming a destructive being should its power ever go out of control. His special attacks are Royal Saber, firing a beam from Gram, and Final Elysion, firing a holy beam from Aegis._

"An Ultimate?! How the heck did he go Ultimate?!" Yang couldn't help but ask. Last they checked, the Blue Card was made to only ever be able to reach Perfect...not that they were complaining right now.

"That aside, where's Takato?" Ruby said, as true enough...Takato was nowhere to be found. They didn't get long to ponder, as Dukemon suddenly surged forward like lightning, and kicked GrimmValdurmon X in the side of the head, knocking the monster aside, followed by a rapid barrage of lance thrusts, causing it to roar in pain ending with… "Royal Saber!" Dukemon called out, firing and slashing with the beam from his lance, knocking GrimmValdurmon X against a nearby rock face.

"He's got some serious power," GrandisKuwagamon whistled.

"But something's not right," UlforceVeedramon added, as true enough, Dukemon had suddenly stopped and dropped to a knee, his body suddenly glitching with static.

GrimmValdurmon X saw that and moved to counter, managing to slash at Dukemon with one of his wings, throwing the knight back, while leaving an injury on his right arm, data leaking out of it. The monster looked ready to continue the assault but… "Brave Tornado!" WarGreymon shouted, drilling into his side, causing the monster to roar in pain and get some distance.

With the shockwave gone, the group continued their assault. Heck, with the aura temporarily down, they were now able to cause more damage, whittling away at the monster with their various attacks.

Down on the ground, Dukemon had managed to focus through the glitches, and aimed his shield, which glowed brightly. "Final Elysion!" he called out, firing a beam from his shield, the beam lanced upward, hitting GrimmValdurmon X in the chest...before soon breaking right through, leaving a gaping hole where the attack hit, weakening it greatly.

"Now let's finish this! Grace Cross Freezer!" MetalGarurumon called out, firing the missiles from his body and covering GrimmValdurmon X in ice. "Hit him hard!"

"Way ahead of you! Grandis Scissors!" GrandisKuwagamon called out, cutting the monster into four.

"And this is for good measure! Viking Flail!" Vikemon added, firing his morningstars, shattering the pieces further, which soon fell to the ground and slowly dissolved much like how Grimm die.

With the fight over, the group let out a sigh of relief, while Dukemon fell to a knee again and soon glowed, before shrinking...and separating.

"What the heck?!" Pierce gasped as they got closer, the light dissipating to reveal Takato and a small red blob-like Digimon...with Guilmon's signature bat-like ears.

"What just happened?" Nora just questioned.

"I… I think they were fused. Look at Takato's arm." Jaune pointed as they got right next to the boy, his right arm bleeding in the same spot as Dukemon had been hit in.

"Wait, so, that means that for a D-Ark user to reach Ultimate, they FUSE with their Digimon?" Yang asked in surprise.

"That would appear to be the case." Weiss said as Blake took one of her spare ribbons she carried for Gambol Shroud and used it to stop Takato's bleeding.

"Anyway, let's get him back home." Blake said as she lifted the boy up, carrying him, while Yang picked up his Fresh form partner.

"Should we just wait for evac?" Pierce wondered.

"No, I think it's best we try to get rid of this island as much as possible, we don't want to risk any of its data falling into the wrong hands. We can just say Merlot activated an island wide self destruct." Gyro said with a shake of his head.

"Let's make sure to destroy all the Mutagen. As far as I know, this island is the main source of it, so hopefully we destroy this place and nobody is gonna make anymore mutants. Ever," Pierce said.

"We'll help," Patamon said. "Just give me a bit of time to regain my energy, and we'll throw all the mutagen into the Heaven's Gate."

"Alright. Let's go everyone. Time to wipe Merlot's work off the planet," Ruby said, earning sounds of agreement.

* * *

 **And that's that!**

 **Yeah, we covered all of Grimm Eclipse in one chapter this time, as opposed to the last time.**

 **Anyway, as you saw, we did something big with this arc.**

 **Yes, Digimon X exist because of Mutagen, and yes, GrimmValdurmon X has been planned for a while.**

 **The way Dukemon happened kept changing a few times, till eventually we settled on this.**

 **We hope you enjoyed the way we went about it people, good night!**


	56. 55: Round 1! Startup!

**And here's another!**

 **Yeah, I'm feeling a high for this, so we're working on a few chapters of this in a row this time.**

 **I figured you'd all like that, so enjoy the upcoming chapters!**

 **Oh! And enjoy the new intro!**

* * *

 _Unmei no ito wo tachikitta sono saki ni_

The scene opens with a shot of the world of Remnant, before the scene shifts and is soon covered in pictures depicting various scenes from the canon story of RWBY Volume 3, before the pictures are suddenly blown away to reveal a shot of Gyro, Pierce, and Azure looking at the screen and giving it thumbs downs, confident and determined expressions on their faces.

 _*music*_

The scene changes to show a number of spotlights that come on, creating for what appears to be a grand stage, and as the light illuminates the stage, it reveals the 10 Chosen and their Digimon, weapons ready and looks of determination on their faces, as the title appears "THOR Alter: Digital Story - Defied Fate Saga"

 _Senobishiteitanda kutzusure darake no semai sekai de_

The scene changes to show Gyro and Agumon standing on a cliffside looking at Beacon Academy as behind them is the faded image of WarGreymon and the Crest of Courage. The scene then changes to show Pierce and Veemon sitting atop Beacon Tower with confident looks as a faded image UlforceVeedramon floats behind them with the Crest of Miracles. The next shot is of Azure sitting in front of the Dimension Gateway with a gentle smile alongside Wizardmon, while behind them the faded image of a large Blue Card spins in the air.

 _Runway wo aruku egao no uragawa Kakushita tsumori de_

The scene changes again to show Ruby and Palmon standing on the cliff where Summer's grave was once placed, but now the stone is gone, both smiling as a faded image of Rosemon floats behind them along with the Crest of Purity. Following that is an image of Weiss walking confidently with Tentomon away from a portrait of Jacques as a faded image of HerculesKabuterimon stands alongside the Crest of Knowledge. The scene changes again to show Blake standing on a pier in Menagerie with Patamon on her shoulder as she drops a Grimm mask into the water and looks up at the sky with a smile, a faded image of Seraphimon behind them alongside the Crest of Hope. The scene then shifts to show Yang and Biyomon riding together on Bumblebee, Yang having let go of a picture of her mother which flies away behind them as a faded image of Phoenixmon and the Crest of Love follow them.

The scene changes again to show an image of Jaune standing confidently alongside Gomamon in front of the statue of Beacon, a faded image of Vikemon behind them with the Crest of Reliability. Following this is a shot of Nora with Salamon on her head as she balances a Rook chess piece on her finger, both of them smiling as a faded image of Mastemon floats behind them alongside the Crest of Light. The next scene shows Pyrrha standing in an arena, Gabumon by her side as the two look up at the crowd with a smile, a faded image of MetalGarurumon and the Crest of Friendship behind them. The scene changes one more time to show Ren holding his father's dagger with a determined smile as Wormmon sits on his shoulder, a faded image of GrandisKuwagamon and the Crest of Kindness behind them.

 _Dakedo itsumo kimi ni wa_

The scene changes to show the 10 Chosen and their Digimon marching on what appears to be a path of lights, though Gyro is seen with a small frown as he looks to the side.

 _Minukareteshimatteite_

The scene then shifts to reveal that the one Gyro is looking at it Ozpin with his faction behind him also marching on a path of lights, a small but somehow understanding frown on his face as he looks back at Gyro.

 _Konna no wa hajimete de tomadou kedo_

A quick shot of several of their allies (Team SSSN, Team CFVY, Summer and Renamon, Keenan and Falcomon, Gennai, Lisa and Monitamon, and Ilia and Kotemon) are seen before the end of the path bursts into flames revealing Cinder as she stands with Emerald, Mercury, Roman, Neo, and Adam by her side, her eyes glowing with flames.

 _Hoka no darenimo kikonasenai_

A massive swarm of Grimm appear and seemingly dogpile something before the pile erupts outward, the Grimm scattering to the winds as from the pile reveal the 10 Chosen, their Digimon in Ultimate Form as they all stood back to back in a circle, weapons drawn and soon wiping out any remaining Grimm foolish enough to try attacking.

 _Nandaka wakannai atsusa ga mune wo kogasu kara_

The 20 of them soon look to Cinder and her group before surging forward, the Chosen with their Digimon, and Cinder with her faction and various larger/ancient Grimm, the view slowing as they are about to clash.

 _Unmei no ito wo taguriyoseta sono saki ni_

The battlefield soon erupts into chaos as the two sides clash fiercely, blades flashing and guns blasting, neither side giving an inch or quarter to the other.

 _Ima! Atarashi yoake ga kuru…_

The scene focuses on Cinder as she has a confident look on her face as she fights, clashing with Pyrrha, but after a few clashes, Pyrrha kicks her back, before she is suddenly hit with several attacks from several different angles, pushing her back, before the scene ends with her standing alone, while the 10 Chosen and their partners stand proud, the rest of her faction on the ground defeated, her confident expression now one of disbelief, as the sun rises over the battlefield from behind the Chosen and their Digimon, illuminating the field now full of dead and fading Grimm.

 _Yeaaah…_

The scene changes to show Gyro with Agumon, reaching towards a silhouette with a 'V' symbol over it, a close up of a gold and silver helmet over what appears to be a Greymon evolution in the background.

 _Yeaaaaah…!_

The scene changes to show Pyrrha and Gabumon looking in surprise and wonder at a silhouette with a 'Z' symbol over it, a close up of what appears to be MetalGarurumon's head, only with darker armor and a green nose in the background.

 _Omoi wa kitto hitotsu_

The scene shows shots of the Chosen, their Digimon, and their many allies in quick succession, ending with a scene of Gyro and Pierce holding Ascalon and Pandora which they then slash together, forming an 'X' shape, before the scene changes to show a mass of chains with the pictures of the ending scenes of Volume 3 of RWBY soon shattering apart, revealing a clear blue sky as the two brothers smiling at the screen with satisfaction, giving a big thumbs up.

* * *

 **Round 1! Startup!**

* * *

"And that's what happened," Ruby said, concluding the report as teams RWGBY and JNPPR were gathered in Ozpin's office. They'd gotten back by now, but not before destroying Merlot's facility as thoroughly as they could while still making it look like a self destruct. Likewise they made sure to destroy any and all mutagen they could find. So as far as the teachers would know, Dr. Merlot died in an explosion, taking his twisted life's work with him, and with luck, nothing remotely like this would surface ever again.

"I see. While it's deplorable that Merlot took his own life, you all did a good job of stopping whatever plan he had in store for Remnant. Good work students." Ozpin told them with a smile.

"It IS somewhat annoying that his lab was destroyed though, while his work was deplorable, his research into the Grimm WAS thorough enough that any research notes would have been a huge help. Nevertheless, I'll still be sending some of my troops to try and recover any tech they can find." Ironwood said with a sigh.

"Good luck with that General, hope you find something good." Gyro said honestly, as he knew that Ironwood would never allow the data on the Grimm to be used for weaponization projects, so that was sure to be in good hands.

"At any rate, you've all done a good job. Take a well earned break," Ozpin nodded. "And don't forget, the Vytal Festival begins in a week. Make use of the remaining time to prepare yourselves."

"Will do, Professor," Jaune said with a nod, before the group soon left. Once they were gone, Ironwood soon turned to Ozpin.

"Now then, unless there's anything else to discuss, I'll take my leave for now. I need to have the island salvaged before the Vytal Festival begins," Ironwood said.

"Of course. I wish you the best of luck in finding something useful," Ozpin nodded, to which Ironwood soon left.

Once he was gone…

"I thought he'd never leave," came Qrow's voice as he stepped out of the shadows. "So, what was so important you wanted only me and Glynda to hear?" He asked as Glynda stepped out of a broom closet, much to her obvious displeasure of having to hide in there.

"And me as well," came Summer's voice as she entered...from a window. With Renamon.

"It certainly was rather unorthodox," Renamon nodded. "But I am certain it was of the utmost importance."

"Perhaps. I can say for sure it is something that was rather...interesting," Ozpin mused, before pressing a few keys, and a few images appeared on a screen. "This was taken during the time when the signals were blocked, though we were able to catch a few things," Ozpin said.

A few of the images were a bit too blurry, only splotches of color being visible on them, but the one that WAS visible enough showed Ruby being pulled along in the air by Rosemon, firing shots from Crescent Rose at GrimmValdurmon X's barely visible head.

"Okay...that...definitely was strange," Summer frowned, referring to the strange Digimon.

"Not just that, I noticed the form of the Digimon Ms. Rose was fighting alongside. I am quite certain it wasn't Togemon," Ozpin said.

"Well...the only way THAT could be possible is if they got to a higher level," Glynda mused.

"So they reached Perfect level. I don't see the issue," Qrow shrugged. "If anything its a good thing they did. That thing looked pretty tough."

"That is because I do not believe that that was a Perfect level Digimon," Ozpin mused. "I have seen the Perfect Form a Togemon gains once, and it was not this."

"What are you suggesting? That it's an Ultimate?" Qrow chuckled...and noticed Ozpin wasn't laughing. "...you really think that, don't you?"

"As a matter of fact, I believe so," Ozpin nodded. "Its also why I wanted you to see this too, Summer," he said. "You've been in the Digital World for over a decade. Tell us, what would be needed to cause a Digimon to evolve to the highest level?"

"That's...a tough one," Summer sighed.

"Different Digimon respond to different stimuli. Certainly their partners being in danger is a strong stimulus, but even in the Digital World, the existences of Ultimates are extremely rare. In short, there is no clear way to answer what could cause a Digimon to evolve to Ultimate," Renamon said.

"So, should we just ask Ruby what happened?" Qrow wondered.

"I'm not so sure that would be a good idea." Glynda said with a frown.

"Agreed. Miss Rose kept this secret for a reason, and I'm willing to give her and the others the benefit of the doubt. I'm sure they have a good reason for this." Ozpin said, with Summer internally letting out a sigh of relief.

She knew Ozpin would be discreet about it, but she'd really prefer to completely avoid having the Crests mentioned, especially when Yang told her that Takato had been with them and reached Ultimate in a new and different way.

Fusing with your Digimon… that wasn't something she expected to be possible, though, Takato clearly hadn't been ready for it, considering how Dukemon's form had apparently been glitching through the fight with that monstrosity.

Even more than that, she knew that if somebody found out about Takato fusing with Guilmon, things could get bad for the boy, as no doubt Atlas would try to swoop in and try to conduct tests on him.

So instead, they kept quiet on the truth, when they brought Takato to the hospital to get his arm stitched up, they said he had been hurt by a Grimm while they had been trying their best to protect him from an even bigger one, which technically wasn't a lie. Tukson had been glad to get a phone call telling him where his son had been all day, and was grateful to the kids for making sure that the worst Takato got was an injured arm, after all, Oum knows there would be worse wounds obtained from a Grimm.

Whatever the case, with a critical point in history coming up, it was necessary that they minimize issues as much as they could. As things were the situation regarding Digimon was...unstable. The last thing they needed was an internal conflict regarding the ability to reach a level that would make the Grimm a laughable threat at best.

* * *

Meanwhile, in one of the dorms, Cinder frowned as she went over her scroll once more. So far the plan seemed to have been working well despite the hiccups. One such 'hiccup', was Emerald applying ointment on her arm which was still feeling some burns thanks to her run in with the 'Foretellers'. Likewise, Mercury was busy tightening the bolts on his legs to ensure they wouldn't fly off again… not that it mattered, since THAT secret was already exposed, meaning they'd have to find another way to sneak him out of the tournament. In short, while the plan wasn't shot, they still needed a lot of reworking. Not to mention for some reason, it seemed Ironwood was less...straight laced...than they thought. Seriously, why were there some baby pictures of Penny Polendina, no doubt sent by Professor Polendina, among the things in his scroll.

"I mean, he's her godfather right? At least that's what I get when he talks with her, kinda makes sense to me for him to have baby pictures." Mercury said with a shrug, being the only explanation that made sense to him.

"I suppose that makes sense." Cinder sighed, wincing as Emerald rubbed a particularly sensitive spot, thankfully it was the last spot as the mint haired girl started reapplying the bandages to Cinder's arm. "Now, what about you Neo? Anything interesting come up during that little incident?"

The normally ice cream colored girl shrugged on one of the beds in the room, wearing a disguise which consisted of her hair being a dark black and her eyes being bright green, blowing a bubble with some gum in her mouth. She then pulled a scroll from her… well, from her cleavage, opening it to show a picture of Yang and Pierce kissing.

"Alright, so those two are dating each other… Yang Xiao Long and Pierce Vermillion right? Think we can use that for something?" Emerald wondered.

"Maybe, it's an option to consider I suppose. I'm sure if I got serious about it I could seduce him, it could anger that girl and we could use that." Cinder mused… too bad she was totally wrong.

"More importantly, any luck on the 'Foretellers'?" Emerald asked, wincing a bit when she heard Cinder growl.

Neo shrugged, showing that there was basically zilch regarding them...not surprising really if they were actually aware of the war but had never been found out before.

"No matter. The stage is still set, and they remain unaware of our main prize," Cinder said. "Once the full power of the Maiden is in my hands, they will be of no issue."

* * *

"Heh, will you hear that. She REALLY has no idea how in over her head she is," Pierce chuckled, as over in their own dorm...they'd been listening in on the whole conversation.

"Still want to punch her teeth in for the seducing idea," Yang glared.

"I'll let you have a crack at her once Gabumon and I tenderise her a little." Pyrrha said jokingly.

"I REALLY love the fact she's still hurting from that optic blast the other day." Gyro said with a small cackle.

"She's getting what she deserves." Agumon added with a grin.

"And she doesn't even know it," Veemon laughed.

"Something we fully intend to maintain until it's too late," Azure agreed.

"It's like she said herself. It's not about overpowering your enemies, it's about taking their power away," Wizardmon chuckled. "I hope she's ready for a taste of her own medicine."

"Whatever the case, remember the plan. We're not in this to win the tournament. Heck, once we get far enough, throw our matches," Gyro reminded. "What's most important is that we be ready to counter Cinder, and don't be afraid to break out Ultimate if push comes to shove."

"Right, better some damage than what they did to the city in the show," Blake sighed.

"So, anything else?" Nora asked.

"Well...there was something I wanted to show you all," Azure mused, before pulling out his scroll and expanding it, showing what appeared to be a mix of programming and schematics. They couldn't make out many details in the schematics, other than it seemed to have a pair of wings "This is my little project I've been working on, it's basically a support machine for Digimon that can't fly, for any Ultimates in our group that may be completely incapable of flight, as rare as that may likely be."

"Huh, that's pretty cool, no clue who would end up needing it, but still cool." Ruby said as she looked at the schematics.

"Of course, this isn't done yet, and I'll likely need some time before I can begin to properly build it, but the groundworks done," Azure mused.

"Still a cool project," Wizardmon chuckled. "More importantly, there's another thing I wanted to discuss. The means with which Takato and Guilmon achieved their Ultimate form. Was there anything different? Anything that changed? I'm sure I don't need to say this, but a fusion of human and Digimon is unheard of."

"Well, there's the fact that the damage Dukemon had taken was on the same spot as Takato at the same intensity, so he was bleeding when the fusion ended." Blake explained.

"I meant perhaps something that could have been a stimulus. As you know, for a Digimon to evolve to Perfect alone requires some kind of stimulus to do so. The Blue Card was made to only reach the Perfect level. At least...that was its original function," Wizardmon clarified.

"Well… I'm not sure, but I think I saw something red in his pocket, but I'm not sure what it was." Ren mused as he thought back.

"Other than that, well… maybe it was because he was in a true life or death situation?" Wormmon wondered.

"Could be. But still...this is HIGHLY abnormal. It may be good for us to ask him when he wakes up," Wizardmon frowned, folding his arms.

"We'll cross that bridge when we get there. For now, Takato needs to rest," Blake sighed.

"And until then, nothing to do but keep putting spikes all over Cinder's path and get ready for the festival," Pierce nodded.

* * *

The following week went by relatively quickly after that, the teams relaxing and getting some light training in to stay in shape for the tournament. Takato was discharged from the hospital after a few days as well, and that allowed them to finally talk to him.

"Right, when Guilmon and me fused..." Takato thought back as Guilmon rested his head in his lap "I remember time stopping actually."

"That happened when Sun, Penny and I go our D-Arks." Ilia thought back.

"Yeah, well, when time stopped, my Blue Card kinda flew out and slashed my hand for some reason, and after some voice talked to me, well…" Takato trailed off as he pulled out a red card.

"Wait, so… the blue card basically turned red from your blood?" Summer asked in surprise.

"That's… not what I expected." Keenan admitted.

"Just like how I didn't expect to suddenly combine with Guilmon and learn how to fight as Dukemon in the same moment." Takato said with an awkward chuckle.

"Well, I wouldn't say you've quite gotten there," Summer frowned.

"According to what they said, Dukemon was...unstable. It could very well be that either this is a side effect of the evolution, or more hopefully, it's due to the fact it was an evolution of desperation. Neither of you were ready for it," Renamon said.

"Well either way I'm not planning on using it anytime soon. Heck, I don't even know if I can," Takato sighed, holding up the card. "It was glowing brightly when I used it. Now it's gone dull…"

"Well, either way, you saved our bacons out there Takato." Gyro said with a grin as he patted the boy on the back "So… I think at this point… we should tell you the truth."

"The truth?" Takato repeated with a raised eyebrow.

Azure hummed in thought, before nodding slowly "Yeah, if Takato's crap luck is going to keep dragging him into trouble, we should tell him what's really going on."

"You may be a kid, but I hope you're prepared to get a LOT of responsibility." Ilia told the faunus boy seriously.

Takato frowned a bit, looking down in thought, before looking back at them and nodding silently.

Once they were done….

If it was physically possible, Takato's jaw would have hit the floor, and probably rolled a few more feet.

"That… I have SO many questions." Takato said after a moment to pick up his blown mind.

"Welcome to my world." Ilia muttered.

"Speaking of that, Worlds, there's THREE of them?!" Takato was still rather incredulous about that part.

"Yeahp, so there's more aliens in this room than you thought." Pierce chuckled.

Takato's face at that was… priceless.

* * *

Time went on and before long it was time for the Vytal Festival. They'd made as many preparations as they could, trained as much as they could, and already made plans with not just their own teams, but Sun's team, as well as Penny. They were all about as ready as ready could be, so now it was time to finally change fate….but first…

The Vytal Festival Tournament had officially begun!

And the venue was definitely the most amazing, with the Amity Colosseum floating high in the skies, right in front of Beacon.

The group hadn't paid much attention to the first few matches, as it contained people they honestly didn't know and didn't care much about, oh sure, some of them were classmates, but they had never spoken to them before. Oh sure, there was the match for Cinder's fake team, but they already knew how it went, so they didn't pay attention. Though… ok, they did pay attention to Team CFVY's match, just to see how that went… pretty one sided honestly.

What they WERE paying attention to however were, well, their OWN matches. First was the fight with team ABRN. For this fight, Gyro had replaced Blake in the original lineup (they'd drawn lots to decide who was going to be their starting four). As such, he was currently fighting against Reese Chloris in place of Blake, the girl's hoverboard giving her a lot of mobility, which was problematic due to fighting in the ice half of the arena. Gyro himself was able to counter the terrain with use of his wind to keep him steady and on course. Plus, he was decent enough at ice skating that he was keeping up with her without having to fly, using his wind to keep himself properly balanced. Still though, fighting in this terrain was definitely different, but he was managing just fine. Of course, that was when Reese used an icicle as a ramp and in mid air she countered with her dual guns… which had transformed from her hoverboard. Whatever the case, now he was on the defensive.

At the same time, the rest of the team were fighting it out all over the are. Yang was holding her own against Arslan Altan, Team ABRN's leader, pretty well, as unlike in the original story, she was going at this more cautiously, rather than constantly on the offensive, making it harder for Arslan to use her dagger and bandages as a rope dart to catch Yang off guard, making the fight a bit more see saw. On the side, Nadir Shiko was busy trying to shoot at anyone he could find, something that Ruby made sure to be as difficult as possible, while Weiss kept Bolin Hori at bay with a mix of Glyphs and Dust. All in all things were going better than canon, even if just a bit.

The group maintained the stalemate for a bit longer, before they each found an opening to use. First was Gyro who maintained the game of cat and mouse, before using the terrain to try and shake off Reese, who soon followed him into a section with several ice pillars, Gyro darting out, and forcing her to defend, before he soon went back into cover, Reese following after him...or she would have if he hadn't left a little trap, causing a small whirlwind to hit, causing her board to lose control, to which he shot out, nailed her in the gut with a double kick, sending her right out of the ring.

Not far away, Ruby and Weiss had joined up and were in a tag team fight against Bolin and Nadir, Weiss keeping both off balance while Ruby peppered them with shots and slashes, keeping them close and pinned...to which Weiss sprang her trap, catching both in a giant icicle, with Ruby leaving a fire dust crystal at the base. Both men looked at it with wide eyes and were shaking their heads...to which Ruby have a two finger salute and fired, the explosion sending both flying out of the ring.

Arslan WOULD have sighed in annoyance at her teammates losing like that...but right now she was in no place to comment, as she was caught in a helicopter spin courtesy of Yang who'd taken a chance and caught her ribbons, now spinning her around, and before long she too joined her teammates outside the ring.

"And Team RWGBY wins the match! Even when not at full strength, these first year students are truly a force to be reckoned." Port commented in excitement.

"Indeed Peter, as used as they are to fighting with AT LEAST 5 of their human members, Team RWGBY had to bench one of them, and were also not allowed to bring one of their Digimon partners, due to the opposing team lacking any." Leomon commented from next to Port.

"Well, I'm sure it's only a matter of time before every student has a partner, I mean, it's happening to more and more teachers after all." Port chuckled as he patted a D-Core clipped on the front pocket of his vest, Leomon laughing along with his partner.

* * *

After the fight, team RWGBY were gathered in the fairgrounds, looking forward to a meal after that fight. "That fight went great," Ruby smiled as they walked through the fairgrounds.

"Yeah, all the training and planning is paying off," Palmon agreed.

"I dunno about everyone else, but I could go for some food. Anyone up for the Simple Wok?" Gyro offered.

"As long as they serve a half portion," Weiss sighed. Seriously, when Gyro mentioned the place in passing, she took a look and went a bit green at how BIG the normal portion was.

"To be fair, your other ordered only with 'less salt'. That wouldn't have changed the portion size," Tentomon commented.

"ALWAYS ORDER LESS SALT AT THAT PLACE!" Sun shouted… from somewhere.

"Where the heck is he?" Biyomon asked as she flew up a bit to look around the area a bit but couldn't see him anywhere.

"...so less salt...got it," Yang blinked after a moment. If Sun felt THAT strongly about that...probably a good idea.

As the group made their way to the Simple Wok shop, there was a small interruption.

"Hey, I think you dropped this." Emerald's voice interrupted them, making them turn around to see her holding Ruby's wallet.

"Wait, seriously? Is there a hole in my pocket?" she muttered, patting the pockets she had put on her belt, before accepting her wallet from the mint haired girl "Thanks Emerald, that almost cost me a lot."

"Oh, no problem." Emerald waved off, and now that they knew the kind of person she really was, they could spot a few details in her face, the way her lips twitched and all that, to realise she was forcing her smile a little. "So, you guys did pretty well in your match out there."

"Yeah, we trained a lot for this," Patamon said with a nod.

"Not that we got to use it though," Agumon shrugged. "How'd your match go?"

"Pretty well," Emerald said with a small chuckle.

"Well, why don't get some food to celebrate together?" Ruby suggested, though she did NOT mean her words at all, but she had to keep acting like she didn't know the girl in front of her was evil.

"That's… REALLY nice of you." Emerald said with a strained smile "But my teammates are all kinds of… introverted." she said, glancing back at Mercury, who was sniffing a leather boot.

"Yeah...we see what you mean," Palmon blinked.

"Another time then," Tentomon said, as they waved and walked away, the same with Emerald. Once they were a good distance away…

"I never thought smiling could be so hard," Ruby said a little stiffly.

"Yeah, we know what you mean," Gyro said dryly. Knowing what those two were complicit of made interacting with them all the more difficult whenever they had to.

"Just keep it up for a bit longer. They'll get what's coming," Weiss reassured...right before she felt some vibrations, and pulled out her scroll. "Speaking of which, should I or should I not?" she added dryly, showing who the caller was. Her Father.

"If you don't he's gonna cut your funding, but if you do that means he has some power over you...or so he thinks," Tentomon said.

"You're right, that's an easy answer," Weiss nodded, before ignoring the call. "Besides, I've been...stocking up," she said as she looked at her wallet...with actual Lien in it rather than Debit Cards.

"Please tell me that's not all your money." Blake asked dryly.

"Of course not, I asked Azure to put the rest of it in a safe in his room." she said, earning a sigh of relief from Blake.

The group soon found their way to the Simple Wok. "Huh, its bigger than in the show," Gyro mused, as true enough, the Simple Wok was notably larger this time around, and judging by the group of Huntsmen and Digimon that just left, it was probably to accomodate for the increased number of potential patrons. The group sat down, and soon made their orders (Weiss able to get a half portion which was still quite sizeable). The food came quickly, though before they got a chance to eat, a familiar group came up to the stall too.

"Nice match out there guys." Pierce said, clapping his brother on the back as he sat down next to him, the rest of team JNPPR sitting down as well.

"Thanks, hope yours is just as entertaining." Ruby said with a cheeky grin.

"Did you decide who's sitting out yet?" Weiss asked them curiously.

"We drew straws… I got the short one." Nora said with a pout.

"There's always next time." Salamon told her partner while sitting on her head.

"So, we clear on the big game plan?" Yang started as she was slurping down her noodles.

"Pretty much," Ren nodded as he gulped down a mouth full. "We've planned about as well as we could, and the twins made plenty of contingencies, so as long as nothing...REALLY game changing happens...we should be good."

"Let's just hope the universe doesn't decide to pull a butterfly on us now of all times," Gyro sighed.

"As long as we work together, we'll be fine," Gabumon assured.

"On a lighter note though, what strategy do you guys have for the next match? It's against team BRNZ, right?" Agumon asked.

"Well, for starters we have actual team moves this time," Jaune started, feeling VERY embarrassed his other self had planned the moves, but never practiced it. It didn't help the brothers told him that his other had used the names of ships. "Other than that, we'll just have to outmaneuver them then work from there."

"Sounds like a good plan," Ruby nodded.

"Simple, but effective," Pyrrha agreed. The group soon began chatting about various things, so much so they didn't notice a few more people sitting at the table and placing their order.

"Uh, could someone pass me the sauce please?" a feminine voice said.

"Of course," Pyrrha said, grabbing the sauce without looking at the person and passing it over. "Here you go, Yoshino."

"Thank you, Pyrrha," the other person said, and if there had been music in the air, it would have screeched to a halt when the two of their brains finally realized what they'd just said, and promptly turned to face each other.

"Oookay, I'm thinking we're missing something here," Wormmon blinked as they looked between the two girls...and noticed a certain resemblance.

"Yoshino...hey, isn't that your sister's…?" Jaune started and then trailed off when they all made the connection. "Eeeeeeh?!" the group said in surprise.

"W-when did you get here?" Pyrrha asked in surprise, her sister being just as surprised.

"Well… uh… how to put this… a month?" Yoshino admitted with an embarassed blush, looking down at her uniform and avoiding eye contact.

Pyrrha stared at her older sister for a bit "You've been here for a month… and yet you didn't come to see me?... why?"

"She wanted to try and find a way to surprise you, hasn't stopped talking about you for the whole month at least." said a voice next to her, making everyone look to see a young man with pale blonde hair and greyish blue eyes, wearing the male student uniform.

"Thomas?!" Weiss asked incredulously, recognising him.

"Hello Weiss, it's been a long time." Thomas greeted with a polite nod.

"Wait, you know this guy?" Tentomon asked.

"Yes, well… he used to be my fiancé." Weiss answered after a moment.

Once again, there was silence for a long moment, which was soon followed by a very loud collective "WHAT?!"

"You were gonna marry this guy?!" Ruby asked in surprise.

"You were engaged to Specialist Schnee's little sister?!" Yoshino asked Thomas incredulously.

"I never mentioned that?" Thomas asked with a blink "Must have slipped my mind."

"It was an arrangement made by our fathers," Weiss sighed.

"And while we didn't have any issues per say regarding it, neither of us were really all that keen on going through with it, so it was a mutual breakup," Thomas added, taking a sip from some of the tea he'd ordered to go with his noodles.

"What he said yes," Weiss nodded.

"Ok… does anybody have any other revelations they want to say now so we can keep all the shock to this moment?" Gyro asked after a moment with a sigh.

"I… don't think we have anything." Jaune said after a bit of thought, looking at the rest of his team who all shook their heads after a bit of thinking.

"Same here." Ruby said.

"We're good here to." Yoshino said after exchanging a look with Thomas.

"Good. Now, normally, I'd be all for letting you two sisters have a nice chat, but…" Gyro hooked his thumb at the PA system which blared to life right as he finished.

"Would team JNPPR please report to the stadium for their match?" Port's voice announced over the system.

"Yes, and on the double please, you're a bit late." Leomon added before the announcement ended.

"Well… I guess it's our turn to fight then" Pyrrha said with a blink.

"I'll be cheering you on." Yoshino told her, making Pyrrha smile and nod.

"Let's go see some butt kicking!" Yang said with a whoop as everyone stood up and went towards the airships to be lifted up to the colosseum.

* * *

The Colosseum was once again packed, everyone looking forward to the next match.

"Okay guys, place your bets. How fast will JNPPR wipe the floor with these guys," Palmon said with a slight laugh.

"I give them 10 minutes tops," Gomamon said.

"Nah, they're not gonna take that long. I bet 5 minutes," Veemon grinned.

"You're both wrong, they're gonna win in 3 minutes," Nora joined in.

"They're certainly lively," Yoshino chuckled as she and Thomas had chosen to sit with the group.

"You have no idea," Weiss said with a wry smile.

"This IS the first tournament they get to see from up close." Gyro chuckled.

Roughly on the opposite side of the colosseum, Emerald and Mercury were sat in some seats, Mercury carrying a huge bowl of popcorn with him "I don't even see why we're watching these, we know how it'll all end anyway." Emerald complained.

"Meh, it's entertainment." Mercury shrugged as took a handful of popcorn.

"And besides." Cinder said as she came up behind them, wearing her raider looking outfit as she took a kernel from the popcorn bowl "Even if you know how a story ends, that doesn't make it any less fun to watch." she said, heating her hand and causing the kernel to pop before eating it.

"I couldn't agree more." Azure muttered to himself from nearby, just far away enough from Cinder to barely hear her, and for her to not hear him at all.

* * *

The fight was off to a strong start, the main frontline fighters of team BRNZ: Brawnz Ni, Roy Stallion, and Nolan Porfirio charged forward, while May Zedong went for the trees.

Team JNPPR charged forward as well, with Jaune, Pyrrha, and Pierce meeting the three head on. Of course, having known this strategy from the 'canon' story, Ren held back a little, before jumping forward, and using Pierce as a springboard, and managed got clear the field, catching May before she got to ideal cover, forcing her on the defensive as he started attacking her with several swift attacks, followed by gunshots whenever she tried to gain some distance.

Seeing their main strategy compromised, Nolan tried to break away from Pierce and try to assist May...only for a grappling hook to be fired and wrap around him. "Where do you think YOU'RE going?" Pierce smirked, before pulling. "Get over here!"

Likewise, Pyrrha and Jaune were fending off Brawnz and Roy, the two trying to get past their defenses with their fast attacks, but the couple held their ground, and countered whenever an opening was present, the two more offense focused opponents finding it harder to block their counter attacks. Of course, the slight stalemate was at and end when Nolan came flying and hit both of them from the side, Pierce having thrown him like a flail...and he was still doing it too seeing as he was still wrapped in the grapple.

"Special delivery," Pierce chuckled. "In fact, here comes another."

Right on cue, May came flying and landed with the rest of her team, Ren having finally gotten the upper hand and kicked her back.

"Okay, let's not hold this off. Assassin: All Out!" Jaune said, earning a nod from Ren who jumped closer, Jaune grabbing him by the shoulder and boosting his Semblance, while Pierce got closer. At that point the group suddenly vanished from sight.

"Wha? Where'd they go?" Nolan asked...and got his answer as a flurry of hits impacted all four of them and when it was done they fell over again, their auras falling into the red.

"Show's over." Pierce said with a grin as the team reappeared.

"My! What an impressive victory for Team JNPPR! It's always a mystery how just exactly how their fights turns out what with Pierce's semblance having a mind of its own." Port said impressively.

"Very true. I think I even remember once incident where young Pierce narrowly avoided a floodlight falling on him." Leomon mused.

"Oh you had to bring that one up." Pierce muttered as the crowd laughed at the commentary.

"At least he didn't mention your run ins with snow." Jaune told him with a snicker.

"Yeah yeah, laugh it up vomit boy." Pierce said with a roll of his eyes as they walked off the arena, the medics picking up team BRNZ to make sure they weren't hurt too badly.

"Now then, while that match was certainly impressive, the next match is sure to be quite a sight, as finally, we'll be seeing a match with Digimon in it, as team SSSN plus their leader's Coronamon go up against team NDGO and…" Leomon trailed off, raising an eyebrow "Ah, it seems that one of the members of NDGO had to sit out the match due to illness, and as such, is being replaced by one of Vacuo's solo students, one Marcus Diamond, the Digimon slot being filled by his partner, GeoAgumon."

Sun's face dropped at hearing those words, one foot out the corridor that led to the arena "Oh you have GOT to be kidding me."

"What is it? You know that guy?" Neptune asked.

"Know him? Marcus was like, almost my cousin with how we always hung out as kids!" Sun explained "Dude's pretty much as strong as Yang without her gauntlets… all he has are fighting gloves!"

"Do you know anything about the girls?" Scarlet asked.

Sun gave him a dry look at that "Oh right, because everybody knows everybody in Vacuo. What, did you personally know Pyrrha before we met her here?"

Scarlet shut up with an embarrassed blush at that, properly chastised.

"So, chances of winning are…?" Coronamon trailed off.

The look Sun gave was… not welcome "Slim as a pancake. Marcus got into a fight with older kids plenty...and he wiped the floor with them. That was BEFORE he unlocked his Aura mind you."

"And I'm guessing his partner is somewhere along those lines if they're compatible," Coronamon groaned.

"...well, if we're gonna get our butts kicked, we might as well make them work for it," Neptune sighed.

"Don't you just hate butterflies?" Sage sighed, knowing that Gyro would have likely mentioned this happened in the old timeline, so this was obviously a change.

When they stepped into the center ring, they saw that the missing member of team NDGO was the red haired girl, Octavia if they remembered right, while Marcus grinned when he saw Sun.

"Been a long time monkey boy, how've you been doing over there in Mistral?" he said with a chuckle.

"Probably better than you have blazing away under all that sunshine ya knucklehead." Sun shot back with a grin.

Even though he knew he was gonna get his ass kicked, Marcus was still a good friend.

"Is this the guy you were talking about boss?" GeoAgumon asked.

"Yep that's him. An old friend, and he's definitely gonna give us a good fight," Marcus grinned.

"In that case let's give it everything we got!" GeoAgumon grinned.

"Muscleheads…" Nebula groaned a bit at the banter.

Once the banter was over, the field selectors came up, spinning as their normally did, selecting one half of the arena as the desert biome.

"Home field advantage." Nebula said with a grin.

"Hey, it's my home field too." Sun said with a smirk.

Right after he said that, the second half of the field finished choosing… and their luck was REALLY bad.

"Why me?" Neptune groaned as it chose not the lake biome it had been originally, but an actual ocean biome, with the only spot of land on it being a thin strip of sand in the middle to act like a small island.

Unsurprisingly, the moment the beginning bell started, Neptune made a beeline for the cliff side of the desert area.

"Can't really call him out for that one…" Sun sighed, knowing full well WHY Neptune was afraid of the water.

"Okay...that happened," Dew Gayl blinked as the group looked at Neptune in confusion.

"Talk about bad luck…" Sage sighed in annoyance. It seemed the universe was against them today with not just one but two butterflies that put them at a disadvantage.

"Enough with the comedy act! Open fire!" Nebula said as her team charged forward (Gwen Darcy going after Neptune), to which team SSSN did the same, while Neptune instead of being basically stuck, at least opted to play sniper, while doing his best to fend off Gwen.

Sun went after Dew, the girl managing to fend off his rapid attacks with her spear and a bit of her semblance, but Sun kept her on her toes with his faster movements and constant activity. Not to be outdone, Coronamon fired several fireballs at GeoAgumon...but the reptile just tanked the hits and landed a haymaker on his cheek, sending him flying back to the edge of the water, the two Digimon soon continuing their brawl on the sand.

Scarlet was put on the defensive as he evaded Nebula's crossbow shots, while countering whenever he could find an opening, managing to maintain something of a stalemate between the two...which sadly was much better than what Sage had to deal with. Speaking of which….

"And team NDGO gains the advantage by knock out. Literally," Port said, as Sage had just been sent flying by a punch from Marcus, the larger boy thrown right out of the arena along with his heavy weapon, while Marcus pulled back from a punch, his body practically blazing with a crimson/reddish orange aura.

"Holy Schneezus that had to hurt." Yang said with a wince.

"Really? Schneezus?" Weiss said with the most dry look ever.

"What? Pierce said it's from back home." Yang said with a shrug and poorly hidden grin.

"How the heck did THAT happen?!" Scarlet gasped when he and Sun managed to regroup.

"Oh yeah...I forgot about his Semblance," Sun gulped a bit, earning a flat stare from Coronamon who just got up from being punched away by GeoAgumon.

"Really now? What is it?" Coronamon groaned.

"Well...you know how Yang gets stronger the more you hit her?" Sun started. "Well...Marcus is kinda like that...only he gets stronger every time HE hits something…"

"...are you telling us he LITERALLY gets stronger the more he fights?" Scarlet asked dryly.

"Kinda yeah…" Sun laughed nervously.

"...we're screwed," Coronamon sighed, as true enough, a surprised yell was heard, and the cliff Neptune had been taking 'refuge' on fell off as Marcus landed a full force punch on it, cracking it off.

"This is starting to get painful to watch…" Gyro winced from where he was sitting.

"Yeah, that Marcus guy is just Broken," Jaune agreed at what was quickly turning into a curb stomp battle. Especially when the still somewhat dazed Neptune soon followed Sage, having been thrown out of the arena too.

"So what's the plan now?" Coronamon sighed.

"If we're going down, we're going down kicking and screaming," Sun said.

"About as good as we can do at this point," Scarlet sighed, before all three of them dropped any semblance of defense or strategy, and just charged forward, yelling at the top of their lungs, to which team NDGO responded...with Marcus and GeoAgumon in the lead. What followed could only be described as a bowling ball plowing through the pins, as the remainder of team SSSN did what they could to fight back, but were systematically thrown out of the ring one by one.

"Is it over?" Patamon asked, having covered his eyes at the last charge. Sure it wasn't anything actually dangerous happening, but its was something of a 'I can't watch' situation seeing their friends so completely outclassed...or overpowered in this case.

"Completely one sided match has come to an end yeah." Veemon said as he munched on popcorn.

Of course, not everyone was quite enjoying the match. Up where Cinder's group was, Mercury had been mid-way in munching some popcorn. Popcorn which had fallen out of his mouth in shock. They'd seen that fight, and that aura around Marcus, and well… "Shit," was the best he could sum it up.

"This...doesn't bode well…" Emerald gulped, while Cinder was glaring daggers at where Marcus was.

"Of all the times," she growled. "A holder of the Crimson Soul here?"

While Cinder was seething at another wrench throwing itself into her plans, Professor Port announced that the matches for the day were over, the group getting up to head back out.

Idly, Gyro looked up, grinning at what he noticed and nudged Weiss a bit, who followed his eyes and saw the same thing he did.

"Huh, Winter's here… hope she'll be able to watch some matches with us." she said with a smile.

"Wait… Specialist Schnee is here?" Yoshino asked "Oh my Oum… I-I don't have my stuff together, do I look presentable, should I-" she was cut off as Thomas put his hand on her mouth.

"Ok, I know she's pretty much your idol, but seriously, tone it down would you?" he said in annoyance.

"Well, didn't see that coming." Agumon chuckled.

"Yeah… let's hope we don't get too much stuff like that." Gyro muttered, hoping everything would go roughly according to plan.

* * *

 **And voila!**

 **Hope you enjoyed this new chapter and everything it contained, as well as the reveal of a few new things, like Thomas and his prior relationship to Weiss.**

 **There's more reveals in store in the future though, I can tell you that.**

 **Anyway, see you next time, because...**

 **The Adventure Evolves.**


	57. 56: Round 2! Time to Rumble!

**And here's the next chapter!**

 **This one is a little late though, I've been trying to post it for the last few days.**

 **But I kept having something or other distract me and make me forget about it.**

 **So, instead, you're getting this chapter now... and then another one right after.**

 **Hope you enjoy the double post!**

* * *

 **Round 2! Time to Rumble!  
**

* * *

"Hmm, it seems Specialist Schnee is visiting… I wonder if she brought her mother again this time?" Ozpin mused as he saw Winter's personal ship land down in the air docks.

"Well, as much as I'd like to chat with Willow again, I doubt she came over this time, I mean, last time was an emergency, but I don't really see a need this time." Summer commented… before she reached out and grabbed Qrow, whom had been walking to the elevator "Where do you think you're going?"

"Oh, you know, just for a walk." he said, trying to get out of her grip… before Glynda's riding crop smacked him on the chest.

"No, we know what you were actually going to do, and you are NOT antagonizing her… more than you already do with your presence alone at least." Glynda told him, making him sigh.

"Why DOES she hate his guts anyway?" Summer couldn't help but ask.

"He got drunk and did something stupid… as usual." was the answer from Glynda.

"I'm always drunk." was Qrow's counter to that.

"Fine, you got MORE drunk then." was all Glynda added to her statement.

"You two are overreacting. What's the worse that could happen?" Qrow half-joked.

"I dunno. What's the worst you can think of with a mix of the relationship you two have, the fact Winter has a Digimon Partner who can probably reach Adult stage at least, and your...less than convenient Semblance," Summer said flatly.

Qrow thought about it for real...and gulped a bit. "Yeah...good point."

* * *

Down at the airdocks, Weiss went to the ship as the ramp was lowering, and likely would have been joined by a fangirling Yoshino, had Pyrrha and Thomas not dragged her off somewhere and made her focus on her own sister.

"You think your mom is with her this time?" Tentomon asked as he followed Weiss.

Weiss hummed in thought "Well…" she trailed off, as her scroll suddenly started ringing, pulling it out, and blinking when she saw it was her mother's number, accepting the call "Hi mom, how are you this evening?"

" _I'm doing fine Weiss, thank you for asking. I just called to let you know your father cut off your credit card earlier after you refused a call from him. I only learned just now thanks to your idiot brother… sometimes I wonder if he actually HAS some of my genes."_ Willow answered on the other end.

"Uh… mom…" Weiss started in confusion.

" _Yes, I know what I said, but he seriously acts nothing like me and everything like your father, so I wonder sometimes if he didn't do something one of the times I was asleep, you know how heavy of a sleeper I am after all."_ Willow said with a sigh.

"I… don't think I want to know what you're imagining right now." Weiss said slowly.

" _Trust me dear, you REALLY don't."_ Willow said with a somewhat aggravated sigh " _Anyway, I saw your match earlier. That was very well fought Weiss, you and your team work together very well."_

Weiss smiled a bit bashfully "Thanks mom. We've been putting a lot of effort into our training, both as just us five hunters, and with our Digimon. Ruby managed to come up with team attacks for everyone, but she's still trying to come up with some specific ones for the Digimon."

" _I'm very happy to hear that. You've got a good team and good friends,"_ Willow smiled. " _At any rate, I need to go for now. I'll call you again later. Say hello to Winter for me. I'd call her myself, but she's not always available due to her work."_

"I will. Take care mother," Weiss smiled, before the call ended.

"Things have really gotten better with your family lately, huh?" Ruby smiled. Gyro had told her how things went originally...and it was honestly pretty sad how distant Weiss's family was.

Weiss jumped a bit "When did you get here?"

"Like a minute ago." Ruby said with a snicker.

"We listened to your call a bit, sorry." Palmon said with a laugh.

"Its fine," Weiss sighed.

"Just warn us a bit next time," Tentomon said.

"We'll keep that in mind," Ruby said sheepishly. Shortly after, several Atlesian Knights exited the airship, escorting Winter who was surveying the area, Lunamon at her side. Upon seeing her, Weiss smiled, went forward and called towards her.

Winter heard her and turned to the source of the voice, a small smile on her face as she moved closer, though still maintaining a military poise. After all, they were still in public.

"It's good to see you Winter. What brings you here today?" Weiss asked when she got close to her sister.

"Military reasons, I'm afraid I can't say much more than that." Winter said with an apologetic smile.

"Well, do you know how long you can stay? I'd love it if you could watch our next match, I'm representing my team in the next round." Weiss asked hopefully.

"I make no promises, but I'll see what I can do Weiss." Winter told her.

"Good enough for me," Weiss smiled.

"So how have things been in Atlas?" Tentomon asked both Winter AND Lunamon.

"Things have stabilized, though opinion regarding Digimon are still mixed," Winter said.

"But overall it's going well," Lunamon added.

"That's good to hear," Weiss nodded. This was a situation the group as a whole often worried about.

"I'm supposed to meet General Ironwood later, but as I'm early I have some free time," Winter said. "How about we talk more in your quarters?"

"Of course. I'll lead the way," Weiss smiled before she and Tentomon turned to leave, Winter and Lunamon following.

"I'll tell the others to give you two some space," Ruby added, earning a grateful nod from Weiss.

* * *

Meanwhile, in their dorm room, Cinder was busy going through her scroll, a look of annoyance on her face. "Things certainly haven't been easy lately," she frowned.

"If those Foretellers weren't bad enough, now we've got a Huntsman with a Crimson Soul on our hands too," Emerald frowned. The Crimson Soul was similar to the Silver Eyes, in that it was a power that could be passed down. However, unlike the Silver Eyes, it wasn't always passed down and even if it was there is a certain...stimulus...needed to awaken it. As such many holders went through their entire lives never realizing they had it only for it to awaken a generation or two later. That naturally made it VERY difficult to find them. However, when they DID awaken, they often became what many would call a one-huntsmen army. Worse, that power could be used on anyone, not just Grimm. As such, when one appeared, it tended to be problematic for anyone opposing them.

"So what do we do now?" Mercury asked.

"We stay the course. Certainly a Crimson Soul wielder is problematic, as is the Foretellers, but most importantly, Ozpin's faction has no idea who we are," Cinder said, as she found access to what appeared to be a matchup selector for the tournament, and with a smirk, set the matches into something that would be favorable for Emerald and Mercury, namely team CFVY's representatives, Coco and Yatsuhashi. If there was one thing good about not having Digimon of their own, it was that it ensured their opponents were always Huntsmen, something they could definitely handle. "We're still in position to execute the plan, and once I've obtained the last of the Fall Maiden's power, not even they will be able to stand in our way."

* * *

"She REALLY has no idea how in over her head she is, does she?" Gomamon chuckled.

"She REALLY doesn't." Gyro chuckled as they were in JNPPR's dorm at the moment, having let Weiss use the team RWGBY dorm to have some private time with her sister.

"I feel a bit bad we're technically letting her manipulate the matchups." Pyrrha said with a frown as Azure confirmed tomorrow's first match as Coco and Yatsu VS Emerald and Mercury.

"Yeah, but this way she ends up feeling safe and will relax a bit." Yang said, grinning.

"Which will make it all the more satisfying when we kick her butt." Nora finished with her own grin as the two of them fist bumped.

"Does this make us mildly evil?" Patamon wondered.

"More like Chaotic Good." Wormmon corrected.

"Sides, we're not gonna let anyone get really hurt. Sure Coco and Yatsuhashi are gonna get knocked around a bit, but other than bruised pride, they'll be fine," Pierce reassured. "They kicked butt just fine in the Battle of Beacon anyway."

"I guess that makes it a little better," Blake shrugged. "Either way, I agree. For now we should let them think they're still in control."

"I can't wait to see the look on her face when her house of cards comes crashing down," Agumon chuckled.

* * *

The next match soon came and well….

"This isn't as painful to watch as when team SSSN was fighting," Veemon admitted.

"Maybe cause even if they're losing, Coco and Yatsuhashi are actually putting up a fight instead of getting steam rolled," Biyomon commented. True enough, like in the original timeline, it was clear Coco and Yatsuhashi were having trouble, but they were still landing hits and the like, making it a more or less even fight….that or Mercury and Emerald were purposely holding back, but that's besides the point.

"Gotta admit, those two are really good," Ogremon who was sitting not far away (and taking a few seats much to the annoyance of some of the other spectators) said.

"Are they REALLY in the same year?" Waspmon agreed. There was a certain difference in skill that seemed almost like someone who'd been fighting life or death fights that were VERY close calls for a while.

"Who knows?" Salamon commented, playing innocent, as did the rest of the chosen.

The fight continued on and after a while the victors were found, Emerald and Mercury completely outdoing Coco and Yatsuhashi.

"Well, at least they fought well," Dobermon sighed.

"Shame we're out of the Tournament though," Velvet sighed, but didn't seem TOO upset. After all, it was all just healthy competition.

* * *

Later, in a rather calming garden area, Weiss and Winter were seated at a tea table with their Digimon by their side. "You're leaving already?" Weiss asked, disappointed.

"Yes. The truth is that I was sent here to oversee the transport of additional units to Vale. The previous shipment was lost, some of which you encountered before," Winter explained.

"So that's where the Paladin came from," Weiss said, feigning ignorance.

"Yes. It was fortunate those were in the Prototype stage, or it might have been a lot more difficult for your teams," Winter said.

"Thank Oum for small mercies I suppose," Weiss sighed, once again feigning ignorance.

"I have to say though, despite the hiccups that have been happening, you've been doing rather well for yourself Weiss." Winter said, before chuckling a bit "And seeing father's face the day you left for Beacon was quite entertaining, Klein made sure to take a picture as well."

"I really want to see that. And I especially want to show him how far I've gotten and what I've learned." Weiss answered with a small grin.

"Oh? And what HAVE you learned?" Winter asked curiously.

"My glyphs have come a long way since home, I've just about mastered time dilation, and I can summon now." Weiss answered proudly.

"Is that so?" Winter said with a smile as she stood and walked out onto the terrace "Why don't we see what your summoning can do then?" she said, her own summon glyph appearing, and from it, a pure white Alpha Beowolf emerged."

Weiss got up with a slight smirk as her own summoning glyph appeared on the terrace "Gladly." she said, and from it came the Arma Gigas she had slain to prove herself.

"Impressive," Winter nodded in approval. "But let's see how well your control over it is," she said, before moving outside of the location, not wanting to damage it, Weiss following suit. Once they were in an open area, both of them summoned their choice of Grimm once more and at a silent signal, sent the two summons to fight each other. The Arma Gigas opened with a heavy swing, aiming to crush the Alpha Beowolf, but it easily dodged aside, and went straight for the Arma Gigas, leaving a few scratches on the armor. However, the damage was superficial, and the Arma Gigas was quick to counter. The fight soon became a somewhat stalemate as both sides were having trouble damaging the other due to higher mobility or defense.

"Who do you think's gonna win?" Tentomon asked.

"Honestly...I can't say," Lunamon admitted. "Either Winter's Grimm whittles away at Weiss's or Weiss's Grimm gets a lucky shot and ends the fight in one hit."

And it ended up being the lucky shot, as the Arma Gigas suddenly struck out with one of its legs, hitting the Alpha Beowolf in the face, before impaling on its sword, and then crushing its head with its hand for good measure.

"Brutal, but efficient." Winter said with a raised eyebrow. "Nicely done Weiss."

"Not my usual preference I admit, but it has its uses," Weiss nodded. "Thank you for the practice, Winter."

"And I'm glad to see you've been doing well," Winter smiled. If she had to be honest, she'd been quite afraid for Weiss, especially when she learned she was literally in the center of the events happening in Vale not long ago. But it seemed her fears were unfounded, as whatever Weiss has been through, it had served to make her stronger. So strong in fact it was sometimes hard to believe that she was the same little sister who'd left home saying she wanted to carve her own path. However, her smile faded a little when she remembered the time. "Now, its time for me to go. The Airship leaves in an hour, and I can't be late," she said apologetically. The response she got was a hug from Weiss.

"It was really nice to see you again," Weiss smiled. "Take care okay."

Winter smiled warmly and hugged her sister back "I will, and it was nice to see you again too. I'll try to catch your match on the flight back at least."

"Until next time then," Weiss smiled. It wasn't long before Weiss was waving at an airship flying away, carrying Winter and Lunamon back to Atlas. As that happened, there was another sound of a Scroll ringing, Tentomon holding up her scroll which showed it was her father. Weiss just chuckled a bit, before grabbing the scroll and pressing one single button "And blocked." This was her path now, and her father had no say in it.

* * *

The next day came quickly, and with it the next set of matches. Next was team CRDL versus Team CYPT (Cryptic), and unlike the original story, the members fighting against two of the four stooges was Penny and Yoshino.

"This is different," Gyro mused.

"Who was fighting with Penny last time again?" Ruby asked.

"The walking time obsessed ornament named Ciel," Gyro snorted.

"That's not a very nice thing to say," Ren commented.

"Considering all she did was stand around, look at her watch while Penny did all the fighting, I think I'm justified," Gyro deadpanned.

"Well… when you put it like that." Jaune said with an awkward laugh. "So...how does Yoshino fight?" he asked, looking at Pyrrha.

"Well...let's just say her Semblance isn't what you'd expect. Not to mention she was always more of a singer than fighter," Pyrrha chuckled, before taking out...earplugs. "You might want to use these too."

The group put 2 and 2 together...and promptly grabbed the earplugs.

Any further conversation was put on hold as the fight began, and immediately Russel and Sky wasted no time going on the offensive...which didn't help them much as they were soon met with several swords, courtesy of Penny who skillfully manipulated them using her strings, causing the boys to have a hard time progressing. And even when they started to, they were met with gunshots from...honestly, Yoshino's weapon looked like an almost oversized gun so much so it felt more like a hand cannon rather than a gun. The image was further emphasized by how she clearly couldn't fire too quickly, but each shot had a sizeable amount of power behind it, proven by how it sent Sky flying right into some of the wreckage in the urban biome.

Russel was able to evade the shots...but was having a lot of trouble fending against Penny's blades, so much so he soon ended up slamming into Sky. "My sister was right. These guys are a joke," Yoshino chuckled, having had a chance to talk to Pyrrha before the fight...and learn that team CRDL was basically the bottom of the barrel to the point the biggest mystery was how they hadn't already flunked.

"Then let us not prolong this," Penny chuckled, before sending more of her blades flying, forcing Russel and Sky to evade, while catching them in the movements here and there, causing them to take damage...and never realize that the ones that missed were actually herding them. Yoshino likewise shifted her weapon, the barrel expanding till it turned into...a megaphone. Once the two stooges were lined up, Yoshino took a deep breath...and screamed. Right into the megaphone. What came out was a blast of pure sound in the form of a cone which caught both of them right in the middle, the force pushing them back, while the sound made them have to cover their ears, unable to brace, and before long they were launched out of the arena.

They weren't the only ones that had to cover their ears however, as many others had to do the same, the Chosen and their Digimon only saved thanks to the earplugs.

"Jeez, even with these on that was loud." Gabumon commented with a wince.

"Well… I guess she's a screamer." Yang said with a grin, before getting slapped in the back of the head by both Gyro and Blake. "Alright, geez, I won't go there again."

"Geez, what is she, Black Canary?" Pierce muttered, trying to get the slight ringing out of his ears.

"And with that, team CYPT advances to the finals!" Port announced after a moment "Our next match will begin in 15 minutes, I hope everyone's as excited as I am!"

* * *

During the intermission, Ruby made her way to the side of the stage, just in time to catch Penny and Yoshino as they were walking away. "Penny!" she called.

"Ruby!" Penny said in joy before glomping on the girl...and considering she was made of metal...yeah… "Sorry," Penny apologized as she helped Ruby up.

"You should be more careful, Penny. Someone could get hurt," Monodramon sweatdropped at his partner's...enthusiasm.

"Looks like you've made a good friend," Yoshino chuckled. "I'll leave you two alone for now, but don't take too long okay. You know how Ciel gets when we're behind schedule," she said before leaving them alone for now.

"So...Yoshino's part of your team?" Ruby asked.

"Oh, you know her?" Penny asked in surprise.

"We met at a noodle shop the other day. She's Pyrrha's older sister," Ruby explained. "Huh, does that mean Thomas is part of your team too?"

"Why yes. He, Yoshino, and Ciel are all my teammates, though Ciel isn't around right now," Penny nodded. "I'll introduce you sometime."

"I'd like that," Ruby nodded. "So...you were great out there. How did you control all those swords?" she smiled.

"It's...a bit complicated, and has to do partly with...you know," Monodramon spoke up.

"Yeah, it might...take a while and I don't think we have that long," Penny sweat dropped a bit.

"Right, Ciel," Ruby nodded, remembering what Yoshino just said. "So...are they all your friends?"

"Well...sort of. Yoshino's probably the one I'd call a friend the most. She's friendly, and she even snuck me out for some fun every now and then. Karaoke's pretty fun," Penny smiled. "Thomas is polite, but he kinda keeps his distance here and there. As for Ciel...she's kinda like Blake...only if she were ordered to spend time with you…" she sighed at the end.

"Ah...so like how Weiss used to be," Ruby nodded.

"That's painfully apt," Monodramon laughed.

"Do they know about...you know. Beep boop bop, does not compute?" Ruby asked, doing the robot a bit for emphasis.

"Oh no," Penny said shaking her head. "General Ironwood doesn't want anyone to know."

"REALLY awkward for team building," Monodramon supplemented with a sigh.

"Especially with that magnet. Good thing I was able to play it off," Penny said, before telling Ruby what happened quickly, causing both girls to laugh, while Monodramon snorted, remembering how funny it was having to cover for his partner.

"So anyway, it was nice talking to you," Ruby smiled...before frowning. "Remember the plan?"

"Of course. Pyrrha and I will make it look good, then I'll aim a few swords at her shield so she gets pushed out," Penny nodded. They'd already planned for this and agreed that considering the circumstances, one of them would be best throwing the fight. Of course, with Penny possibly being graded on performance, they'd decided that Pyrrha would throw the fight, cause really, beyond losing her 'Invincible Girl' title, she lost nothing whatsoever from losing a match.

"And JUST in case anything goes wrong, I'll be ready," Monodramon nodded as well.

* * *

The intermission was soon over, and the next fight was Team RWGBY vs Team FNKI...with the lineup being exactly the same as the show, as the group had decided they'd rather not provoke the universe more than necessary after the sizeable butterfly that was Team SSSN's complete defeat.

"Hey Weiss, you know how Atlas is supposed to be all military and uniform?" Yang started.

"Yes, that's usually how it goes, why?" Weiss asked.

"Well...then why are THEY so different?" Yang asked, as Flynt Coal and Neon Katt entered the field.

"...I honestly have no idea," Weiss admitted, wondering how a team like FNKI was even possible in Atlas.

"Hey, you're Weiss Schnee right? The heiress." Flynt asked, tipping his hat up a bit as his shades slid down slightly.

Weiss sighed, knowing where he was going to head with this as she remembered what Gyro had told her "Flynt Cole yes? I know about your father's store. Rest assured I've mentioned it to my mother and she'll be trying to get it back up and running while giving everything back to him."

Flynt stopped short, as did Neon as the two just stared at Weiss "Uh… thank you?" Flynt said unsurely, honestly thrown for a loop.

"Let's just say my father will be answering for a lot of things he's done real soon if things go as planned," Weiss said with a small smirk. "Now then, shall we begin the match?"

"Uh...sure," Flynt blinked, still a bit thrown for a loop.

"Nice one," Yang grinned, right before Neon spoke up.

"Hey, so, just, question, how do you run around with, you know, how… top heavy you are?" she asked, her tail swishing a bit idly behind her.

"Hey you leave th-" Yang started, only to be cut off by Neon opening her mouth again.

"You know, you should totally try rollerblading, might help you practice balance, after like, a hundred lessons." she said with a laugh.

Yang gave the cat faunus a deadpan look before looking to Flynt "She's not all there is she?"

Flynt laughed awkwardly "Me and the others have to remind her about social norms a LOT."

"NEON! QUIT YAPPING AND GET TO FIGHTING!" somebody in the stands shouted, a girl by the sounds of it, with the Chosen still in the stands turning to see not far from them was a girl who looked like she was part of a KISS tribute band with her makeup, looking a bit like a punk rocker honestly, and next to her was a young man who looked like he jumped out of the Phantom of the Opera.

"I think I've seen fan art of those two before." Pierce muttered "I think they were supposed to be fan characters."

"Guess the universe decided they fit well enough to complete Team FNKI." Gyro shot back.

By then the Biomes had been selected, and the countdown began. At the signal, Flynt and Neon immediately went into action, Flynt firing off a blast of sound from his trumpet...which while loud honestly wasn't as bad as Yoshino's scream. Still, it was pushing them back, and with the noise, it was hard to defend, something Neon made use of to separate Yang from Weiss. "Okay, so that still happened," Weiss muttered with a frown, but focused on Flynt who'd ended the initial attack. Looking at the weapon, she could tell the main weakness was the fact that well...it was a trumpet. How long he could use it each time depended on how much lung power he had, which she'd assumed would be a lot. Still, he was human, and like all humans, needed to breath every minute or two at least.

With that in mind she focused on evading the follow up notes, while using her Glyphs to launch attacks from various directions. A sound based weapon could only go forward, with the cone being very visible, so trying to overpower it wouldn't help her in this situation. True enough, Flynt wasn't stupid and moved to counter as many of her ice projectiles as he could, using a mix of the fire biome and his own skills...but as it was, he couldn't get all of them, and thus was forced to take several hits...not to say Weiss was getting out of this unschathed, as every now and then she took a hit from the cone of sound whenever Flynt managed to move fast enough to catch her. For now though it was a stalemate.

Meanwhile, Yang was stuck playing a game of, pardon the pun, cat and mouse...though who was the cat and who was the mouse was hard to say as Neon used her roller blades to slide jump and generally run circles around her using the urban biome as an impromptu skate park, all the while tossing insults and the like. Now, had this been the old Yang, she'd have probably flown into a rage by now. But then, the time in the Digital World and the knowledge the brothers brought had taught her to temper her anger. Oh sure, she still wanted to feed Neon a knuckle sandwich, but flying off the handle sure wasn't gonna help. With that in mind, she focused more on trying to read Neon's movements. Hard to do even with a cooler head, but would have been impossible for her once. That opening found itself when she noticed Neon going for an impromptu ramp...and shot it, turning it into a pile of rubble. Neon was going too fast to turn at that point, and was promptly tripped up when she hit it...an opening Yang capitalized on and punched her in the face, sending her flying into the desert biome.

Weiss and Flynt were in a back and forth fight, neither giving an inch, before Flynt decided to kick it up a notch, waiting for the timing where Weiss would be near his front and activated his Semblance, Killer Quartet. Splitting into 4 copies, all four blew on their trumpets, creating a massive cone of sound which Weiss couldn't evade...but having known about it beforehand, she was pushing back, and quickly used her weapon to get some footing...and activate a summoning Glyph. If he was bringing out his big guns, then it was time she brought out hers. Literally.

Flynt wasn't sure what the Glyph was doing, but he quickly got his answer, as rising from it was… a HUGE set of cannons "What the flying heck?!" he and his three copies spoke in unison.

"Wait… those are Machinedramon's cannons." Pyrrha noticed with a blink.

"How the heck did she summon those?" Nora wondered.

"Well, since Veemon and I were the ones who beat him, we ended up learning that whatever I beat, Weiss can summon herself. We tested that out the other day and she ended up summoning a Devidramon by accident." Tentomon explained.

"Well… I guess Weiss has a huge arsenal then." Ruby said after a moment.

"Ready… aim…" Weiss said to herself, the cannons reacting to her words, first lifting up slightly and starting to charge, and then taking aim at Flynt, whose eyes widened when he realised what was about to happen. "Fire Infinity Cannon!"

Flynt had exactly 2 seconds to undo his Semblance and duck for cover, just BARELY managing to get out of the way… not that it helped as the blasts hit the center of the Volcanic Biome...and caused a mushroom cloud explosion, the force sending Flynt flying till he landed outside of the arena, dazed and dizzy, but unscathed… which was a lot more than could be said for the Volcanic Biome which now had a large crater in its center.

"Uh…that was rather...destructive…" Port blinked, as literally everyone had stopped and stared at the destruction. Even Weiss was wide eyed at how much damage that caused and was now VERY glad she hadn't actually hit Flynt with that.

"Uh...I don't think you want to use that again...or at all…" Yang blinked owlishly.

"Yes, please Miss Schnee, save that for the vicious monsters rather than people." Leomon added through the speakers, not expecting the girl to end up pulling the weapons of one of the Dark Masters into the fight.

"Noted." Weiss said after a moment, dismissing the cannons.

It took a few moments for the shock to die down, but the fight quickly resumed...with the notable difference being Neon was notably….mute. Apparently she'd decided that it was better to NOT risk Weiss pulling out anything else that might be very...destructive…

Even with her teammate down, Neon was still hard to catch, maintaining her speed this time to focus on control, which proved quite difficult for Weiss and Yang to catch. "Okay, we need a new plan. Either some way to get us closer to her, or some way to make her stop moving," Yang frowned.

Weiss didn't say anything, looking around...and spotted some of the geysers. "I think I have an idea. Just be ready to shoot," she smirked, before creating several more Glyphs, all of which she used only a bit of dust to create some ice spikes. Still they had the intended effect as Neon moved to avoid them.

Yang saw where Weiss was looking and nodded in understanding, firing shots as well, further adjusting Neon's movements...right till she aimed a shot at the ground, at the same time Weiss created a few more pillars, forcing Neon to trip and fall right into a geyser which shot her into the air, followed by Weiss launching Yang through the air, and right at Neon who got a punch in the gut, and was promptly sent out of the ring.

"And just like that, Team RWGBY wins the match!" Port cheered.

"Well, that went well." Yang grinned a bit.

"Certainly better than canon." Weiss muttered next to her.

"Well, considering you pulled the big guns...literally...I can imagine how it'd go well for us," Yang chuckled.

Weiss didn't say anything in response as they left the arena, and soon the next match was being announced. The results being Team JNPPR versus...Team NDGO.

"Oh no." Pierce groaned that NDGO had opted to send Nebula and Marcus on to the doubles round, while their own team had sent him and Pyrrha.

Pyrrha herself winced at the sight "Well… this is going to be difficult." she said.

"And DEFINITELY not in the original plans," Gyro added with a groan.

"Well, guess we have no choice but to plan accordingly," Jaune sighed. "Any ideas?"

"Well...I'd say either issolate or avoid Marcus. One on one I don't think anyone can beat him," Ruby frowned.

"That...actually, we MIGHT just be able to work with that," Pierce mused, the gears turning in his head.

* * *

Pierce cracked his fingers a bit nervously as he stood with Pyrrha in the arena, right across from him were Marcus and Nebula.

"Huh… always wanted to see just how invincible the 'Invincible Girl' was." the brawler mused.

"Does that mean he's gonna gun right for me?" Pyrrha whispered to Pierce, just a tiny bit on edge.

"Highly likely, be ready to dodge." he shot back, hoping the bare minimum of a plan he had in mind would work.

Right after he said that, the roulettes to select the biomes started spinning, eventually landing on Icefield, Savannah, Mountain and… City Ruins.

"Oh thank god my semblance gave us an edge." Pierce said with a sigh of relief, having felt a small pulse from his Crest just before the fourth biome was chosen.

"We can work with this." Pyrrha said, feeling a bit more confident with the terrain they were given.

The countdown began, and the moment it hit 0, both Pierce and Pyrrha split up, Pyrrha going straight for the City Ruins, while Pierce went for the Savannah.

"Nikos is mine," Marcus grinned, looking forward to the fight as he ran straight for the City Ruins.

"Hey wa-!" Nebula started, but too late. "...musclehead…" she groaned before aiming for the City Ruins...until a grappling hook came flying and pulled her into the Savannah.

In the City Ruins, Marcus was walking through the biome, looking around for his opponent, before he saw a glint at the corner of his eye, and in a flash, grabbed a rock and hurled it in that direction, hitting whatever made it...and found it was a piece of metal that had a reflective surface. Frowning, he was on guard...before he heard some rocks shifting, and quickly turned...and found nothing. "Stop running away!" he growled, starting to run through the Biome in search of his target.

At the same time, Nebula had been dragged into the Savannah Biome, and groaned as she got up, the grappling hook having unwinded and retracted before she spun to a halt. Looking around she was in the middle of the tall grass and thus unable to easily see. Frowning, she got her crossbow out, and carefully walked through the grass, trying to find her opponent. She was so focused on what she could see, she never noticed a small object roll around near her leg, before she bumped it and an explosion occurred, knocking her back on the ground, to which she quickly rolled to her belly...and saw several more of those balls roll near her. "...crud…" she managed to say before several more explosions hit, knocking her out of the grass, and taking about half her Aura with them.

Marcus heard the explosions and almost turned to see if Nebula was okay...only for Pyrrha to show up on the top of one of the ruins, before she threw a pair of metal poles, which he managed to avoid one and knocked another aside, his fist starting to ignite with a small aura when he punched it aside. "Finally got tired of running?" he smirked.

"Oh, something like that," Pyrrha chuckled, before throwing Akuou, which rebounded off the ground in a way that forced Marcus to evade, before it rebounded back to her, though Marcus took advantage of that and charged at her. However, using her Semblance, Pyrrha carefully manipulated the metal that encircled parts of her body to help her twist and dodge Marcus's punches, while countering whenever he she could. She knew the plan. She had to keep Marcus busy until Pierce was done dealing with Nebula.

Speaking of which, Nebula was pinned down as every time she tried to find Pierce, she was met with a shotgun blast, followed by a figure darting around, changing hiding spots quickly, making it hard for her to pin him down. Worse, she realized Marcus had walked into a trap of some kind, cause every time she TRIED to get to the City Ruins, she was met with gunfire, followed by a whip which snared her leg, pulling her off her feet, and pulling her away from the City Ruins.

She groaned, getting more and more annoyed.

"Dammit stop hiding!" she growled a bit.

"If that's what you want." he said… right behind her.

She barely had time to turn around before she was socked in the face with a hard straight, sending her flying out of the tall grass, dazed for a moment, before falling unconscious as her aura fell in the red.

"And Nebula is out of the match! Now it's only Marcus against both Pierce and Pyrrha." Leomon announced, getting Marcus's attention.

"Wait, what?!" he shouted incredulously.

"Yeah, you fell for it," Pierce chuckled, before he fired a net, hampering Marcus's movements. "See, after we saw the match against Sun's team, we realized going head on against you is suicide, so we came up with this plan to keep you two separated."

"We even requested not to have any Digimon join us so you couldn't get GeoAgumon's help," Pyrrha agreed.

"Well that's a dirty trick," Marcus growled ripping the net off.

"Sorry musclehead, it's just tactics," Pierce said, before the two of them began circling him, both attacking in perfect coordination. True enough, while Marcus was able to fend off one attack, the others started to get in, while Pyrrha also grabbed some of the surrounding debris to use as additional projectiles, using her powers subtly to manipulate them, and even tripped Marcus up using some metal rods. At the same time Pierce was peppering him with various fast attacks, both of them pinning him down. Even with Marcus activating his semblance on some parts, he just couldn't keep up, and before long his aura hit the red.

"And in a complete victory, Team JNPPR has claimed the match!" Port said.

"A rather impressive show of tactics and the use of previous knowledge, they completely outmaneuvered Team NDGO," Leomon nodded.

"Hook line and sinker," Gyro couldn't help but chuckle as the rest of the group had been watching.

"Yes, with how Marcus was, it was easy enough to guess he'd go after Pyrrha looking for a fight," Weiss nodded. Really, Marcus's personality from what they'd heard from Sun was as easy to read as an open book, something they'd taken full advantage of.

* * *

Later in the evening, things had started to settle down around the school, the sun setting on the horizon.

It was to that, that Pyrrha was called to Ozpin's office.

"Well… seems like we're heading straight to it then." she said, feeling a bit nervous as Jaune hugged her.

"You'll be alright, just do your best to act like you don't know what's going on." he reassured her.

"And of course, we'll be listening in, just to make sure nothing goes wrong." Gyro said as he handed her circlet over to her, showing a little chip had been put on the inside of it.

"And they can't stop me from going with you even if they tried." Gabumon added with a smile.

"Right… wish me luck everyone." Pyrrha said, before she and Gabumon left the room and headed towards the elevator, taking it up to Ozpin's office.

When they stepped in, they saw Qrow leaning against one of the pillars in the room, Ozpin sitting at his desk patiently. "You wanted to see me, Professor Ozpin?" Pyrrha asked, doing her best to act like she had no clue what was going on.

"Yes, welcome Ms. Nikos," Ozpin said with a small smile. "Come, please have a seat," he said to which she obeyed, Gabumon standing next to her. "Now then, I see your team has been doing well in the tournament. A fine use of teamwork in your last match," he said. "And it comes as no surprise they've chosen you to move on to the finals. After all, your performance has been exemplary."

"Thank you, Professor, but I couldn't have gone this far without everyone's help," Pyrrha said with a smile, which Gabumon returned, even if he didn't say anything.

"Well, good teammates DO make a good team," Qrow chuckled.

"Ah yes, it's nice to meet you again Mr. Branwen," Pyrrha chuckled, before her expression turned serious. "Though...if you don't mind me asking, why have you called me here?"

Ozpin sighed a little at that. "Tell me Ms. Nikos, what is your favorite fairy tale?"

"That's...a strange question to ask, but I suppose there's the tale of the two brothers, the shallow seas...oh and the tale of the seasons," Pyrrha said with a small chuckle, having purposely dropped that one.

"Ah yes, I was hoping you'd know that one in particular," Ozpin chuckled, before his expression turned serious. "Now...what if I told you it were true?"

"I'm...sorry?" Pyrrha blinked. "I must admit, even with the Digimon and everything that's happened, that's really quite...something…"

Ozpin nodded in understanding "True, however, it's the truth. Those four maidens exist, and they wield amazing power, not like a semblance, but like magic."

"Are we talking magic like Wizardmon or…?" Gabumon asked unsurely.

"I guess it's kinda similar." Qrow mused "But, it's also on a whole other level, literally. If I were to compare it, a Maiden is as strong as a Perfect Level I figure."

"That would be accurate." Summer said as she suddenly arrived through the window with Renamon.

"Must you always use the window?" Ozpin asked with a raised eyebrow.

"If it makes me badass? Yes." was Summer's simple answer.

"So, you say that a Maiden would be roughly at the level of power of a Perfect Level? That's… certainly strong." Pyrrha admitted, but kept to herself how there was far stronger standing right next to her.

"Yes… and we believe that YOU, Miss Nikos, are next in line to inherit that strength." Ozpin told her.

"I… see." Pyrrha said, even already knowing in advance, this was still hard to hear. "But...I don't fully understand…"

"Of course, I hadn't finished explaining," Ozpin chuckled. "But suffice to say, we need your help," he said, and on cue, the elevator opened, with Glynda and Ironwood walking in.

"Sorry we're late," Ironwood said.

"Okay...I get the feeling this is gonna be a long story," Gabumon sweat dropped.

"Yeah, you'd be right about that," Qrow chuckled.

* * *

The ride down the elevator was… certainly cramped, what with 6 people and 2 Digimon piling in.

"How much longer?" Renamon said, just a slight bit of irritation in her tone as she was squeezed a bit between Summer and Qrow.

"We're almost there." Ozpin said with a sigh, himself feeling a smidge uncomfortable with Gabumon's horn poking his side slightly.

"Maybe two trips back up would be best rather than all piling in." Ironwood suggested.

"That sounds like a great idea. Let's do that," Summer sighed.

Eventually the ride came to an end and everyone got out with a sigh of relief.

"Maybe you should consider getting a bigger elevator...or more than one," Gabumon suggested as he got out.

"I would but adding more would be a security risk," Ozpin sighed, before they continued onward.

"Where ARE we going actually?" Pyrrha asked, as the brothers hadn't given her ALL the details, just enough she wouldn't be caught flat-footed, but they told her there were some things it was best she saw herself.

"Well, we're in the vault, WAY deep below Beacon. You won't find it on any maintenance plans or things like that." Qrow explained.

"We're below sea level, if that helps a bit to figure out how deep exactly." Ironwood supplied helpfully.

"I see. So, you said I'm next in line to inherit the powers of a Maiden? How does that work exactly?" Pyrrha asked.

"Through a series of dumb and annoying rules." Qrow said with a snort.

"He's not wrong." Summer said with a sigh.

"True." Glynda sighed, before turning to Pyrrha "At first, it was believed that the powers were just simply passed on to young women, but over the years, it was found that there are a few more rules at work. The first candidate for inheritance is always the last person to be in the thoughts of the previous maiden upon her death."

"Which can probably be abused by evil people." Gabumon said with a frown.

Glynda nodded with her own frown "Yes, it's believed to have happen a few times in history. However, if the last person in the maiden's thoughts is a man or an elderly woman, the powers will fly off randomly."

"Making our job FAR more difficult." Ironwood added.

"I...can imagine that would be problematic…" Pyrrha sweat dropped. The twins had already explained that bit, but no matter how many times she'd heard it, it still felt extremely cumbersome. "But...if I am to inherit this power, why not wait until I've graduated?" Pyrrha asked. It was an honest point.

"Honestly? Because we're almost out of time," Qrow sighed.

"Out of time? Is the maiden dying?" Gabumon asked.

"That and many more things," Qrow sighed. "The world's been getting scarier lately and I don't mean because of wild Digimon. Tensions are rising, Grimm are getting stronger and more prevalent, and at this rate the peace we've been enjoying is going to come to an abrupt end."

"I'll be honest, compared to 10 years ago, Remnant has gotten worse than I remember," Summer frowned. "Sure it had its problems, but nothing we couldn't handle. Now...I KNOW the Grimm weren't this strong in some cases."

"And that's without counting the insane weather patterns, it's like somebody up there is trying to say the apocalypse is coming." Glynda added with a sigh.

"That's...very worrying," Pyrrha frowned, though inwardly she and Gabumon, as well as Summer, Renamon and the other Chosen listening in all sweatdropped, knowing that there WAS someone upstairs who had something in the works...just not for Remnant. "But...with the way you're talking, it's as if you're expecting war."

"Not between nations at least," Ironwood sighed.

"Well, that can wait for now. First of all you just need to know that the Maiden we want you to inherit the powers from was attacked, and for the first time in history, part of her powers were stolen," Qrow frowned.

"So, somebody out there is running around with a portion of her power and likely doing something evil with it." Gabumon frowned, trying not to get TOO angry as he knew who, and he KNEW he was going to kill her if she tried to hurt his partner.

"That's the gist of it yeah." Qrow sighed, as they reached the end of the corridor, and sitting in some sort of pod was a young woman with dark skin, burn scars on her face.

"That's her? The real Fall Maiden?" Pyrrha asked.

"Yes, this is Amber. It's sad to say, but her life hangs in the balance. And we don't know what the portion of the powers she still holds onto will do upon her death." Ozpin said sadly.

"But the highest chance is that it'll try to reunite with the rest of itself." Gabumon said, earning nods.

"Then just how would I even inherit these powers?" Pyrrha asked.

"That's where General Ironwood comes in." Ozpin said, directing her attention to the Atlesian General.

"In recent years, Atlas has been studying Aura, and the way it works, as deeply as possible, and we've made… significant strides." Ironwood said, and Pyrrha knew he was referring to Penny "We believe we may have found a way to capture Aura."

"Capture it… and then put it into something… or in this case, someONE." Qrow said, taking a sip from his flask.

"That's… wrong! On SO many levels!" Pyrrha couldn't help but say.

"You're basically saying that this would fuse Amber's soul to Pyrrha's own, that just… that sounds so crazy!" Gabumon added.

"Trust me Pyrrha, you're not the only one who brought that up." Summer said, shooting Ironwood a look.

"But desperate times call for desperate measures." Glynda added with a frown.

"Of course, question is, what's the merging of those two souls going to do to Pyrrha Nikos? Will she still be here, or will someone new be in her body?" Qrow said, swirling the drink around in his flask.

"That's insane!" Gabumon growled, finding it harder and harder to keep his emotions under control.

"We understand it is, but as it is, this is our last resort," Ozpin sighed.

"But if this is so important, why have you kept it secret?" Pyrrha asked, even if she had an idea.

"Because once upon a time people did know, and when they did, everyone who wanted the power, everyone who SHOULDN'T have it, went after the Maidens," Qrow said bluntly.

"If this were to get out, it would cause panic, it would cause chaos," Ozpin sighed. "That is why we would like you to-"

"I'll do it," Pyrrha sighed.

"Pyrrha!" Gabumon said in alarm.

"I can't just do nothing, Gabumon," Pyrrha sighed. "I have to at least try to help."

"Miss Nikos… are you absolutely positive about this?" Ozpin asked her seriously.

"I want to help sir, if this can let me do it… then I will." Pyrrha said, Gabumon frowning but keeping quiet.

"Alright… now, this will take a few days to set up, so we can't do this now, however, know that within those days, we won't blame you if you change your mind." Ozpin told her.

"Thank you professor." Pyrrha said with a nod.

* * *

"I can't believe you agreed." Gyro groaned as Pyrrha had returned after about half an hour.

"Sorry." Pyrrha said with a blush "I just thought that maybe we would get lucky, so I thought it was worth a shot."

"Well, what's done is done," Pierce sighed. "Let's just continue with the plan as much as we can."

"Right, first things first, Mercury," Ren agreed. "Knowing that we'll likely never get to see the end of the tournament, there's little point in maintaining our standing."

"I know I know, make it look good then throw the match," Yang sighed. Though she didn't care much for the plan, she knew it was the better option all things considered.

* * *

 **And there's the chapter!**

 **So, now you all finally know what a Crimson Soul is.**

 **Yeah, it's... scary to imagine going up against one.**

 **We also showed off Yoshino's fighting style, and yeah, she's basically like Black Canary, while her gun (when IN gun mode) is basically Carmelita's Shock Pistol in Sly Cooper.**

 **Other than that, Volume 3 is progressing... pretty quickly at that, but, either way, see you in a few, because...**

 **The Adventure Evolves.**


	58. 57: Battle of Beacon!

**And here's the second one, as promised!**

 **Not much to say here, so let's get to it!**

* * *

 **Battle of Beacon!**

* * *

"After an incredible series of matches, the time you've all been waiting for has finally arrived!" Port said into the microphone. "I present to you our finalists for the Vytal Festival's singles tournament!"

As he announced that, the participants for the finals were lined up, though the Chosen as a whole weren't really paying attention, having spread out a bit in such a way they were in somewhat close proximity to Cinder and Emerald without being too obvious. As such, they sort of tuned out the details of the finals, until the 'random' draw for the matches, and as expected, the first match was between Yang and Mercury.

"Be ready for anything people." Gyro whispered into an earpiece he was wearing, everyone giving a small sound of confirmation.

"Think everything will work out?" Agumon asked him.

"No way of knowing in advance buddy, but that's why we made sure to have so many backup plans in case the main one fails." Gyro said with a sigh.

Yang readied herself down in the arena, making sure to remind herself to stay calm through the whole thing so she could make it all look good and throw the match without suspicion.

"What, no jokes? No witty banter?" Mercury asked opposite of her with a smirk.

Yang shrugged "Hey, it's the finals, gotta take this seriously."

"Fair enough." Mercury said, just as the buzzer rang.

The moment the buzzer rang, both of them charged forward, Yang's punch meeting Mercury's kick. The impact caused both to recoil a bit, but that didn't stop them for long as they began clashing again, matching each other blow for blow. Yang quickly started using the shotguns in her gauntlets to try and gain an advantage, but Mercury countered them with the shots from his legs, before using one such shot to gain some air superiority and land a drop kick on her which she blocked, then countered with a kick of her own, pushing him back. The two smirked at each other before running forward and began a back and forth of close quarter combat, neither giving an inch. The arena was starting to get damaged as explosions and impacts sounded out from the exchange of powerful blows and gunfire. Eventually Yang found an opening in his attacks and landed a solid punch to the gut, followed by a few more shots, sending him skidding back till he almost fell out of the arena, if not for his quick use of his legs to propel himself back in.

Mercury grunted from the near loss, before he began to deliver a rapid series of kicks which she quickly blocked or evaded, one such kick pushing her back...before he began rapidly firing shots around him, the shots laced with wind dust as he continued firing and soon pulled into what could only be called a break dance, creating a veritable tornado of wind dust shots. Yang frowned, bracing herself knowing this was her chance, so to make it look good, she began countering with a few shots of her own, destroying a chunk of the wind dust shots, but eventually they broke through her defense and caused a sizeable explosion, one she could have tanked...but this time she relaxed, blocking the shots and letting the momentum push her right out of the arena. She'd made sure to use up all her shots in her gauntlets that way she had a believable excuse as to WHY she didn't just fire herself back up.

"Oooh! And with that, Miss Xiao Long loses the match to most of Beacon's disappointment. I honestly expected her to win this one with how effective she is in combat class." Port said, a bit of disappointment in his tone.

"Indeed Peter, but Mr. Black was a tough challenge and ended up coming out on top in the end, so let's give him a round of applause everybody." Leomon added.

And applause they did, congratulating Mercury for his victory, nobody save those in the know noting his confusion. After all...he was sure he hadn't made that combo THAT strong.

"This...wasn't supposed to happen," Cinder frowned under her breath. This was supposed to have ended with Mercury losing, followed by an illusion to make a little...accident. Something that was impossible if Mercury WON. "No matter...we can still salvage this," she said to herself, never noticing the small smirk on Gyro's face as he was near enough to hear that.

* * *

Where in canon the tournament was seemingly stalled for an entire day, but with the lack of a certain 'accident', there was no such reason and thus the tournament went accordingly. A couple more matches passed, before finally it was the moment the Chosen had been waiting for. Pyrrha vs Penny.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the next round is a matchup I think we're all looking forward to. A battle between the Invincible Girl, Pyrrha Nikos, against Atlas's rising star, Penny Polendina!" Port announced.

"I must admit I too am curious of how this match will go. So far both have exhibited impressive combat skills, and with this we shall be able to see who of the two will come out on top," Leomon nodded. "Whatever the case, I wish for an honorable match between them. May the best warrior win."

"Honorable, huh? That's ironic," Pyrrha couldn't help but chuckle.

"If it's all the same I wouldn't mind one of those another time," Penny said.

"It's a promise," Pyrrha nodded with a smile, before they put some distance between each other and the countdown began. Once it hit zero, the buzzer sounded and the match was on. Penny immediately pulled out and manipulated her swords in an almost dance like motion, but she purposely drew it out a bit, allowing Pyrrha to CLEARLY see how many swords she had, even lining them up before launching them forward. Pyrrha quickly went into action, blocking and evading the swords, but Penny quickly closed the distance, manipulating them like a pair of sharp wings which struck at Pyrrha in waves.

Pyrrha blocked and evaded and soon found an opening, landing a kick to Penny, pushing her back, but Penny rolled with the blow, manipulating her weapons to circle her and shifted them to gun mode, firing green lasers at Pyrrha who was forced to dodge again, using the movements to get closer, all the while deflecting swords, before finally she managed to ram into Penny, sending her flying back. Of course, that wasn't the end as Penny came flying back using her swords in gun mode like a jetpack, propelling her back towards Pyrrha, before landing a strong strike that cracked the arena, forcing Pyrrha to dodge, and at that moment, one of the swords came flying and knocked Milo out of her hand, to which she tried to call it back, but it was further deflected.

Penny was at the ready, controlling all her swords, raised and ready for a final strike...and at that moment Pyrrha suddenly saw them all multiply. It was time. Letting out a shout of distress and panic, she raised her shield defensively, and at that moment, Penny threw her swords forward with everything she had, the impact sending Pyrrha flying back, right out of the arena. And with that the match was over.

A stunned silence rolled through the arena as Pyrrha fell out of the ring, Penny standing and grinning silently, before she started cheering a bit, which seemed to trigger everyone who started to cheer and clap for her.

"My word! Penny Polendina has won! She's defeated Miss Nikos!" Port was pleasantly surprised at the turnout.

"I suppose that although Miss Nikos was touted as being Invincible, it just goes to show there's always someone better." Leomon added with a chuckle.

Pyrrha couldn't help herself from smiling a bit as she stood up while the ring floated down. Maybe now that she'd finally lost, the media would let her fade away, and she could finally become a normal girl again. "Congratulations Penny, that was a great match." she said with a smile, though she and Penny made sure not to make any sudden moves no matter WHAT they saw. The last thing they wanted was for Emerald to try and spring a last minute trick on them.

Cinder was glaring at the scene before her, internally wondering how and why nothing was going as planned. Why didn't that Xiao Long girl counter Mercury's attack? Why didn't Pyrrha Nikos use her semblance in a way that would have ended in Polendina's death. Still, while annoying, this was still recoverable. She still had 2 key cards to play and that would cause more impact than a few mishaps ever could, so she was still in control overall. Now the question was, should she give the signal now, or later?

She soon felt an answer come, when the camera panned around the stadium as the fat professor gave some commentary and analysis...before she noticed a figure among the crowds. A familiar image of a man in a unicorn mask and hood...with his mouth visible, a smirk appearing as he seemed to look right at her and turned to walk away.

Cinder's grip on her seat tightened as she discreetly signalled to Neo to hide her as she left her seat.

She was NOT going to let those damned Foretellers ruin her plans!

Besides, she still had a way to get Grimm to come here in droves.

Soon standing at the top of the stands near the exit, Cinder first had to make a quick call, and the one who answered, was a woman with skin white as snow, black veins on her face, her pupils red and the sclera black, her hair as white as her skin.

"Cinder… why are you calling?" the woman asked seriously.

"Lady Salem… the plan has hit a bit of snag, but it's still salvageable. I just need to make a request of you." Cinder pleaded with the woman.

Salem hummed after listening to her words "Speak child."

"I need you to order some of the biggest Grimm on the continent to head towards Vale, it's all I need." Cinder explained.

Salem nodded "A simple request, it shall be done. Now… don't disappoint me Cinder."

"Of course not mistress." Cinder said with a bow as the call ended. As she straightened up, she pressed on her scroll, preparing the Castle Virus, while sending a signal to the White Fang. It was time to begin the operation. At the same time, the many Grimm outside of Vale suddenly shifted, turning their sights on the city walls, among them the Goliaths who'd roamed the wilds for so long, and they began to charge forward.

A tremor hit as the signals in the arena were jammed, making the arena unable to get any messages out or in save for those from nearby. "What in the world is going on here?!" Port said in alarm.

"I don't know, but I can tell we're not going to like it," Leomon frowned. He got his answer when a Nevermore landed on top of the Arena, and began pecking at the shield on top.

"Whelp, there's the signal. Time to get to work," Sun frowned, with everyone in the Chosen's inner circle getting out of their seats and moving to the exits. It was time to man the defenses.

Outside the city, the Grimm were rushing on towards it, aiming straight for the outer walls, either to break through them, or to climb over… and of course, the Goliath chose to break through the walls, being followed behind by Boarbatusk, Ursa, Creeps, Deathstalkers, Taijitus, Beringels and Hell Marches, while the Beowolves actually climbed over and attacked any guards stationed up, while Nevermores and Gryphons swarmed the skies.

"Warning: Threat Level 10" an automated voice sounded out over the speaker system of the arena, repeating those words on playback.

"Wait, 10? Well, shit, that's actually one higher than it should be." Gyro muttered into his earpiece.

"Oh boy, that's bad, that probably means Salem stepped up doesn't it?" Ruby said with a worried frown.

"So, big bad witch ordered the Grimm to strike herself huh? Let's hope we're able to handle that." Scarlet summed up what they were all thinking.

"Either way, time to go all out I think." Pierce said.

"Yeah, time to kick butt with nothing to hold us back" Veemon cheered, as everyone grabbed their Digivices which quickly started to shine, and when they reached the exit, all Digimon evolved to their highest level that was capable of flight, those that couldn't just got on top of the bigger ones, however, they made sure not to fly higher than the arena, at least not yet.

Meanwhile, over in one of the many Atlesian airships that HAD been preparing to attack the oncoming force of Grimm, everyone was… well, dead.

Everyone except for a lone, short figure with pink and brown hair that had white streaks in it, wearing an atlas uniform covered in blood while she wiped the blood off her umbrella, a cane attached to her hip and a bowler hat on her head. She then walked to one of the holding cells and opened it, revealing Roman Torchwick.

"Well…" he smirked, seeing Neo. "It's about time."

* * *

Back in the arena, Ironwood was futilely trying to maintain order, while also ordering his ships to get into defensive position...only one wasn't responding. To make matters worse, a few minutes later, that same ship began opening fire on the arena, and the city nearby, throwing the people into a further panic.

Atlesian Knights were quickly deployed as well, aiming to stop the Grimm, but they were having limited success due to the sheer number. The Grimm were clearly aiming to tear Vale apart judging by the sheer numbers of these things. It was at that moment that several Knights suddenly gained red visors...and turned on each other and the people, followed by the static on the feeds changed, to show a black rook chess piece, one that was visible throughout the city.

"This is not a tragedy nor is it an accident," came Cinder's voice from the feeds. "This...is something that had been long coming, what happens when you place your trust, your safety, your children, in men who claim to be your protectors, who claim to fight for peace," she said with a smirk as she spoke into her Scroll. "Have you not all wondered why this fleet had been here? It was to wait for this moment, for the peace we've all enjoyed is fra-" she didn't get to finish.

"Fragile peace, impending war, bla bla bla. Could you GET anymore cliche?" the feed was suddenly cut off and in its place was a new image one that showed a man wearing a unicorn mask in a hood with his mouth covered, his voice altered. "Oh I'm sorry, was I interrupting? Well let me say this much, pay no attention to the creepy psychopath who was aiming to rile up the Kingdoms and usher in an age of strife for all of Remnant. And yes Cinder Fall, we were well aware that you had this planned, well aware of your plans long before you put them into fruition. As I said before, don't underestimate the Foretellers."

Cinder glared at her scroll, and spoke into it, somewhat surprised to find she could still be heard. "Oh? And yet here is another who claims to be a guardian. You speak of knowing this would happen, yet you did nothing to stop it," she smirked.

"Who said we didn't have a counter set in place?" 'Ira' smirked, before he raised a hand, and snapped his fingers. Suddenly several explosions happened through the city, followed by the feed showing the Grimm in the city now being decimated by the dozens, as a group of Digimon easily tore through them, while carefully avoiding doing collateral damage...as much as they could anyway. "Oh and while we're at it, virus off," 'Ira' added, before the Atlesian Knights visors turned blue and fired on the Grimm. "And overdrive." Now the Knights were basically having more dakka in their guns and moving speed, and were soon mowing down Grimm...though they did sorta break down after a few minutes.

"You… you…!" Cinder seethed at her plan falling into ruins.

"You know… if I were you, I'd haul ass before someone spots you hiding out in that corridor up there." 'Ira' said tauntingly, and from where he was, saw everyone turning to the corridor in question, a small light above it starting to blink to indicate which one it was.

If looks could kill, Ira would have been a smouldering pile, but as it was, that was not reality, so Cinder had no choice but to make a run for it. Still she knew there was a chance, as even WITH the new changes, panic had already set in in the city as the destruction was still going on, and from what she could tell, the Foretellers were still unaware of her prize. She could still salvage this situation. Of course that was also when she noticed MORE Digimon pouring into the city, and helping with the defenses, meaning she REALLY had to get her goal or else she wouldn't be able to show her face around Salem anymore. A small glimmer of hope came to her though when among the confusion and panic, a large figure could be seen flying towards Vale in the distance.

* * *

"There it is." Gyro said with narrowed eyes as he stood in Beacon's courtyard, eyeing the form of the Wyvern, WarGreymon landing not far from him and looking up at the Grimm.

"Should I take care of him quickly?" he asked.

"Wait a bit, but don't be afraid to take a few pot shots at it from afar. You're the best one for this job with the Dramon Killers." Gyro told him, WarGreymon nodding as he took back to the skies.

"Gyro!" Ruby called as she and Penny came closer. "The two of us are going to try and regain control of the airship Torchwick took over," she said so he'd know where they were going.

"Alright, but be careful. Even with the two of you, Roman and Neo aren't gonna be easy opponents," Gyro cautioned.

"Don't worry, Monodramon is coming with us," Penny said.

"And Rosemon will keep control of things near the airship, so she'll help if we ever need it," Ruby added.

"Alright. Good luck both of you," Gyro nodded before Ruby called her locker, and latched on to it, Penny doing the same with her own locker, both soon taking off into the air. Not long after they left, Blake, Yang, and Pierce came over too.

"Things are getting more or less under control here," Pierce reported.

"So we're going to deal with the Grimm in other sections of Beacon," Yang said.

"And its time we also confronted Adam," Blake added.

"Right, be careful. Even with our new weapons, I don't think we should test how durable they are against Moonslice," Gyro nodded.

"Don't need to tell us twice," Pierce said dryly. "Don't worry, our partners will stick near us, so we'll have backup if things get...hairy."

"Just be careful, I'd rather all of us get out of this in one piece rather than us saving Yang's arm but someone else losing something," Gyro frowned.

"Yeah, we'll definitely keep that in mind," Yang shivered. She was NOT going to charge head first knowing what Adam could do.

The three were soon on their way, before again, more of his group found him. This time it was Pyrrha and Jaune. "We're going to the vault," was all Pyrrha said.

"As long as you're sure. It didn't work in the original scenario, so I don't know if anything will change now. Either way, be careful," Gyro said.

"Don't need to tell us twice," Jaune sighed.

"Besides, we're coming too," Gabumon said as he and Gomamon were by their sides, having reverted to avoid any suspicion. With that, the four of them went back into Beacon.

"Alright… who's left with me now?" Gyro asked, turning around to see Team SSSN, Weiss, Ren and Nora with him, more students slowly arriving.

"Time to kick some Grimm butt." Nora said with a grin.

Gyro chuckled "Well, you heard the lady men, let's do it!"

* * *

Blake, Yang, and Pierce made their way through the areas of Beacon, taking out any Grimm they could find. They soon reached the cafeteria which was on fire. "I know this is a bit inappropriate, but something smells good," Pierce couldn't help but say, as apparently someone left food in there...which the fire was cooking.

"We'll tell the Digimon after we deal with Adam." Yang said with a snort.

"We should be able to handle him with the three of us. It helps we have our upgraded weapons." Blake said, feeling a bit more confident with Yang and Pierce with her, and all of them sporting a Chrome Digizoid coating on their weapons.

"But like Gyro said, if he's about to launch Moonslice, get the hell out of the way," Pierce reminded, to which both nodded. NONE of them were feeling like testing their weapon durability on that. The group soon found their way into the building, just in time to see Adam cut down the last of the AKs that were inside.

Once upon a time Blake knew she would have been afraid...but after her life changing journey through the Digital World...she could confidently say that Adam didn't even come close to the worst things she'd faced. As such… "Of course YOU'D be here," she said, her tone more annoyed than anything else, as after everything she'd been through, and after peeling the layers back...she realized just how pathetic her former friend and mentor had become. A shell of his former self even if he'd claim otherwise.

"Well well, I was wondering when I'd run into you," Adam smirked, seeing Blake. "What's the matter, not happy to see me?"

"I'd be happier to see a Deathstalker than you," Blake said flatly. "So is this what the White Fang has been reduced to? A group so hell bent on revenge they'd work with the Grimm and attacking a school of students who may or may not be able to defend themselves? And here I thought you couldn't get any more petty."

Adam's posture shifted ever so slightly, showing his surprise at her words, before growling lowly "Petty? You may find it petty, but the White Fang will go any length necessary to FINALLY end the blight on the world that are humans!"

"Is that what you're telling yourself this time?" Blake shook her head in annoyance. "Look around you, the only thing this is going to accomplish is even more violence between the two races, and maybe humans will get wiped out, or maybe it'll be the other way around. Maybe Faunus will get wiped out, or heck, maybe even both species. Not that you care. You haven't cared for years," Blake snorted. "That's all this has ever been for a while hasn't it? It's not Faunus rights, it's just you and everyone like you wanting to hurt as many as they can just to make yourselves feel better," she glared. "You're just using our past to justify yourselves."

"Nice," Yang couldn't help but smirk at that burn.

Adam's growl of rage was more audible now, before he seemed to compose himself and laughed, as if to some joke only he knew "I see now. The only way to show you how wrong you are is by making you feel the same pain you've made ME feel Blake. So I'll destroy everything you love and hold dear, starting with your friends."

"...did you hit your head since I last saw you or were you always that crazy?" Blake deadpanned. Seriously, after the Digital World, threats on her life were basically the norm after how many evil and/or feral Digimon tried to kill them.

"Probably a bit of column A and column B," Pierce mused.

"If that's the kind of crazy the White Fang let in now, no wonder they went off the deep end," Yang sweat dropped. Somehow seeing this guy acting like a jealous ex-boyfriend killed some of the intimidation factor he had a few seconds ago.

Adam snarled before charging forward, aiming to cut them apart, but the three of them got out of the way, Blake even leaving a stone clone in her place, causing Wilt to get stuck in it, followed by all three of them shooting him in the back, causing him to stumble forward.

"Is that what you've become my love? A coward?" Adam snarled.

"Says the guy burning down a school using the creatures hell bent on destroying both humans AND faunus," Blake shot back. "And for the record, whatever MIGHT have been between us died the moment you killed that woman, and for what? Having a child with a human? A child that would have been a Faunus at that?!" she glared.

"We were going to change the world!" Adam countered. "We were going to light the fires of revolution!"

"I wanted peace. You just want to kill people so you can feel better about yourself," Blake said as the group continued to open fire, maintaining some distance knowing he was mainly a close range fighter. "I'll light a revolution alright, but I'll do it without you even remotely in the picture."

"What you want is impossible!" Adam snarled, managing to block a few shots, charging his semblance a little.

"Only because of people like YOU!" Blake roared. "Humans, Faunus, everyone like you regardless of species, you're all the reason we can never have peace! None of you want it! You just want to hurt each other and keep hurting till either one or both sides are gone!" she shouted. "THAT isn't a revolution, it's a stupid war that only a complete MORON could even remotely consider it a step forward!"

"And mind you, in case you didn't notice, we and everyone in Beacon can see Blake's ears, and we accept her just fine," Yang added.

"So yeah, that 'impossibility'? That's all just you," Pierce chuckled.

Adam was clearly too enraged for words, instead simply roaring in rage as he dashed towards them and tried to cut them to ribbons… keyword being TRIED.

Instead, his sword was caught between a pair of fingers, and he found himself staring up at Seraphimon, whom, while his face wasn't visible, seemed to be amused by his posture.

"We were handling this just fine you know," Blake said in mild amusement at seeing her partner, especially since he'd just made a hole in the roof to land.

Seraphimon chuckled at that, casually keeping the sword in place while Adam was struggling and fighting to get it free. "Of course you were. But then, why take chances?"

"That's true," Blake chuckled, before turning to Adam with a confident look. "Adam, meet my Digimon Partner, Seraphimon. Seraphimon, meet my crazy EX-friend, Adam Taurus. Do with him what you will," she said simply.

"Certainly," Seraphimon chuckled, before reaching out with his free hand, and casually flicking Adam in the forehead while letting go of Wilt, sending him flying into the opposing wall, his mask staying behind. When he got up, and revealed his face for all to see…

"Okay… wow… suddenly his anger has some justification," Pierce winced when he saw the SDC mark on Adam's face, over his left eye, one clearly made with a fire brand, and thus clearly rendering his eye useless.

"Damn...I'm glad Weiss isn't here to see this. As if she doesn't have ENOUGH reasons to tear her old man a new one," Yang winced in agreement. That was a VERY good reason to hold a grudge right there...even if he took it too far.

"Not that this changes anything," Blake frowned, though inwardly she remembered that Adam DID take up the odd trend...after they'd lost contact with him for a brief time.

"Never said it did," Pierce shrugged. "Just...surprised is all."

"Adam Taurus, my partner has told me a lot about you," Seraphimon said with a frown. "You now have two options. Walk away and never come back, or fight to your own peril."

"Consider this my LAST gesture to our old friendship," Blake said coldly.

"Then you can consider THIS my answer!" Adam roared in rage as he started charging towards them once more.

"In that case…" Seraphimon trailed off "Seven Heavens!" he exclaimed as he shot the seven orbs towards Adam, who raised Wilt to block the attack.

"Is he seriously going to-?!" Pierce gasped.

"He is," Blake said, just as surprised, as Adam grunted and blocked the attack, straining as the force was against his sword as he tried to absorb it with his Semblance.

"That...shouldn't be possible!" Seraphimon gasped, his eyes widening behind the helmet when the Seven Heavens actually DID start to get absorbed. "Excuse my language but...what the actual fuck?!"

"Oh yeah, we're right there with you," Yang said, just as stunned as the rest of them.

Adam smirked, as the Seven Heavens was absorbed, his body glowing as he readied to counter...before Wilt and Blush glowed brightly and promptly exploded in his arms.

"...anyone else feel like they nearly wet themselves for a moment there?" Pierce sighed in relief.

"To be honest, I think I almost did yes." Seraphimon admitted with his own sigh.

"Nobody's blaming you. How the heck did he even manage to absorb an Ultimate's best move?!" Yang couldn't help but say.

"Guess we shouldn't underestimate crazy people," Blake sighed, as the dust settled, and there was Adam, badly injured and his right arm horribly mangled. There was no way he'd ever be able to use it now. "Its over, Adam. Your revolution is over before it even begins," Blake said simply.

"No...it's NOT over! It will never be over!" Adam snarled. "You...how dare you betray me! I swear, as I set upon this world and deliver the justice humanity so richly deserves, I will make it my personal mission, to destroy everything you lo-!" Adam's curse was cut short when he felt something stab him in the back, before he was pulled away, and slammed into several tables, the perpetrator revealing to be Ilia.

"Will you shut up already?!" Ilia said in annoyance, having arrived shortly before Wilt and Blush exploded. "Aside from how pathetic you're making yourself look right now, that's MY girlfriend you're threatening!" she glared.

"What is this, stop Blake from dealing with her demons herself day?" Blake said in amusement.

Ilia shrugged "He was pissing me off." she said as she came up to them "Gladimon is with the reinforcements from Junk City, she's helping them clear out the streets of Vale."

"Glad to hear that," Pierce nodded, before readying Pandora and walking to where Adam had been thrown. "Now then, not to sound casual about it, cause the adrenaline is probably stopping me from realizing the full implications, but let's nip THIS problem in the bud before…" he trailed off when they found Adam gone. "...that happens…" he groaned.

"Well...my arm is still attached, and he lost his weapons, got verbally AND physically beat down, and is probably too mentally unstable to get any real respect anymore so...I think that's a win for us," Yang said, patting him on the shoulder.

"Besides, I doubt he'll be able to kill Sienna and take her spot as leader now." Ilia added, feeling pretty confident about that.

"Good point, now if you'll excuse me, I'll go give WarGreymon a hand in pissing off the Wyvern." Seraphimon said with a chuckle before flying back up through the hole he made.

"As for us, we'll be dealing with what's left of the Fang." Blake said with a smile after her partner left "Shouldn't be too hard at this point."

* * *

Meanwhile, up in the sky Grimm were dying by the droves as 6 swords danced in the air, cutting them apart, Penny and Ruby tearing through Grimm, while Monodramon was busy trying to get the access to the inside of the airship open. "Seriously, who was hacking this thing? It feels like whoever reworked the code just use dice to decide!" Monodramon said in annoyance. Right as he punched another code, and the door opened...and promptly hit him in the face, as Neo stepped out, having come out to check what was making all the ruckus...and was less than pleased to see who was there.

"Trust me, we hate you too." Ruby said in deadpan when she saw the mute, knowing what the girl was thinking as she raised up her scroll and snapped a picture.

"She just told Torchwick we're here, didn't she?" Penny asked.

"Pretty sure she did yeah." Monodramon said as he rubbed his snout in annoyance. "Now let's see how much damage we can do before he shows up!" he shouted, jumping right at Neo...and smashing through one of her illusions. "...I hate that girl."

"We're right there with you," Ruby deadpanned, before opening fire randomly to try and force her out of her illusions.

"Just to be on the safe side…" Penny trailed off as she brought up her Digivice which glowed, Monodramon quickly evolving into Strikedramon.

Neo just smirked when she reappeared, giving a rather demented look, before she started to fend off their attacks with a mix of her umbrella and her semblance. Namely blocking weapons and evading attacks from Strikedramon.

Ruby growled a bit and fired after a failed strike, but Neo just deflected the shot, before breaking away to reveal Torchwick behind her who opened fire at Ruby, only for Strikedramon to block the shot. "Honestly, we knew you'd be involved in this, but I still can't believe people like you would stoop to this, and for what? A chance to live another day?" Ruby frowned.

Roman smirked "What can I say Red? I like living, and I know which side is the winning one."

"Well congratulations, you're working with the Grimm. You literally can't go lower than this," Ruby shook her head. Once upon a time she'd have probably spouted something that sounded like a hero of some old fairy tale...but she'd matured during her time in the Digital World. She'd already accepted that there were always going to be people like Torchwick, so it was their job to stop them. "We'll see about who's the winning side when this is over," she said simply. "Let's get them."

"I'm with you all the way, Ruby!" Penny smiled, before the three of them charged forward. They had the advantage in numbers, but Roman and Neo had the edge in experience, making the ensuing fight a see saw. However, knowing they didn't actually NEED the airship to regain air superiority, the group was a bit more...liberal in how they attacked, not too worried about destroying the ship.

"You know, you claim that you're on the winning side, yet from what I'm seeing, those Digimon the Foretellers sent are decimating the Grimm," Penny said as she fought against Roman, the older man doing his best to defend against the flurry of blades and laser shots.

"Not to mention any Adult level can take out Grimm like these any day," Strikedramon added, having caught a random Gryphon and casually ripped off its head, tossing it at Neo who dodged it...and got shot by Ruby for her trouble, sending her skidding back.

"I don't really like how they used us, but the fact remains you're the ones dancing to their plan, not the other way around!" Ruby added with a confident smirk.

Roman groaned "You really know how to piss a guy off Red, has anybody ever told you that?"

"I think you did a few times before." Ruby said with a cheeky grin.

"I'm going to enjoy wiping that look off permanently," Roman growled before he soon fought her with his cane, while Neo was now fending off Penny, using a mix of strikes and stabs to try to get her, but the swords were easily protecting her, while Strikedramon added a new layer of difficulty.

Suddenly, a roar broke through the fight, bringing everyone's attention to a Grimm that was descending from the sky, the Gryphons getting out of it's way as it landed on the ship.

"Oh my… that's a Sphinx." Penny said in surprise as she looked at Grimm, which sported a feline body with a four crested mask, feathered wings, and a snake for a tail.

"What are Sphinxes doing all the way here?!" Strikedramon said in alarm.

"My guess, a witch sent them," Ruby frowned.

"Sounds reasonable," Penny frowned.

"You two focus on the criminals, I'll deal with this thing," Strikedramon frowned.

"Careful, those are a stronger variant," Ruby cautioned.

"Wait, stronger? What's the weaker one then?" Strikedramon asked… and he then received.

A group of Manticores suddenly joined in on attacking the ship and anybody on it, similar in appearance to the Sphinx, but lacking the snake tail along with some other differences.

"I just had to open my big mouth." Strikedramon sighed, before refocusing on taking down these things.

"Looks like the tables have turned," Roman smirked at the sight.

"You DO realize they're likely to attack both of you just as much as they're likely to attack us, right?" Ruby deadpanned, a fact confirmed by the fact in one timeline Roman Torchwick dies of being eaten by a Grimm.

Roman opened his mouth to retort to that… before closing it "Huh… forgot about that." he admitted, before shrugging "Oh well, I'll just do my best to get rid of you before they focus on me."

"Not if we have anything to say about that," Ruby glared.

The fight soon resumed, the two huntresses battling as well as they could, while being mindful of the Grimm surrounding them. The same could be said for the two criminals even if they had a bit less to worry about, but they still had to keep an eye on the Grimm in case they decided to turn on them.

In the middle of that, Strikedramon was busy fending off any of the Grimm that landed on the ship, taking them out as they came, though the Sphinx proved to be a bit more resilient, which was only compounded by the Manticores that were attacking from various directions. They all tried to use fireballs on him, but that barely even phased him. "Don't you ever get tired of getting beaten up?!" he growled, taking out a pair of Manticores that had tried to dogpile him. However, right as he threw them aside, the Sphinx came charging forward. "Oh boy…" he gulped as he was sent flying back, and off the edge of the Airship, just barely managing to grab hold, albeit losing his grip quickly.

"Strikedramon!" Penny said in alarm, before Ruby blocked a strike from Neo meant for her.

"Go! I'll hold them off!" Ruby shouted, earning a nod from the carrot top who went straight for where her partner, and managed to grab hold when his grip was slipping...causing both to start falling off until she stabbed a few swords into the side of the ship, the cables barely holding them up.

Strikedramon looked down for a moment, before looking back up "Penny, let me go! You'll fall!"

"No! You can't fly! You'll get hurt!" She shot back.

"Neither can you!" he countered.

"That doesn't mean I'll just let go of you!" she said, trying to pull him up while her cables got closer to snapping. "We didn't plan all this just to lose one of us now!"

"Penny…" Strikedramon started, before he saw the Sphinx charge up a fireball. "Penny!" he shouted, before pulling her close, and in the last minute shielded her with his back, the force and movement ripping off the cable and sending them both falling to the ground. "I'm sorry…"

"You don't have to be. We're in this together no matter what!" Penny smiled...and at that moment her D-Ark began to glow brightly, before the light turned blue and a familiar card appeared before her.

 **(Play 'Slash!')**

The Blue Card spun in the air for a moment, before it stopped as Penny grabbed hold of it, and brought it to her D-Ark, scanning the card. "Card Slash!" she called out, the data being released as the D-Ark went into overdrive. "Matrix Evolution!"

 **(Song change: 'EVO')**

"Matrix Evolution," The drone-like voice said as Penny held her D-Ark to her chest, followed by a bright light as from it a dark green Matrix Crystal, which spun in the air as a reflection of Penny smiling enthusiastically could be seen, before it flew away and entered Strikedramon's chest. "Strikedramon, Matrix Evolution!" he called out as several rings appeared over him as they descended and encircled him, his armor removed, modified and reattached, turning it into black full body armor. His basic form remained the same, though his arms were now more humanoid with claws for fingers, he had two large claws on his feet, and a blade on each elbow. His helmet's single horn split into two, while he gained four leathery wings on his back "Cyberdramon!"

 _Digimon Analyzer: Cyberdramon_

 _Cyberdramon. Vaccine Type. A Perfect Level Cyborg Digimon. His unique rubber armor lets him endure many attacks before he starts to feel any sort of pain, making him perfect for long battles. Whenever viruses appear on a computer network, he is quick to chase them down and delete them. His special attacks are Erase Claw, sending out a super-oscillatory wave from his arm blades that completely destroy everything, and Cyber Nail, sending out a shockwave from his claws._

Back at the top of the airship, Ruby was seriously considering calling Rosemon for help, cause as much as she'd improved, fighting Roman AND Neo was a lot easier said than done. Not to mention the Grimm swarm.

"Well now Red, looks like your luck's just about ran out," Roman smirked. "Any last words?"

"Uh...duck?" Ruby blinked when she saw something fly and charged right at them.

"What the hell are yo-?!" Roman didn't get to finish as a veritable gust hit them, causing him and Neo to go tumbling forward right over Ruby who'd ducked.

"Oh what is it now?!" Roman groaned as he got up...just in time to see all the Grimm that had been flying around the ship dropping like flies, their bodies dissolving into red flakes rather than the normal black mist.

"Sorry we're late!" Penny called from where she was held in Cyberdramon's arm. "But looks like we managed to reach Perfect level."

"Awesome!" Ruby couldn't help but cheer at the sight "Way to go Penny!"

"This...is REALLY starting to get annoying," Roman growled.

"Yeah well, it's about to get worse," Cyberdramon smirked, right as he noticed another Sphinx coming. "Ruby, get on my shoulder quick!"

Ruby quickly obeyed as Cyberdramon took to the air as Penny also got on another shoulder, freeing both his arms. "Erase Claw!" he roared, as he brought his claws down, cutting through the incoming Grimm without issue, and struck the Airship...and soon went through that too, the cut remains dissolving into red flakes as he did.

 **(End song)**

Roman and Neo were struggling to maintain balance...not that it mattered as they soon ran out of place to stand, and were soon falling to the ground...and were promptly caught by the back of their outfits by Cyberdramon.

A few minutes after that…

"You have GOT to be kidding me." Roman deadpanned as he and Neo were tied to a street lamp with some of Penny's cables.

Neo tried to struggle free a bit once she got over the fact she was tied up "I wouldn't recommend that. Those cables can cut through Aura… very easily at that." Penny spoke up.

Neo stopped after hearing that, and just resorted to pouting.

* * *

"Well… this happened." Summer said as she looked at the wreck of a small ship, Taomon nearby and dealing with some Grimm.

Then one of the pieces of the ship was lifted up, and out of the wreck came Ironwood, his clothes burned off partially, exposing the right side of his body, completely replaced with cybernetic pieces.

"What happened to you?" Summer asked with a raised eyebrow.

"My robots… they suddenly turned and attacked me." he said.

"Oh yeah, that." Summer said "It got fixed pretty quickly, they all turned BACK quickly and then overclocked themselves."

"That...wasn't in their programming," Ironwood blinked.

"If it helps, it was that 'Foreteller' in the unicorn mask," Taomon supplied.

"Yes and no," Ironwood sighed. "At least they're back on our side. I don't want to imagine the damage they'd have caused if they remained on whatever lunatic is behind all of this. At any rate, what's the situation?"

"The Wyvern in Mount Glenn woke up, and the White Fang let Grimm into the city...though I managed to call in a few old favors," Summer said, right as several Grimm overhead were destroyed by Digimon. "There are certain perks in being a former member of the Rebellion back when Evil Digimon had a tyrannical hold on some regions in the Digital World," she chuckled.

Ironwood looked up as he saw UlforceVeedramon blitz through a group of Nevermores, cutting them to ribbons "What level are they?"

"Ultimate. They evolved recently though." Summer said, and it wasn't exactly a lie.

"I see… well, then we certainly have a chance to turn things around." Ironwood said, some relief in his voice "Now, one of my ships turned on the rest earlier, I need to go deal with that somehow."

"I… think you'll be good." Summer said, pointing behind him and upwards, making him turn around to see said ship just… disappearing into pieces.

Ironwood just stared at that spot for a long moment before turning to her "Digimon are rather overpowered sometimes honestly." he said with a long sigh.

"Considering how hostile some parts of the Digital World are...they kind of needed to be that way," Summer said dryly, gaining a bit of a far off look...before Taomon quickly pulled her back to reality from any less than pleasant flashbacks.

"That aside, there are still Grimm in the city. Worse, I believe we saw some Goliaths-" she didn't get to finish as a building toppled over, revealing several Goliaths in another section of town. "And that's our cue to help."

"Then we'd better get going," came Qrow's voice as the group turned and saw him and Glynda running up to them.

"We were able to evacuate a good chunk of the city, but the Grimm are still scattered all over the city. Even with the Digimons' help, that's a lot of ground to cover," Glynda said.

"Good work, but for now, we have to stop those Goliaths before they cause even more casualties," Ironwood nodded.

"A tall order, but not like we have a choice," Qrow sighed as they were soon going in that direction. Along the way, several Beowolves and Beringals came there way, but Summer suddenly disappeared, reappearing near each of them, and with a quick and precise slash, cut through them like they were nothing.

"You've certainly been improving since you disappeared," Glynda noted. "In fact, you cut through them like they were nothing."

"Comes with surviving in the Digital World, and getting a few materials to strengthen Sleeping Rose. I can cut through most of the normal variety Grimm without much issue now," Summer chuckled. The group soon approached the area, and Taomon gasped.

"This is the area Keenan and Falcomon went to scout out. I hope they're alright," she frowned.

"They'll be alright. Those two know how to take care of themselves," Summer reassured.

The scene they found though was...still less than ideal. There wasn't just one Goliath. There was a herd of them and several other Grimm, many of which had been spawned by the Wyvern, and fighting them were MegaloGrowlmon and Yatagaramon. Both Perfect level mon looked somewhat battered, and the large number of fading Grimm around them was proof that they'd been fighting for quite some time. Likewise, Keenan was busy fighting off any smaller Grimm that got close, while not far away Takato was digging through some wreckage with his hands...and making very little progress.

"Come on." Takato growled a bit as he tried to use his claws to dig through the wreckage… not that it helped much outside of scratching the metal.

The Grimm continued their assault, to which the Huntsmen quickly intervened, taking out a few of the ones attacking. "Teacher!" Keenan sighed in relief, glad that help had arrived. True enough, both MegaloGrowlmon and Yatagaramon soon reverted to Guilmon and Falcomon.

"You couldn't have come at a better time," Falcomon said in relief. "These things keep coming."

"Yeah, that's basically how Grimm work," Qrow said with a small smirk.

"I'm so tired I could eat the whole bakery." Guilmon said with a groan.

"Shouldn't that be hungry?" Taomon asked him.

"Same thing." was Guilmon's quick answer.

"That's the least of our worries," Glynda sighed, before sending a barrage of rubble at the Goliaths, causing them to stagger a little before coming right back.

"Goliaths don't usually come into cities. Why are they doing this now?" Ironwood frowned as he fired several shots, the impact not really causing much damage to the gigantic Grimm.

"Bart always DID say they act like they're waiting for something," Summer frowned. "Either they were waiting for this, or their boss lady decided to make them come charging in."

"That's not comforting at all," Qrow said flatly, cutting a Gryphon in half.

"We need to take them out quickly!" Glynda growled.

"But you can't be reckless!" Takato shouted. "There are people in the rubble!"

THAT caused the Huntsmen to stop...before Glynda nodded. "You should have said that before." And she promptly used her semblance to control and lift the rubble, freeing the people trapped underneath. Among them was the familiar form of Tuckson, having thrown himself over a human woman with brown hair that reached down to her neck, wearing a simple sweater and long skirt.

"Mom! Dad!" Takato shouted, trying to wake them, but they and several other of the people were out cold from when the rubble fell, something the Grimm seemed intent on taking full advantage of.

"This just got more complicated," Summer frowned.

"Form a defensive line! We can't let the Grimm get to the civilians!" Ironwood ordered, earning nods from the rest of them...or that WOULD have been what they did, if the ground didn't suddenly crack and burst, as another large form emerged, throwing everyone aside, and separating the Huntsmen from the civilians.

"An Orochi? Dammit! Of all the times," Qrow growled.

At the same time, one of the Goliaths seemed to set its sights on the unconscious people, Guilmon getting between it and the people, while Takato did the same. "Leave them alone!" he shouted.

"Takato, what are you doing?!" Keenan shouted in alarm, and would have helped, but he and Falcomon were too busy fending off a small pack of Beowolves.

The Goliath didn't care obviously and continued on its way, fully intending to trample the boy and his Digimon.

"Takato, you have to run. I'll fight again!" Guilmon glared.

"I'm not leaving you! We're both gonna protect them! Just like we did last time!" Takato said, voice full of determination...before a red glow could be seen from his pocket, as the Blue Card (it had reverted to being blue when he wanted to use Matrix Evolution) floated out, and turned red once more. Takato grabbed it...and with a determined nod, brought it to his D-Ark.

Keenan had only heard what Takato had said, but that was enough to fill him with determination. "He's right. We're here to protect everyone, that's what we're supposed to do with our power," he said, memories going back to a time when he was helpless to protect anything he cared for, before his eyes narrowed with determination. "Let's go, Falcomon! We're gonna help save the day or die trying!"

"I'm with you all the way!" Falcomon said with equal determination. At that moment, a light shone as the Blue Card floated before him, its side seemingly glinting...and Keenan knew what it wanted. Reaching out, he winced a little as he felt it cut him, his blood soon covering it and turning it red.

"Let's fight. Together," Keenan nodded, as he brought it to his D-Ark as well, and at that moment, both boys scanned the Red Cards.

 **(Play 'One Vision')**

"Biomerge Evolution," two drone like voices said as the words appeared on the D-Arks, before they glowed brightly as power seemed to overflow from them in the form of a radiant light. Both boys held their D-Arks close to them, the light filling them as the color of their bodies took the same tone as their D-Arks, a semi-transparent sphere of light covering both of them, before they floated towards their partners.

"Guilmon, Biomerge Evolution…!" Guilmon called out as he and Takato made contact, their forms overlapping before a flash of light occured. Guilmon's body seemed to break away, revealing a new form underneath, the white armored form of Dukemon revealing from his arms, legs, and torso, ending with a shot of Guilmon's head as he flashes through his forms, going from Guilmon to Growlmon to MegaloGrowlmon, followed by a quick shot of Takato opening his eyes with a determined look as a final flash occured, revealing Dukemon in a cloudy backdrop, the Aegis and Gram appearing in his arms as his cape flew behind him in the wind. "Dukemon!"

"Falcomon, Biomerge Evolution…!" Falcomon called out as he and Keenan also made contact, forms overlapping as a flash of light occured. Falcomon's arms, legs, and body seemed to become shrouded in shadows, before the scene changed to show a humanoid figure covered in shadows, standing up in what appeared to be a dojo with various weapons hanging on the wall, before focusing on what appeared to be armor parts with a notable bird theme which soon were covered in black feathers as they seemingly flew towards the figure, donning it in the armor as the black feathers dispersed to reveal a midnight blue bodysuit with dark gray armor pieces on the knees, chest, shoulders and elbows, his right hand being normal while his left was a three clawed talon, each claw being as red as blood, a silver wing attached to his left arm while a black wing came out his right shoulder blade. Suddenly, a sword came flying off the wall, the figure catching it and giving a few reverse handed swings before sheathing it at the back of his hip. Falcomon's face appeared in the shadows for a moment, quickly followed by Peckmon and Yatagaramon, before Keenan's face appeared with a determined look as the figure stepped out of the shadows, revealing a black helmet with a red piece at the front that covered the top of his face, revealing only his glowing eyes, as he jumped up and made a hole through the dojo, landing on the roof and exposing himself to the moonlight, one hand on his sword "Ravemon!"

 _Digimon Analyzer: Ravemon_

 _Ravemon. Vaccine Type. An Ultimate Level Cyborg Digimon. Originally known as the Silver Crow, his left wing is made out of Chrome Digizoid, but due to a cruel event, he lost his right wing and stead grew a new one of feathers as dark as the night. He hides in the cover of the night with aid from his dark wing, before striking his enemies down with his blade, Chouou-maru. His special attacks are Ame-no-Ohabari, planting his blade into the ground, causing a bolt of purple lightning to strike his foe, and Spiral Raven Claw, spinning like a drill and striking his enemies with his clawed hand._

The Grimm didn't know what hit them. Literally. The Goliath was literally sent flying with a hole going through it, landing on top of another of its brethren, killing both, while the pack of Grimm that had been harassing Keenan and Falcomon were cut to ribbons faster than they could react.

The remaining Grimm stopped for a moment, unsure what to make of this new development, the Goliaths also stopping, unsure what to do, or even what to make of this new development. A younger Goliath stepped forward, but Dukemon glared at it, his lance igniting. "Royal Saber!" he called out, skewering the approaching Grimm, killing it instantly, while one Goliath tried to back away...only to be stopped by Ravemon.

"You're not going anywhere," he glared. "Spiral Raven Claw!" he called out as he raised his left arm and rotated as he charged at the group, killing any who were trying to escape. The smaller Grimm soon joined in...and were cut down for their trouble, the two Ultimates not even needing to use their special moves.

By now it had finally dawned on the Grimm...how utterly fucked they were. Of course, that was also when the Orochi that was keeping the Huntsmen busy smashed another building.

"I'll deal with these guys. You help the Huntsmen," Dukemon said.

"Right, but try not to stay in that form for too long. We don't know what drawbacks these evolutions might have," Ravemon cautioned. "Neither will it be good if some people found out we literally merged with Digimon."

"Noted," Dukemon gulped a bit, his mind already playing out stuff from conspiracy movies. With that, Ravemon went for the Orochi, while Dukemon looked to the Grimm. "That is enough chaos and destruction you have caused. I, Dukemon, will not stand for anymore!" he declared, aiming the Aegis which started to glow brightly. "Final Elysion!" he declared, firing off a beam of light, which caught the retreating Grimm in its blast, vaporizing all of them without so much as a resistance, even the once mighty Goliaths were decimated in seconds, while any remaining Grimm finally used their brains and turned tail and ran.

With them gone, Dukemon made sure the people who were unconscious were okay and with a small sigh of relief, soon reverted to Takato and Guilmon...or rather Gigimon, as was Guilmon's Baby Form, which had his basic coloration, but was now a small puffball with four stubby legs, a short tail, and his signature batwing ears. "This is kinda weird," Gigimon blinked, not really used to reverting to Baby form.

"Hopefully you'll get used to it real soon," Takato chuckled, just glad despite everything, things turned out well enough all things considered.

At the same time, the Huntsmen were having a hard time with the Orochi, as whenever they went for a head, another would go and double team them, making the progress slow at best.

"Oum dammit these things are annoying." Qrow growled as he held his weapon in it's scythe form, trying to lob off one of the Orochi's heads before another one just made him back off.

"It's certainly a problem when progress is slow." Ironwood said as he tried to shoot one of the many eyes of the Grimm.

"My tags also aren't hurting it's hide much, it must have stronger scales than most other snake Grimm." Taomon informed.

"Well, if we make it out of this, I'm sure Peter will LOVE to know that." Glynda said with an aggravated sigh.

"Hopefully we get SOMETHING to even the odds." Summer groaned as she shot at an open mouth lunging for her before she warped away.

Ask and ye shall receive, as a sudden flash happened...before four of the heads flew off, a new Digimon appearing, having cut off the heads like they were nothing, causing the Orochi to screech in pain.

"What the hell?" Qrow asked as he looked up at Ravemon, flying above them with a hand on his sword.

"Another member of the Rebellion?" Ironwood wondered.

"Not one I recognize," Summer frowned, before noting the design...and chuckled lightly. "You really never fail to impress me even after all these years," she said. "So you've finally done it, you've finally reached Ultimate, haven't you...Falcomon?"

"It took a bit of...extra incentive, but yes, I did," Ravemon chuckled. "And its Ravemon now. Don't worry about the Goliaths, they've been taken care of and the civilians are safe. Takato and Guilmon are with them."

"Glad to hear that, and thanks for making our job a lot easier," Summer nodded.

"One head for each of us. Definitely more manageable," Glynda nodded.

"Then let's not prolong this," Ironwood said.

"For once we agree, Jimmy," Qrow chuckled as the four of them went for the remaining heads, which thrashed in an attempt to counter them, but without its extra heads for help, there was little it could do as it was cut or blasted apart, the Orochi soon falling dead as its last head was destroyed.

* * *

Back at the main grounds of Beacon, things were...going very well.

"Don't let up! We've got them on the run, but don't get reckless!" Gyro ordered as Grimm fell by the dozens, as with the help of the Atlesian Knights, the fight was going MUCH better than it would have in the original timeline. Not to mention they also had a few additional players, some of which were...overpowered as fuck, judging by the Alpha Beowolf that had apparently learned to fly courtesy of Marcus punching it in the gut. "Weiss! Nora! Fastball special!" he added just for good measure, as Weiss summoned a Boarbatusk which got into its spin dash, before Nora hammered it forward for more speed, making it tear through quite a few other Grimm.

"We're definitely beating them back," Sun said as he came up next to Gyro. "But the big one keeps making more," he added, pointing at the form of the Wyvern which was for some reason flying almost erratically as the shifts in emotions all over the city seemed to be...confusing it somehow.

"At least some of the Digimon are destroying the goop before it falls." Ren added as he dropped down next to them after getting a boost from GrandisKuwagamon who had passed over to decapitate a large Gryphon.

"Most of the grounds are clear!" Velvet called, slamming down on a nearby Berringel with a hardlight copy of Nora's hammer, while Coco and Waspmon rained down shots on any Grimm they could see, further driving the Grimm away.

"The White Fang have retreated too," came Blake's voice as she, Yang, Pierce, and Ilia rejoined the group.

"We saw less and less Grimm as we fought. I think they're starting to taper off," Pierce added.

"And the bull?" Gyro asked.

"Still around, but he's not hurting ANYONE anytime soon," Ilia said simply.

"Good, all that's left now is Cinder." Gyro said with narrowed eyes as he turned to look at the tower.

"And hoping that trying to get the Fall Maiden powers doesn't screw Pyrrha over." Pierce added with a sigh.

"Here's hoping. But for now...we've established something of a perimeter, so if anyone wants to take a quick breather, they're welcome to," Gyro said, before adding, "Also gotta make sure you know who gets out of here without anyone seeing the outfit," he said with a whisper, before going away from the rest of the group.

When he was well away and in a hidden spot, complete with no Grimm… "So far so good," he said.

"Considering the inter-kingdom relationships AREN'T likely to be fucked up so far...yeah, I'd agree," came 'Ira's' voice as he stepped out of the shadows, and pulled off the hood, mask and voice changer, to reveal Azure under the outfit. "Yeesh, that was a bit touch and go for a bit. Glad I was able to reroute things so nobody would be likely to find me," he sighed.

"Don't forget, I had to make those physical illusions so we could have 'Ira' walk around Beacon while keeping you out of harm's way," Wizardmon added, having been helping earlier as Mystimon.

"For now, we'll focus on clearing out Beacon. Sooner or later the others should arrive and they'll establish an evacuation point. Even with us beating back the Grimm, Vale is in no condition to take another assault which could come at any time," Azure sighed. "Until then, just maintain damage control."

"Right. Here's hoping the last leg of this crazy plan goes off without any major hitches," Gyro said with a small sigh.

* * *

"You know, this place is actually pretty ominous," Jaune couldn't help but say as the five of them ran down the hallways to the vault.

"That would be due to us being deep underground. A lack of natural lighting, and the fact these halls aren't regularly used, we decided to...lower the costs," Ozpin admitted. He'd met them outside the tower earlier, Ms. Nikos already realizing that now as the time they needed to do the transfer, and thus he brought them down here.

"Do we really have to do this?" Gabumon asked, still uncertain of this decision.

"I'm sorry, Gabumon. We can't just let Amber's assailant get what they want," Pyrrha apologized...though she still kept up the ruse of them not knowing about Cinder.

"Here's hoping nothing goes wrong." Gomamon muttered into Jaune's ear from where he was hanging off his back.

The group soon came upon the pods, with Ozpin quickly preparing the pod for Pyrrha to use.

"What the heck…?" Jaune said, continuing the ruse they had. He knew full well what was going on, and as much as he didn't like it, if this was still Pyrrha's decision, then he'd support it.

"Pyrrha, get to the pod!" Ozpin ordered, before turning to Jaune. "Mister Arc, Gomamon, Gabumon, if you'd all like to assist, please stand guard here."

"Uh...right!" Jaune gulped, as the three soon stood guard, Gabumon looking at Pyrrha for a moment before going into position.

"What happens now?" Pyrrha asked.

"You have a decision to make. If you're sure this is what you choose, then enter the pod. I will take care of the rest," Ozpin sighed.

Pyrrha frowned, looking down for a moment, before steeling herself and boarding the pod, the casing soon covering her.

Tremors shook as the fighting continued up over ground, which only served to make Ozpin work faster. "Its ready. Are you alright with this?" he asked Pyrrha who just nodded, to which he sighed. "I...I need to hear this from you," he amended.

"Yes," Pyrrha sighed.

"Thank you Miss Nikos," Ozpin said, before beginning the process. "And I'm sorry…"

The machine started humming to life as Amber's pod raised up slightly, before an orange glow travelled up the tubes behind her, going into the pod that Pyrrha was in.

She braced herself, remembering Gyro telling her that she had been in pain when it happened in the show…

But the pain was even worse than she expected.

And then there was the fact that her scream of pain was shared with Gabumon who collapsed.

Jaune was quick to react "Turn it off!"

Ozpin didn't need to be told twice, already trying to halt the machine, not intending to let Gabumon be hurt, before smashing a fist against it "Dammit! It won't reverse!" then, to his surprise, Pyrrha and Gabumon slowly calmed down, a soft blue glow coming from them, as a symbol appeared over Pyrrha's chest, stopping Amber's aura from flowing into her. The machine continued to try to push the aura into Pyrrha, but the light continued to resist, causing sparks to start to fly from the machine as strange data and information started to fly across the monitors, much to the worry of everyone present. At the same time, Amber seemed almost awake as her eyes opened, albeit unfocused, the girl seemingly reaching out to something as a soft glow started to appear over her as well...before an arrow flew through the air, right through the glass and into her chest, causing her eyes to widen for a moment, before they closed once more, the flow of aura fading away as its owner's life was extinguished.

"...this can't be good," was all Gomamon could say to what just happened, even if he knew it was 'part of the script', the group turning to see Cinder who had a small smirk on her face, bow still raised. The effect happened quickly as the last of Amber's vitals hit 0, and Cinder was practically aglow with power, both eyes glowing brightly as she floated in the air, orange-red energy flying around her.

"Well this just went to hell in a handbasket." Jaune groaned, raising his shield just in case she decided to attack him, while Pyrrha used her semblance to blow the lid off her pod and brought her weapons to her. Both of them didn't get far, as Ozpin stopped them.

"All of you, get out of here!" he ordered.

"But we can help!" Pyrrha said.

"You'll all just get in the way!" Ozpin countered. "Find Glynda! Ironwood! Qrow! Summer! Find any and all of them and tell them to come here!"

The two chosen frowned, but decided to… somewhat listen to his idea, planning on heading up and then warp evolving their partners and sending them back down, making them act like they were asked to help. With that, the four ran past Cinder who let them past, so confident in her new power that she didn't even see them as worth her effort. Little did she know, that this would be one of the biggest mistakes in her life...

* * *

 **And that's it for today!**

 **We finished up the tournament, we started the Battle of Beacon, and, the best parts, Strikedramon has now reached Cyberdramon, Takato and Guilmon now have control over Dukemon, and Keenan and Falcomon have reached Ravemon.**

 **We've also kicked Adam's ass and utterly humiliated him, just like he deserves for being the fucking worthless piece of shit he was.**

 **Other than that, Roman is alive, because I kind of like his character, and felt disappointed he had such a sudden death.**

 **Also, I'm sure you're wondering why the Crest of Friendship intervened?**

 **Don't worry, the characters will theorise about that next time, because...**

 **The Adventure Evolves.**


	59. 58: End of the Beginning

**Almost finished with Volume 3 people.**

* * *

 **End of the Beginning**

* * *

The underground vault was… FAR from intact.

Ozpin and Cinder clashed deep within it, seemingly matched blow for blow.

When Ozpin thrust his cane into her abdomen to push her away, Cinder raked her hand on the floor, melting it down, before lifting up pieces of molten metal and reforming them into projectiles to skewer Ozpin with, though he moved in a blur and parried all of them.

Using that enhanced speed Ozpin landed several strikes on her before throwing her back, but Cinder stopped herself in midair, flames manifesting from her body and snaking out into the air around them.

Crouching and planting his cane into the ground, Ozpin generated a shield around himself, until Cinder sent a torrent of flames towards him, while Ozpin rushed into it with his shield protecting him, the two forces clashing till they produced a blinding light.

* * *

"That's it, everybody on board!" Port said as an airship landed.

"A safe area has been established in Vale, though we have so far been able to fight off the Grimm, the city as a whole is in no shape to endure another attack should it come," Oobleck said.

"So please listen to Atlas personnel and board the airships!" Leomon finished, while nearby several of the Digimon who'd come from Junk Town were also helping with the evacuations, including Guardromon who was ushering several students to the airship and repeating. That was when a shadow was visible, and the form of Cyberdramon descended, Ruby and Penny in his arms, landing among the gathered people.

"We're back!" Penny said brightly as they got off of Cyberdramon...who reverted to his baby form of Hopmon.

"Well this is inconvenient," Hopmon said in annoyance.

"Get used to it, took a while for the others to stop doing that." Ruby said in amusement.

"Looks like we're all here," came Yang's voice, to which Ruby let out a small sigh of relief, turning to see her sister and friends all in one piece.

"Not quite everyone," Weiss corrected with a frown.

"Jaune and Pyrrha aren't back yet," Ren frowned.

"Yeah, they'll be fine… but let's go meet up with them, just to be safe." Gyro suggested, going up and patting Ruby's shoulder "Plus, we still need to give Cinder her huge burns." he added with a grin, Ruby returning it as she hugged him just a bit.

"Right, let's do this. This is the last step to keep Beacon safe guys." Ruby said, patting her cheeks to psych herself up.

* * *

"Okay...I know we planned for that, and she's still not as bad as any of the Dark Masters, but that was honestly a little scary," Jaune sighed as the four of them got out of the building. With that he pulled out his scroll...and dialed Gyro. "Gyro? Yeah, we got out of the vault. Ozpin said to call Glynda and the others of his faction but…" he didn't get to finish as an explosion happened, and they saw a streak of red go up. "Yeah...its kinda too late to call for help, and now we're gonna need to find Oscar," Jaune sighed.

"Shit. Part of me was hoping we could leave him out of this, but no choice I guess." Gyro said "Alright, you two head on up, we're on our way, we'll signal some of the others down to give us a lift to the top." he said, before ending the call.

Jaune put away his scroll and looked at Pyrrha who was looking at the top of the tower apprehensively. Even if the situation was almost completely different now, the knowledge of what would have happened in one timeline was still terrifying. "We're not gonna fight her alone," Jaune said, putting a hand on her shoulder.

Pyrrha nodded, smiling a little. "You're right. Let's go and give her a much needed wake up call," she said, earning nods from all of them as they got into the tower, and into the broken elevator.

"We should probably hold on to something," Gabumon chuckled weakly, to which they all did just that, Jaune holding Pyrrha's hand as he used his semblance to boost hers, and they were soon shooting up the shaft.

"I feel the blood going to my flippers!" Gomamon shouted.

"We don't have blood!" Gabumon shouted, clinging to a railing.

"How did I do this the last time?!" Pyrrha shouted as the g-force was quite strong.

"I think I know what to give Cinder when we see her!" Jaune groaned, looking a little green.

The elevator kept going a bit, and up at the top of the tower, Cinder turned with a curious look as she heard a LOUD screeching sound coming up, till it eventually shifted to something tearing through a sheet of metal… and then an elevator crashed down through the roof.

She stared at it for a good while, wondering where it came from "What in the…?"

And then the doors opened… and something splashed onto her.

She looked down slowly… and saw she was covered in puke.

"Huh… guess projectile vomit is something you can do." Gomamon noted.

"I don't ever want to do it again though." Jaune groaned weakly.

"So… what's wrong with her?" Gabumon asked after a moment as he looked at Cinder, who was still staring at her puke covered dress and legs.. .and feet, and her glass slippers, really everything below the waist was covered in puke.

"I think she's trying to process and find a good response… obviously failing though." Pyrrha summed up with a shrug.

"To be fair, I don't think anyone can properly process projectile vomit!" Gomamon laughed.

"Yeah, and speaking of which, we should get out of the way soon," Gabumon said dryly.

"Why?" Gomamon asked, still snickering.

"Projectile fireballs," Gabumon said flatly. "Move!" he and Pyrrha grabbed their respective companions and pulled them out of the way as Cinder finally got her wits back and blew up the elevator they'd been in.

"I'm going to pull your guts out and feed them to the Wyvern personally!" Cinder raged at them.

"I'd like to see how you manage when you got superb G-force in your face with an already weak stomach!" Jaune shot back, before ducking beneath an arrow.

"Yeah, it's not his fault his family is cursed with motion sickness!" Gomamon added, before rolling away from a fireball.

"I think that's enough making her madder," Pyrrha couldn't help the small chuckle as she used her Semblance to propel her forward, blocking a fireblast with her shield, and using the opening to throw Milo, which Cinder easily deflected, to which Gabumon got at her side and fired his Petit Fire at Cinder...who easily blocked it.

"Hey fire lady, try this! Marching Fishes!" Gomamon grinned.

"Wait, but where the heck-?!" Jaune started, before a small torrent of fish came out of the elevator shaft, and hit Cinder who had a WTF look on her face as she was swept away a bit, before the fish soon escaped out one of the glass windows, breaking it off course.

Outside…

"Hey Neptune?" Sun blinked.

"Yeah?" Neptune asked.

"Is it just me, or is there a waterfall of rainbow colored fish falling out of the CCT?"

"...it's not you though I wish it was…" Neptune said flatly.

"...now I know why adults drink. It helps stomach the insanity…"

Back inside…

"Okay...effective, but not QUITE in the way we were hoping," Gabumon blinked, honestly having no idea where all those fish came from...or how they even got up the elevator shaft.

"I'm going to enjoy killing you all slowly," Cinder snarled as she got up, as on top of the puke, she now had a fishy scent thanks to being literally flooded by fish she still had no idea where the actual fuck they came from.

"Not if I have something to say about it!" Pyrrha said as she managed to get behind Cinder and grab her in a neck lock, while Cinder tried to stop Milo from getting to her neck. At the same time, Jaune ran forward to take advantage of the opening...and soon found himself dodging projectiles Cinder had created and sent his way.

Despite that, the fact remained she was still in a tight spot...so she smirked when she saw the Wyvern coming their way, having called to it for a bit of help. The Wyvern picked up speed, aimed to ram into the tower….and was stopped short when a figure in yellowish gold armor darted in and stabbed it through the neck, ripping its head off.

"Sorry we're late!" Gyro shouted as he and the rest of teams RWGBY and JNPPR entered the tower through the hole in the roof. "Traffic was crazy," he laughed.

"Better late than never," Jaune chuckled.

"And we protected the tower too!" Ruby grinned...right before the head of the Wyvern came down, and smashed the roof off the tower, while providing Cinder with the distraction to get out of Pyrrha's neck lock. "Oh come on!"

"Meh, we're fine, signal's still running." Pierce said as he checked his scroll before closing it.

"At least the butterflies didn't screw that up." Nora said with a sigh...right before the signal in her scroll went down.

Everyone gained flat looks at that, before as one, they looked up to the sky. "Screw you, murphy!" they shouted.

Down on the ground, Azure growled in annoyance as he saw the signal go down, looking up at the tower "I fucking HATE Wyverns." he said, before sitting down and opening his scroll in tablet mode to get to work, Wizardmon keeping guard from Grimm.

Back on the tower, Cinder was...getting annoyed. Honestly, her plans had been going all over the place, and to add more insult already, these CHILDREN were acting like she wasn't even a threat or concern, apparently more interested in the CCT. Well...she fully intended to teach them to fear her. With that, her body started to glow, as she gathered bits of materials and formed a javelin with it, and a pair of fireballs. However, Gabumon noticed her, and so did Pyrrha, just as she hurled the weapons at the group.

"Not this time!" Gabumon and Pyrrha growled, as she grabbed her D-Crest, the Crest of Friendship glowing brightly.

 **(Play 'Brave Heart')**

"Gabumon, Warp Evolution! MetalGarurumon!"

The attacks hit, and bounced off harmlessly against MetalGarurumon's armor. "That's not going to work on me," he growled.

"Okay, this is getting a little...cramped…" Blake frowned, to which the rest of their partners came and they quickly hitched a ride to give the ensuing fight some space.

"Normally I'd want to join in, but I think that's overkill," Gomamon laughed.

"Worse than what we did to Piedmon?" Jaune couldn't help but chuckle as he and Gomamon were picked up by GrandisKuwagamon.

"Nah, I don't think we can beat that!" Gomamon laughed.

Cinder growled in rage "Why are you all so damn happy and nonchalant about everything?!"

"Honestly? Because you aren't even a blip on our radar after Spiral Mountain." Yang said with a shrug as she sat on Phoenixmon's head.

"We tore through the Dark Masters one by one, rather literally in some cases." Weiss added.

"Felt good to see Machinedramon lose his coating." HerculesKabuterimon chuckled in remembrance.

"It was rather entertaining." Ren noted in amusement.

"So, yeah, you straight up don't scare us Cinder. Oh, and here's an achievement of ours you probably know about." Gyro started with a grin "Remember Myotismon? How he attacked Vale? Turned into a huge monster before dying? That was because of US."

Cinder blinked, before her eyes widened in actual horror as what he'd said dawned on her. "No...it can't be! I haven't come this far to lose to a bunch of kids and their pet monsters!" she growled, body aglow. "I'll show you! The power of the maidens will surpass even you!" she roared, firing a blast of energy with everything she had.

"Time to give her a reality check," Pyrrha frowned, right as Ruby jumped down and landed next to her on MetalGarurumon's back.

"Mind if I join in on this one?" she chuckled.

"The more the merrier!" MetalGarurumon grinned as he reared back. "Cocytus Breath!"

Ruby closed her eyes and when she opened them, they glowed a bright silver, the two blasts flying and mixing together...before completely overpowering Cinder's energy blast.

"What?!" Cinder gasped as she was overtaken, her body burning and freezing at the same time as the Silver Eyes tore away at the Grimm parts she'd taken as part of her body, while the Cocytus Breath covered her body in ice. The last conscious thought she had was of her defeat...and her plummeting off of the tower.

 **(Song End)**

"Huh… I wonder if she'll shatter?" Nora mused.

"Somehow I doubt even THAT would stop her." Mastemon said, Nora nodding after a moment.

"So… what now?" Phoenixmon asked.

"Now? Now we get the hell out of here. That or…" Gyro trailed off, as he noticed a crow staring at them from one of the remains of the tower "Or Qrow finds us, dammit."

"Wait, what?" Blake asked as he looked towards the crow, which hopped onto the tower, and in a flash of feathers, turned into Qrow Branwen.

Everybody was silent for a long moment, until Ruby raised her hand "Would you believe us if we said we got these forms just now?"

"Sorry, but try the other leg kiddo." Qrow said with a smirk.

"Drat!" Ruby cursed with a snap of her fingers as she got off MetalGarurumon.

"Can we at least hold off on explaining until we get rest? And can you promise not to tell Ironwood?" Pierce asked hopefully.

"Permission given on the first, and no worries on the second." Qrow said with a chuckle "Come on, we'll head to Patch, you kids just earned a vacation."

* * *

A week soon passed after that, and for the time being, the entire group was holed up in Patch.

"Damn, Azure works FAST," Yang whistled, as the group were looking through news reports, the CCT having been restored already. Thanks to the lack of the Wyvern, the Grimm problem was a lot more subdued, allowing for repair teams to get in and fix things a bit faster, Azure working to help restore the CCT. As it was, while it was true Vale was currently restricted to Beacon itself due to the Grimm still running around the city, work was being done to slowly recapture the city, an effort greatly helped by the Digimon who lived in Junk Town...and were now in need of a new home after the Wyvern smashed its way out of Mount Glenn. So...win-win so far.

"Furthermore, Torchwick and Neo are finally behind bars where they belong," Weiss nodded, remembering the two criminals being shipped off to Atlas where a pair of nice Maximum Security cells were waiting for them. But thinking what had happened, she couldn't helped but frown too. "Still, it could have gone better," Weiss sighed. One major flaw in the plan was that they literally couldn't help the Atlesian fleet, as doing so would be like shouting to the world, they knew something was going on. As such, the lives lost in the Atlesian fleet were unavoidable, forcing Atlas to need to consolidate its forces for the time being. Speaking of Atlas though…

Pierce snorted "I just remembered Jacques's face, still gets me laughing every time."

"Oh god tell me about it." Ruby chuckled as she looked at the news, which showed how Jacques Schnee was now no longer running the SDC, and his wife Willow was the new CEO, well… Ex-Wife.

"Yeah! The ladies in the Schnee family rock!" Nora cheered.

"I REALLY enjoyed pointing Myrtenaster at him, not gonna lie." Weiss admitted.

"I still say my horns sent him running." Tentomon said jokingly as he just lounged on a sofa next to her.

Blake suddenly hung up her scroll, Ilia leaning on her in an easy chair "I just got off the phone with Takato, their just about done unpacking after moving to Vacuo. Tukson and his wife already bought a new building for their stores, this time their going to put them on the same side though."

"Huh… buying bread and books at the same time… sounds nice." Ilia mused.

"But, all the good news aside, we're not out of the woods yet," Gyro sighed. After the fight, they'd taken a moment to check the bottom of the tower...and they didn't find anything. "Cinder no doubt is licking her wounds and plotting revenge on us. Not saying she's a threat head on, but she's not dumb either, she'll probably try indirect if she gets the chance."

"They haven't found a trace of Adam yet either, surprisingly. You'd think a guy who's bleeding out like that would be easy to spot." Jaune said, just a little worried.

"Amber's body disappeared from within the pod, no blood trails though, so she wasn't moved, meaning something happened… not sure what though." Pyrrha frowned, wondering what had happened to the girl's body.

"And Ozpin's corpse was found." Ren added with a sigh.

"Got no choice but to look for Oscar now." Wormmon added.

"We still have a few things to handle before that though." Agumon said.

"You mean the armadillo in the room?" Veemon asked.

"Isn't that usually elephant?" Biyomon wondered.

"Not in this case." Veemon said in deadpan, hiking a thumb over his shoulder at an armadillo shaped Digimon walking out of the corridor and into the kitchen.

"Huh… were we really that out of it?" Palmon mused.

"You were yes." Taiyang said as he brought a tray of cookies to the table in the middle of the living room. "You didn't even notice when Azure and Lisa arrived this morning." he said, both adults waving from the kitchen, while Summer was already making another batch of cookies.

"Alright then, spill the beans dad, why is there an…" Ruby trailed off, glancing at Weiss, who already had her scroll in hand.

"Armadimon." she supplied without looking up.

"An Armadimon in the house?" Ruby finished while eating a cookie.

"That was a funny story," Armadimon chuckled. "Taiyang was fighting these guys, till one of them had a hostage, then I helped cause I rolled down the shelf and conked him in the head."

"Yeah, reminded me of that gag where they hit someone with a coconut. Didn't even need to fight the last guy anymore after that," Taiyang chuckled. "Then I kinda fed him since turns out he hadn't eaten in a few days and well…"

"Let me guess. 'It followed me home, can I keep it?'" Jaune couldn't help but chuckle.

"Yes, only without the permission part," Taiyang laughed.

"Hey, I'm not a dog," Armadimon joked good naturedly.

"And then the Digivice showed up, didn't it?" Yang asked knowingly, her father confirming by fishing a D-Core from his pocket.

"Jeez, the only person in this family without a Digimon now is Qrow." Gyro chuckled.

"I doubt that'll change anytime soon." Qrow said as he walked out into the living room and sat on an empty chair, Zwei hopping into his lap, making him shrug as he pet the dog absentmindedly.

"So, anything you wanted to ask us?" Pierce wondered.

"Just the name of the kid you said Ozpin reincarnates into… still hard to believe you kids know the future… and that Leo sold us out." Qrow asked, before frowning harshly.

"Oscar Pines, we were going to go pick him up ourselves honestly." Pyrrha informed him.

Qrow waved it off "It's fine, I'll handle the kid, I'll get him close to you kids and you'll probably find us then, we'll be able to head onto Haven after that."

"I still don't know how I feel about this." Taiyang frowned.

"Honey, they'll be fine, the kids are literally part of the strongest people on Remnant right now." Summer reassured him as she came and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry, we're not going anywhere yet," Yang reassured.

"After all we've done, I think we can take another week off," Pyrrha sighed.

"Just hope we actually get some peace and quiet," Agumon sighed.

"Preach it buddy," Gyro chuckled, as he looked over some news again, but when he put the scroll down on an article regarding the CCT, the screen glitched for a second, and for a brief moment, an egg was visible before the screen returned to normal.

* * *

 **And there we go!**

 **Volume 3 is wrapped up, and we gave you all a quick recap of the events that happened afterwards.**

 **And, yeah, we had a bit of fun with deciding on what happened exactly.**

 **And we LOVED messing wiht Cinder and just ruining everything for her.**

 **Though, yeah, we still killed Ozpin, though this time his body was found.**

 **And, if you know your Digimon Adventure lore... you all know what's next, because...**

 **The Adventure Evolves.**


	60. 59: Our War Game

**All I have to say is, if anybody corrects me on names, you will be ignored.**

* * *

Fall was starting to leave it's place for winter, not that most people would notice as a fine layer of snow was already present after a certain event.

The group had returned to Beacon to clean up a bit and get ready to leave for Mistral, having left a few things back at the school when they left for Patch.

At the moment, the group was separated through the school, each doing their own thing, some cleaning up, others doing different things.

As for Weiss, she was currently in the tower with Tentomon, the two of them doing a sweep of the network to make sure there weren't any bugs in the system.

Suddenly, Tentomon perked up when he saw something on the screen "Uh… Weiss?" he got a hum in response "Some bugs are grouping up on the network."

"Wait… what?" Weiss asked as she actually paid attention to the screen now, and saw that Tentomon was telling the truth, bugs, glitches and viruses coalescing together into… something.

She wasn't the only one seeing this though, as all around Remnant, many people were witnessing the same thing she was.

Slowly, Weiss's eyes widened as the image the erroneous coding was merging into became clearer and clearer "That's a…"

"Digiegg…" Tentomon finished in shock, as the egg finished materializing on screen… and hatched.

HELLO

* * *

 **Digital Story: Our War Game**

* * *

"Let's see…" Weiss mused as she looked through the Digimon Analyzer. "There's...no data," she frowned.

"Could it be it's a completely new species?" Tentomon mused.

"That's...very possible," Weiss nodded.

"Considering it was born from malware… it's probably a Virus Type at least." Tentomon figured.

"Yeah… it just hatched, so it's still at the Fresh stage. Let's go get some of the others just in case something happens." Weiss frowned...right before the image blurred, and when it unblurred, the Digimon had changed into a more insect/claw like shape, with a pair of antennae on its head. "Of course it proves me right." Weiss said as her eye twitched.

"Oh hey, it sent another message." Tentomon noticed as he opened the message.

I'M HUNGRY

The two of them stared at the message for a moment, before looking at each other "That can't be good." Tentomon summed up.

"Move! Now!" Weiss said, the two them running and practically jumping down the emergency staircase.

* * *

"Been a while since I made one of these, but I'd say after everything, it's a perfect way to celebrate," Gyro grinned as he mixed the flour with the eggs, sugar, and various other ingredients to make the cake batter. He didn't really have much he'd left in Beacon, most of it having already been put in his pouch. With that in mind, he'd gotten to the rebuilt cafeteria, and seeing that it had been restocked, decided that he'd do something for the rest of the group after everything they'd been through.

"I can't wait to try that when it's done!"Agumon grinned, almost drooling at the cake he was imagining. He knew Gyro was a good cook, so a cake made by him would be delicious.

Of course, finishing the batter was as far as Gyro went, as suddenly Weiss and Tentomon burst into the room. "What the?! Weiss? Tentomon? Where's the Grimm Army?!" he gasped in alarm, cause they sure LOOKED like they'd seen an army of Grimm coming again.

"The egg hatched!" Weiss said, panting.

"The… egg?" Gyro and Agumon said, glancing at the open egg carton.

"Not those eggs! A Digiegg!" she corrected herself.

"... What." was the flat response from Gyro and Agumon.

Weiss rolled her eyes before making some space on the counter and opening her scroll in it's rarely used computer sized screen, a holographic keyboard appearing in front of it, quickly returning to where she was and showing the small hand shaped Digimon.

"The hell is that thing?" Gyro asked.

"I've never seen that Digimon before." Agumon noted.

"That's because it's something brand new, born from bugs, glitches and viruses that converged together." Weiss explained.

"Oh… that's probably bad." Gyro said after a moment.

"It is yes, because I checked regularly on my way here, he's been EATING data from the network." Weiss confirmed.

"Wait, won't that fuck up all the automated stuff around the world?" Agumon realised.

"Got it in one." Tentomon said with a sigh.

* * *

As if to confirm what they suspected, every automatic register, scanner, anything that was related to money really, started glitching, and priced everything at...

"That'll be 1 Million Lien and 25 cents?"

"Say WHAT?!"

Yeah… that's a big number.

* * *

"Okay, this is bad. We definitely can't let things stand like this, but that thing is in the network itself, so what can we do?" Gyro asked.

"Can we delete it?" Agumon wondered.

"I've already tried, it didn't work." Weiss said, before they got an alert from the virus's screen, showing that… it had evolved again.

It's body now consisted of an oval head with antenna on top, two long arms, and a lower body that seemed to consist of cables.

"So, this is probably it's Child stage, right?" Gyro checked.

"Yeah, this is the second time he's evolved, he's doing this as fast as we do though, so that's scaring me a bit." Weiss admitted, biting her nail as she tried to figure out how to go about things.

"How can we stop it though?" Agumon wondered.

"It's not like we can just jump into the computer, right?" Tentomon added.

"Maybe I can help." a voice said from Gyro's scroll, making him bring it out and open it to reveal...

"Gennai!" they exclaimed in surprise, not expecting to see him after nearly a year.

"It's been a while Chosen Children." Gennai greeted with a nod as Gyro expanded his scroll into computer mode and put it next to Weiss's own.

"If you're talking to us, I'm guessing that the Digital World is fully back up and running now?" Weiss guessed, earning a nod from the man.

"That's right, but I think we can talk about that later, we have more pressing matters to worry about." he said seriously "That creature that popped up on the network? It's certainly an anomaly, but to make it easier, I named it, right now, that's it's Child stage, Keramon. The previous two were the Fresh stage, Kuramon, and the Baby stage, Tsumemon."

"I guess that helps a tiny bit, but what about helping us get to it?" Gyro asked.

"That's something I can help with," Gennai nodded, before running a new program. "I've made a connection between our two worlds, it was part of a little welcome back present, but right now, I can divert it to send you to the network instead, but, I caution against the humans entering there, it's rather different from the Digital World."

"So I guess it's just you and me." Agumon said, looking to Tentomon.

"Looks like it." Tentomon nodded.

"Be careful you two." Weiss said with a frown.

"And make sure to kick it's butt." Gyro added, before Gennai activated the program, and Agumon and Tentomon were both sucked up into his scroll.

"If you can get to the others, that would be a big help, I'm sure the more people we have the faster this will be taken care of." Gennai informed them.

"Right, sorry, I'll have to close you a bit." Gyro said as he picked his scroll back up, Gennai nodding as his screen was closed and Gyro started calling the others… or rather, trying.

"Come on Pyrrha pick up… dammit, did she turn off her scroll or something?"

"Ruby better pick up… her voicemail? Really?"

"Come on bro I know you have your scroll with you… dammit are you making out with Yang or something?"

And on that went, as it seemed he had the terrible luck of the others either not having their scrolls, leaving them off, or just plain not hearing them.

"I'm gonna drill it into all their heads later dammit." Gyro sighed as he put his scroll back in computer mode, Gennai's screen reopening.

"It can't be helped, I guess it'll just be us for now." Gennai sighed.

"So, any leads on where in the network it is?" Gyro asked.

"Well… a ferris wheel in west Vale just started spinning WAY too fast." Weiss answered.

Gyro blinked a few times "This bastard is just doing whatever he wants isn't he?"

"It would appear so." Gennai sighed, shaking his head.

"Alright, transfer is finally done, their in the network." Weiss said, focusing on her screen.

Inside the network…

Agumon and Tentomon were flying through a sort of tube as they travelled along the network.

"We're almost there guys!" Agumon said.

"We're counting on you two!" Gyro said, his face appearing on a screen above them.

"He doesn't know we're here yet, so catch him off guard!" Weiss added as her own face appeared on another screen, before they finally entered the area were Keramon was, seeing him eating up a portion of the network like it was a noodle.

"Shall we?" Tentomon asked.

"Let's!" Agumon replied. "Hold it right there!" he shouted, as the two opened fire on Keramon.

Keramon spasmed and flew through the air when a mix of lightning and fire hit him, sending him flying away. However, he quickly stabilized himself, and turned to the two attacking Digimon, his grin seemingly growing larger.

Gyro rose an eyebrow when they got a ping "A message?"

LET'S PLAY

"Playing?" He repeated in confusion.

"I guess he's just like that." Weiss frowned "Guys, take care of him quickly."

"Right, time to evolve!" Gyro added as they grabbed their Digivices.

And suddenly, anyone who was paying attention to their scrolls saw Agumon and Tentomon evolve into Greymon and Kabuterimon.

When Keramon saw them, he tilted his head, before opening his mouth wide and firing off a few shots at them while starting to move around the area quickly, Greymon and Kabuterimon moving out of the way easily, before countering with shots of their own, one of Kabuterimon's Mega Blaster shots disorienting Keramon for a moment, which was all Greymon needed to hit him with a Mega Flame.

"He's not so tough." Greymon smirked.

"Way to go buddy." Gyro chuckled.

"Wait a second…" Weiss trailed off with a frown, before she noticed the data on Keramon changing, and once the smoke cleared, they all saw he had evolved once again, this time having a white body with six long legs, red highlights on various parts of his body, his head sporting a red horn.

"Well this is getting annoying." Gyro said with a groan.

"Don't worry, it's just his Adult stage." Weiss told him.

"That form… I'll call it Infermon, but, something about it…" Gennai trailed off, before he turned his attention to something else, no doubt looking up whatever confused him about Infermon.

"Keep fighting!" Kabuterimon growled, the two peppering Infermon with their attacks. The smoke covered the field again.

"Did we get him?" Greymon asked, only for a shape to come right out of the smoke, forcing them to separate as Infermon was completely unharmed.

"No way! He took all that and is just fine?!" Gyro gasped right as Infermon began his counter attack, firing powerful shots from his mouth, forcing the two to dodge, but they couldn't keep it up forever.

"I knew something was wrong! He's not an Adult, he jumped right into Perfect!" Gennai informed them.

"He just jumped a level?!" Weiss gasped in shock, right as Kabuterimon and Greymon had to tank a few shots.

"You alright guys?" Gyro asked.

"We're fine." Greymon confirmed.

"Good, in that case, time we evolve to Perfect as well." Gyro said as he and Weiss held their Digivices up, Greymon and Kabuterimon starting to Super Evolve… but Infermon was faster.

He fired two shots which collided with the two Digimon right as they started glowing.

"Guys!" Weiss shouted in worry.

Infermon, for his part, laughed at them, before an exit appeared at the bottom of the area and he left through it.

When the smoke cleared, Agumon and Tentomon were left there, looking a little beat up, but otherwise they were fine.

"Anything broken guys?" Gyro asked with a frown.

"Just our pride." Tentomon said.

"He's way too fast, that's so unfair." Agumon frowned.

"Take a break guys, we'll try to figure out where he's heading next." Weiss sighed, earning nods from the two Digimon.

That's when Weiss noticed how she had a few mails in her message box "How in the…?" she trailed off "Wait… those are directed to Tentomon and Agumon."

"Wait, they can get mail?" Gyro asked with a blink.

"Apparently." Weiss said, before she opened one of the messages 'I've never seen a Digimon that fast before' "Well I've seen faster." she muttered before opening the next 'It was two against one, how did you lose?'

"Well excuse US for not knowing that bastard was so fast." Gyro said in annoyance when Weiss read that one outloud.

"There's a few more messages too… ah! There's one from Infermon!" Weiss said in surprise, opening that message.

HELLO HELLO HELLO HELLO

"Is he just repeating that non-stop?" Gyro glanced at her screen with a raised eyebrow.

"He is yes." Weiss said in deadpan, before her eyes narrowed "Wait a second… oh fuck."

"What?" Gyro asked seriously.

"Look at the address he sent it to. He's mailing that EVERYWHERE in the world!" Weiss said.

"Wait… but won't that…?" Gyro trailed off.

"It'll overload the network." Gennai confirmed.

"And if everybody starts responding to the message, things will only get worse." Weiss frowned.

"How bad are we talking here?" Gyro asked.

"Try calling someone, you'll see." she said, and Gyro attempted just that… and just got the tone.

"Uh… it's occupied." he said, before trying to call someone else… and it kept going to the tone.

"Wait… is he occupying ALL the phone lines?" Gyro realised.

"It looks like it." Weiss said, before Gyro's scroll started ringing and he quickly answered… only to get…

HELLO HELLO HELLO HELLO

Hanging up with a worried look, Gyro turned to Weiss "We're in trouble."

* * *

Just as if the world wanted to confirm they were in trouble, everywhere around Remnant, scrolls started ringing, and people started answering.

And all they got was the infinite reply of HELLO.

* * *

"If he keeps doing this, then pretty soon-" Weiss cut herself off with a scared look "The network will crash." she finished lamely as she turned to Gyro, her network connection now gone.

"Oh fuck… oh shit this is REALLY bad." Gyro said, running his hands through his hair.

"Well, it's not ALL bad, my connection is still open due to being linked to the Digital World." Gennai said.

"At least we still have that." Weiss frowned as she tried to think of something, eventually snapping her fingers. "I've got it! I'll be right back!" she said, running back out.

"Good luck!" Gyro called after her, before sighing "Now… how to get in touch with the others?"

"If it were possible I'd call them, but with Infermon occupying the network so heavily, I can't reach them." Gennai added.

"This is like back when we first landed in the Digital World and tried to call back home." Gyro mused "Even back then though, we still had a way to talk with each other." he said, before turning to Gennai "By the way, can you at least tell where the others are?"

"Well…" Gennai frowned, before turning his head to something else "It… seems like Jaune and Pyrrha are close to a stable access point actually."

"Well that's annoying. If I could talk to them then we could send them there to have Gabumon and Gomamon join in." Gyro said, before looking down at his Digivice "This thing has all the functions we need except for a call button."

"About that… it has a microphone on top right? Does it work?" Gennai asked, always having wondered about that since seeing the D-Crests.

Gyro opened his mouth to answer… before finding he HAD no answer "You know… I never checked." he admitted… before he started pressing the various buttons on his Digivice, Gennai giving him a dry look.

Eventually, he got a sound that was similar to radio static when he held a certain button "Yes! Alright then…" he trailed off, clearing his throat to make sure he spoke clearly "Jaune! Pyrrha! Can you hear me?"

"Gyro? Huh, that's a new feature," came Jaune's voice. "What's going on?"

"We found an unknown Digimon inside the network. Its eating enough data to make Agumon look like a monk, and if we don't stop it it'll cause SERIOUS problems!" Gyro said, his voice dead serious.

"That's...REALLY bad," Jaune gulped.

"What do you need us to do?" Pyrrha asked urgently.

"You need to find a stable access point. From there Gennai can connect you to the Digital World. Send Gomamon and Gabumon through so Gennai can send them into the CCT network. We're trying to get as much help as we can!" Gyro said. "I'm gonna hang up now and try to contact the others. Just do what you can as fast as you can."

"Right, we'll do that," Jaune nodded, before the call was ended.

"So much for our quiet vacation, huh?" Gomamon sighed.

"As if the universe would let us have any real quiet time," Gabumon couldn't help but chuckle.

"True true," Pyrrha laughed a bit as they went to look for an access point. What they found…

"So...you'll only let us borrow the connection if we're paying customers?" Jaune sighed. Currently they were inside a hair salon...a woman oriented salon, with the owner refusing to let them borrow the connection point...unless one of them (read: Pyrrha) used the services provided.

"Let's just get this over with." Pyrrha sighed, stepping towards one of the chairs.

"You need a minimum length if you want the computer privilege." the owner added, Pyrrha and Jaune both groaning in annoyance.

"Fine, cut them to my neck." she said as she undid her braid while Jaune went to the computer in the back of the salon with Gomamon and Gabumon, and quickly enough, a screen appeared with Gennai on it.

"Pyrrha needs to get a haircut so we can use this, but I'll send Gabumon and Gomamon over, she'll be here fast enough." he said, glancing to the side "The hair stylists here operate REALLY fast." he added, seeing as a woman who had been sat when they arrived was already getting up.

Gennai chuckled awkwardly "Right, I'll also open a connection to Gyro and Weiss for you." he said, Gabumon and Gomamon stepping up and soon being sucked into the computer and being redirected into the network, as a video screen opened up and he saw Gyro there.

"Glad to see you made it." Gyro said, before raising an eyebrow "Where's Pyrrha though?"

"I'm repeating myself, but if we wanted to use this, she had to get a haircut, and it needed a minimum amount of length to boot, so she's losing everything below the neck." Jaune sighed.

"Huh… that's gonna be different." Gyro admitted, before turning his head as Weiss got back… and she was carrying some blocky piece of tech he couldn't identify "Uh… what's that?"

"Signal booster, stole it from the tower." she answered simply as she connected it to her scroll.

"You did WHAT?!" Gyro and Jaune said together.

"Desperate times boys, desperate times." was Weiss's dry answer, and two couldn't deny that.

After a few moments of her making sure everything was in working order, she activated the signal booster, and…

"Yes!" she cheered as they were back.

"Welcome back guys!" Agumon said, as he and Tentomon were still waiting, but now fully rested.

"We're on the trail again, question is, where does it lead?" Gyro wondered.

"Hopefully nowhere far." Jaune sighed.

"Well…" Weiss wondered, before she got a mail from Infermon "That taunting bastard." she growled as she opened it.

PEEK-A-BOO FROM ATLAS

"Atlas huh? Now why are you over there?" Weiss wondered.

"Probably up to no good." Jaune said with a frown.

* * *

Jaune hit the nail on the head.

Over in Atlas, Infermon was messing with traffic signals, display screens, everything he could.

He was even appearing on TVs himself.

* * *

"That stupid thing is playing with us." Gyro growled in annoyance.

"It may be a Perfect level, but mentally speaking, it's just a baby… albeit a very evil one." Gennai said.

"Well...some people always did say kids are cruel…then there was the guy who said kids don't learn empathy until they're a few years old so...guess this is like that…" Gyro frowned.

"That sounds about right." Pyrrha said as she joined Jaune at the computer, now sporting much shorter hair that stopped at her neck, though with the current situation, nobody commented on it.

"Glad you could make it Pyrrha, we can use all the firepower we can get." Weiss said.

"Speaking of that, I managed to call the others, they said they'll try to find viable access points from their locations." Gyro said, earning nods from everyone.

Back in the network, Agumon and Tentomon had gotten back on the chase, travelling through one of the tunnels "Think the others are here yet?" Tentomon wondered.

"Well, if they don't get here, it'll be up to just us two to handle him." Agumon said seriously.

"That didn't go so well last time." Tentomon frowned as the tunnel opened up wider.

"Agumon, Tentomon!" Gabumon called as they finally caught up to them.

"Hey guys! Glad you could join the party!" Agumon grinned.

"Wouldn't miss this for the world!" Gomamon chuckled.

"Let's take care of that virus fast." Gabumon said with a smirk.

"Good luck everyone!" Pyrrha said as her screen appeared.

"Be thorough when fighting him, we don't want to run any risks." Jaune added.

"I'll make sure to guide you to him." Weiss supplied.

"We'll kick his butt this time!" Agumon said with a growl as Weiss guided the four of time through the network through a few twists and turns, soon coming up on an exit.

Entering the next area of the network, it was filled with black pillars that looked like they would be at home in construction sites, and standing on one of them was Infermon… with a message above him that read…

THIS WAY  


"Now I see why you don't like him." Pyrrha said in annoyance.

"Well he's in for it now." Jaune said with a frown.

"Damn right he is, head to Ultimate everyone!" Gyro shouted.

 **(Play Brave Heart)**

"Agumon…"

"Gabumon…"

"Tentomon…"

"Gomamon…"

" **Warp Evolution!"**

"WarGreymon!"

"MetalGarurumon!"

"HerculesKabuterimon!"

"Vikemon!"

As this was happening, Remnant was watching. People all over the world were watching in a mix of awe, wonder, and more than a little fear. Though, among them, there were plenty who were taking notes of what they were seeing...especially the symbols that appeared during this Evolution.

The group didn't waste any time in opening fire on Infermon, explosions and destruction wracking the area, while WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon charged forward, slamming into Infermon, causing the viral Digimon to get tossed around with the impact and explosions. However, despite the onslaught, the creature actually managed to survive, land on a surface, and then rebound, going right at the group. Then the insane, even by their standards, happened.

In the real world, the image of Infermon blurred, before revealing a new form.

It's main body was dark in color, with greyish green limbs, while its chest, shoulders, hands and head were midnight blue, horns coming out the side of his head, long red claws on both his hands and feet, a row of red spikes on his back, and a mane of blonde hair on the back of his head.

"On come on!" Gyro couldn't help but shout.

"This is really starting to get annoying." Weiss said in aggravation.

"So THIS is what it feels like to be on the receiving end of this shit." Jaune added in a dry tone.

"I hate this thing with so much fire right now." Pyrrha finished with a growl.

"Not just that, this shouldn't be remotely possible!" Gennai said in alarm. "A Digimon reaching its Perfect form is crazy enough, but to reach its Ultimate form barely an hour after birth? This is unprecedented!"

"This thing isn't exactly normal to begin with," HerculesKabuterimon frowned.

"Honestly, this thing almost feels like a demon." WarGreymon couldn't help but say.

"A demon… yes, you're right, for something like this… Diablomon." Gennai named the creature with a hard look.

"Whatever the case we've gotta deal with it!" Vikemon glared, the group continuing their assault.

Between the four of them, even with that Evolution, Diablomon was having a tough time, getting knocked about by their assault, even as it countered with blasts from its chest, but they kept up the assault.

"We got it on the ropes! Keep attacking!" Gyro cheered.

"Don't let up the attack!" Pyrrha agreed.

"Right!" the Digimon nodded before continuing their assault, the next battery of attacks causing their opponent to get thrown in the air. "Now for the finisher!" WarGreymon shouted...before Diablomon righted itself in midair...and suddenly fired four shots...at the screens?

"What the f-?!" Jaune managed to say before the screens suddenly went blue as the screens representing them were destroyed in the cyber world.

 **(End song)**

"THAT BASTARD JUST BLUE SCREENED US?!" Gyro raged.

"I have never been this pissed off before in my life!" Weiss said as she had no choice but to restart her scroll, while over at the salon, Jaune did the same with the time it took them to get back was aggravating, especially as Gennai still had his feed, and they could hear the sounds of battle coming from it.

Once they were all finally back though…

"Guys…?" Gyro trailed off in worry when he saw the four Digimon and their current states.

Vikemon and HerculesKabuterimon had reverted to Gomamon and Tentomon, while WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon stood protectively in front of them, seemingly unconscious.

"What the heck happened?!" Jaune gasped in alarm.

"When the signal was disrupted, it had a backlash on your partners, causing them to freeze up," Gennai frowned, analyzing what just happened. "This was a terrible oversight, I'll make a program to counter that so it doesn't happen again."

"Please do so." Weiss said with a frown.

"WarGreymon! Come on, wake up buddy!" Gyro shouted.

"MetalGarurumon don't you dare give up now!" Pyrrha added.

In response, the two slowly started to move "We're… alright guys… we can still go." WarGreymon panted.

"Gomamon and Tentomon are out like lights though, so you should probably get them out of here." MetalGarurumon added.

"Right." Gennai added, before doing just that, Weiss grabbing Tentomon as he appeared in the air and Jaune doing the same with Gomamon.

"We keep getting more mails from the looks of it." Gyro said, casting a quick glance at the inbox.

"Yeah… it's mostly people just being dicks and asking us why we suddenly stopped and all that." Weiss sighed when she got a chance to check the mail.

"You know… maybe you two should pull out." Gennai said to WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon.

"No… we can take him… we won't lose again." WarGreymon immediately shot down the idea.

"Guys…" Gyro looked at them with a frown, before gaining a determine look "Alright, we're counting on you two."

"Hold on, Diablomon sent another message." Weiss suddenly said, opening the message.

WHICH ONE HAS THE CLOCK?

"Clock? What's he talking about?" Jaune asked in confusion.

Right after that, a countdown started on the screens, and Diablomon started… copy pasting himself from the looks of it.

"He's… multiplying." Pyrrha realised in horror.

"But what's the countdown for?" Gyro wondered, before Weiss gasped in horror.

"No… oh no… someone from Atlas just sent out a message… several missiles were just fired, aimed practically everywhere around the world." she said, going pale.

Everyone went wide eyed as they heard that, looking back to the screen.

"This bastard… he's trying to commit genocide… and he's winning…" Gyro said in fear.

* * *

To say that the news was received badly….understatement. The world was in an uproar at the news, the various Kingdoms doing what they could, especially in Atlas where they were trying to regain control of the systems, but no dice.

"I want those missiles under control now!" Ironwood ordered, glaring at the screen. It was really one problem after another for him, and it showed, as unlike when he had been in Beacon, he looked more...haggard...tired. The knowledge his fleet had nearly been used to help destroy Vale, the loss of Ozpin, and now the universe apparently rubbing it in his face by once again having his Kingdom's technology be used to cause chaos and destruction.

The various personnel worked frantically to try and carry out the orders, one person seemed...bizarrely calm. If anything, he was staring at the screen with a certain intensity. 'Incredible, to think it took over the network so quickly, and in so many locations at once,' he thought with almost manic glee. 'If we could harness these creatures in ways more than just what this so-called 'bonding' does...or perhaps even bend them to our will, or create our own…' the grin on his face was only unnoticed because everyone was too busy working to see it.

* * *

However, other than the people who were worried, some were...interested. Among them a woman in a castle in a dark land.

"Now what exactly is going on?" Salem wondered as she looked up at the skies, seeing hundreds of missiles in flight, some even heading for her domain, to which she simply waved a hand and a murder of Nevermores flew up and intercepted them with their bodies, making them blow up in the sky.

"It would appear that a virus spread through Atlas's systems and fired their whole payload of missiles." a man's voice said, making her turn to see a dark skinned man with a somewhat bushy mustache wearing a blue coat.

"I see… inform me if you figure anything else out Watts." Salem said, turning back to the skies.

"Of course my lady." Watts said with a bow.

* * *

"I want to say this is insane, but honestly, this is getting par the course," Yang said in annoyance, as right now other than Weiss, Jaune, Gyro, Pyrrha, Tentomon, Gomamon, Agumon, and Gabumon, all the remaining Chosen were now in the air, their partners in their Ultimate forms. The missiles had been launched, with WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon fighting in the network hoping to stop Diablomon. However, they all agreed they needed a contingency in the event that it wasn't enough. They had to take out the missiles, as many of them as they could, before they hit the other kingdoms.

"It's REALLY scary how none of us can even start to counter that," Ren sighed in agreement.

"Nothing we can do about it. For now, we can just hope WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon can beat Diablomon. Until then, we have to take out as many missiles as we can," Blake frowned.

With that they all nodded with grim determination, and continued forward.

* * *

"Alright, we've found a path." Weiss said, as within the network, a road opened in front of WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon, the two heading through it as quickly as they could.

"Let's hope this works." Gyro sighed.

"It will, it has to work." Pyrrha shot back.

"We're getting so much mail." Weiss said "'Good luck, WarGreymon!' 'Keep fighting, MetalGarurumon!'"

"The hopes of the world are with them at this point." Gennai said, smiling slightly despite the desperate situation.

"You're coming up on him guys, be careful, there's no telling just how it'll all go down." Jaune cautioned them after a few moments of them going through the path, and soon enough, reaching the exit into where Diablomon resided, and…

"There's… so many of them." Pyrrha said with wide eyes as the spherical room was literally CRAWLING with Diablomon.

"How many are there?" Gyro asked in shock.

"4000, no 8000, dammit, 16 000!" Weiss growled in annoyance.

"He just keeps multiplying." Gennai frowned.

"I can't believe I'm saying this but suddenly Spiral Mountain is looking VERY enjoyable right now…" WarGreymon said dryly.

"I'll take that with a side trip to Myotismon's castle and a front row ticket to a concert by Etemon," MetalGarurumon said just as dryly.

"Which one has the 'clock'?" Gyro asked, hoping there was SOMETHING to tell the difference.

"I can't tell. They're all identical to one another! We LITERALLY can only delete them one by one and hope we get the right one!" Weiss gasped, the look of horror on her face making how daunting and almost hopeless this was all the more chilling.

"But there's thousands of them and counting! This is insane beyond anything we've even REMOTELY done!" Pyrrha gasped in horror.

And then… the Diablomon finally payed attention to WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon.

"Evasive maneuvers!" Gyro shouted as he saw them open fire.

The two Digimon reacted quickly to their credit, weaving through the shots as best they could, but, even then, they seemed somewhat… sluggish, not moving as fast as they normally would, many shots grazing them and slowing them down further.

"What's going on? Why are they this slow?!" Jaune wondered.

"It's like their… lagging… the e-mails! Because everyone is sending their mails straight to them, it's making them lag and slow down." Weiss realised before she attempted to reply to everyone "Everyone in the world, please stop, you're only making the situation harder!"

"They're gonna be hit!" Tentomon shouted.

"I can't watch!" Gomamon whimpered, covering his eyes.

"No way! This is NOT how it ends!" Gyro glared, grabbing the screen.

"We've fought his far together, we CAN'T just let them fight alone!" Pyrrha agreed, and at that moment, their Crests glowed brightly, and suddenly both were sucked into the screens, appearing in front of their partners in cyberspace, right as the beams hit, a massive explosion happening. However, when the dust settled, it revealed the four of them protected inside of a massive sphere of energy, the Crests of Courage and Friendship glowing brightly, having blocked the barrage.

"Okay...not complaining, but still kinda weird," WarGreymon blinked, not expecting the Crests to be able to do THAT...until he remembered the fight with Cinder back during the dance. The Crests of Courage and Purity had shielded Gyro and Ruby, and now the Crests of Courage and Friendship were doing the same...on a much larger scale.

"Thanks for the help. You both REALLY saved our asses there," MetalGarurumon sighed, before they felt themselves able to move again.

"I've managed to divert the emails, so you shouldn't have to worry about lags again," Weiss said with a small sigh, having had to work fast to stop the emails from further lagging the two Digimon.

"Alright, time for a counter attack!" Gyro said, but…

"I don't think they're going to let us," Pyrrha gulped, as true enough the Diablomon began opening fire again, the beams hitting the barrier but it held for now...but the hairlines starting to appear made it clear that wouldn't be the case for much longer…

"This is bad! That shield isn't gonna last long!" Jaune gasped. "Isn't there anything we can do? Maybe send Tentomon and Gomamon back in? Or even join in too?"

"I don't even know HOW they got in in the first place! And getting in through the link is a no go, Diablomon cut it off the moment WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon got in there!" Weiss shot back, frantically working for SOME way to help.

"Gyro, Pyrrha! You both gotta get out of here!" MetalGarurumon said urgently.

"Like hell we are!" Gyro shot back.

"We're not leaving you both to fight this by yourselves! We started this journey together, and come hell or high water we're finishing this together!" Pyrrha said.

"Even if it means we go down with you!" Gyro agreed.

Out in the real world, despite the determination, Weiss was reaching her wits end. This was impossible. This wasn't even remotely close to when they fought the Dark Masters, no this was a billion times worse. As it was, they needed a miracle to pull this off, and she wasn't sure if even Pierce and his crest would cut it anymore. "We can't win…" Weiss murmured.

"We can't give up!" Jaune shouted, jolting her out of that. "Gyro and Pyrrha haven't given up, and neither has everyone else!" he said, as true enough, the mail they were receiving, it was now full of encouragement. The entire world was cheering them on.

"Don't forget about us!" came Nora's voice from their D-Crests.

"I know we can't help you guys right now, but we're doing everything we can to stop the missiles out here, so don't give up cause we sure haven't!" Pierce's voice was heard.

"They're right, its too early to give up," Tentomon agreed, causing Weiss to chuckle but nod.

"Yeah, it's not over till it's over," she said before getting back to work, finding ANY opening she could. However, that was enough as now...all 10 hearts were one in this wish, as were the hearts of many in the world, and at that moment, all 10 D-Crests began to glow, the Crests floating out of them and entering the cyberworld.

A bright light began to glow around the four, blinding the Diablomon army, while the barrier was soon repaired, all 10 Crests now circling them.

"This is…!" Pyrrha said in wonder.

"I think we just got the miracle we needed," Gyro couldn't help but grin.

"I feel my energy coming back…!" MetalGarurumon gasped as he and WarGreymon started glowing.

"Not just coming back, its overflowing!" WarGreymon added, before their bodies started to grow larger, while all around them, emails from all over the world, all of them giving them their support, their wish for them to win, their hopes, began to appear and glow brightly.

"What the-?!" Gyro and Pyrrha gasped, as their Digivices glowed brighter, changing color into a mix of orange and blue, with white in the middle.

 **(Play 'Beat Hit')**

"WarGreymon!" WarGreymon roared as his body glowed and seemingly turned into energy which collected into the armor on his head, turning into an orange flame like energy which propelled the head.

"MetalGarurumon!" MetalGarurumon roared as his body glowed and turned into energy as well, gathering into the armor on his head and turning into a blue flame like energy, the two heads soon flying around each other. The lights from the many emails began to gather together, as the Crests converged their energy into the light, followed by the light from Gyro and Pyrrha's D-Crests, creating a silhouette of light, as the two heads flew towards it and positioned themselves, with WarGreymon on the left, and MetalGarurumon on the right. "Jogress Evolution!" the two called out in unison as a bright light shone forth with enough force that the entire Diablomon army recoiled. When the light subsided, everyone watching was left looking in awe at the new Digimon that was formed.

The Digimon's body was white in color, and humanoid in shape, three yellow claws on his feet, with two small horns jutting out of his waist. His chest had blue stripes on it, and just below that was a symbol, that was half the Crest of Friendship and half the Crest of Courage, while a long white cape was attached to his back. His head looked like a typical knight's helmet, with a white horn on the front and two yellow horns on the back. His left arm was orange in color, the hand being WarGreymon's head though orange in color, while his shoulder bore a shield with the Crest of Courage on it. His right arm was blue, with the hand being MetalGarurumon's head, while the shoulder bore a spiked pauldron. Finally, his eyes opened, showing the left eye to be green like WarGreymon, while the right was red like MetalGarurumon "Omegamon!" he spoke in both of their voices.

"This is…!" Gennai gasped at the sight.

"Do you know this Digimon?" Gomamon asked.

"It's not in the Analyzer!" Weiss added.

"I...I'd only heard of it as a legend, of a knight who's powers went beyond Ultimate...but to think they were real…!" Gennai gasped.

"Well I say the legend picked a really good time to show it was real," Jaune couldn't help but say.

True enough, inside, the Diablomon army had regained their wits and fired another barrage of beams, but Omegamon simply raised his left arm to the right...before a sword emerged from WarGreymon's mouth, a mighty steel blade with DigiCode inscribed on it that roughly translated to 'All Delete'. "Grey Sword!" Omegamon called out, swinging the sword, and in a single stroke, deflected the beams right back at the Diablomon army, taking out literally a fifth of them in one attack.

"Holy shit!" Gyro gasped at seeing how big the power difference was now, a sentiment Pyrrha could only agree with a dumb looking nod. Not that either of them were complaining.

Omegamon raised his right arm, before MetalGarurumon's mouth opened and a massive cannon was revealed from it. "Garuru Cannon!" he called out, taking aim and firing, the ensuing onslaught destroying Diablomon copies by the hundreds, and cutting down their numbers by an insane rate. All around the world, people could only stare as the tables were completely turned on Diablomon, Omegamon destroying them at a rate far faster than they could multiply, and before long, there was only one left, the lone Diablomon looking at Omegamon, and despite the unchanging expression on its face...there was no doubting the fear behind its once gleeful eyes.

The three stared at it for a moment, before Pyrrha said the only thing they needed to hear. "Finish it."

With that Omegamon surged forward, Grey Sword raised, but Diablomon wasn't about to let himself be deleted so easily as he began darting around wildly, focusing EVERYTHING he had left into his speed, pinballing all over the area at a speed Omegamon couldn't keep up with.

"I'm getting dizzy just watching," Jaune rubbed his eyes after a moment.

"I'm right there with you," Gomamon groaned, doing the same.

"They can't stop him if they can't hit him!" Tentomon frowned.

"And we've only got 3 minutes left!" Weiss said in alarm.

"That's not so great…" came Ruby's voice.

"Please tell me the missiles didn't get through?" Weiss groaned.

"Well...95% of them didn't at least," Blake said. "That leaves about...3 left that got through…"

"And why haven't Pierce and UlforceVeedramon taken them down yet?" Jaune asked.

"They were over in Atlas, taking out any missile that fell back down, their flying over now, but they won't make it in time." Nora answered in worry.

"How are things on your end?" Yang asked.

"Well...we're down to one Diablomon...but it' moving stupidly fast," Gyro said.

"Isn't there some way you can slow it down? Even just a little?" Ren suggested.

"Slow it down...that's it!" Weiss brightened, before she accessed the emails she was STILL getting, selected ALL of them...and forwarded all of them to Diablomon at the same time. "You like data? Well let's see you chew on THIS!" she shouted, hitting the send button.

Diablomon was zipping around, inwardly smirking, as he knew there was only a few seconds left before he'd win the game...before the MASSIVE flow of data hit him, causing him to feel VERY heavy and barely able to move.

"There you are," Gyro smirked, as Omegamon was facing him now, Grey Sword at the ready as he'd already charged forward.

Diablomon's eyes widened in horror as he could barely turn to face the incoming knight, going for one last attempt to attack...which was also lagged like crazy as Weiss was sending email after email and even re-sending ones she'd already sent, making it basically impossible for him to move, and thus, he could do nothing as the Grey Sword pierced his head right through, splitting it in half, revealing a clock...which was stopped at the last second.

* * *

Right after the clock was stopped… a trio of missiles fell out of the sky and into the waters near the north of Vale, sinking harmlessly to the bottom of the sea.

"Oh thank Oum." Ruby sighed in relief when they arrived to see the missiles finally disappearing below the waters.

"I guess they won." UlforceVeedramon said as he and Pierce arrived just a few seconds after.

"Yeah… they pulled a miracle." Pierce chuckled.

* * *

"That was… REALLY cutting it close… good job though." Gyro said, patting Omegamon's head a bit.

"I was honestly a little worried there." Pyrrha added.

"Not gonna lie, we were a little worried too." Omegamon admitted with a nervous laugh.

"So… what's it like to be fused?" Gyro couldn't help but ask.

"Pretty weird, not gonna lie, like, one second we were WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon, the next we're Omegamon, and we know all there is to know about our new self." Omegamon explained as he removed his blade from the clock, which faded away into data scraps.

"Glad it happened either way," Pyrrha sighed.

"It certainly was fortunate," Gennai said. "Now that Diablomon is gone, I'll bring you all back to the real world. Hold on tight, I don't think either of you want to end up trapped in there."

As soon as he said that Gyro and Pyrrha grabbed on tightly to Omegamon's horns, making the knight sweatdrop before they felt a slight tug and after a small lightshow, ended up in Beacon's courtyard.

"Holy shit." Yang said in awe as they arrived in the courtyard just before those three did.

"Is that them?" Ren asked unsurely.

"I think so… this feels pretty weird honestly." GrandisKuwagamon said before reverting to Wormmon.

"How do you think we feel?" Omegamon said with a dry look as Gyro and Pyrrha hopped off his shoulders and he glowed before reverting… into Botamon and Punimon.

"That's new." Gyro said with a blink as the two Fresh level Digimon fell into the arms of their partners.

"Darn it, I thought I was finally done with this kind of thing." Botamon grumbled.

"Tell me about it." Punimon said in deadpan as Pyrrha held him.

"Shouldn't be surprising. We only stopped going back to Baby form when we started getting used to using a lot of energy in Ultimate. What you two did probably used a LOT more energy than that," Tentomon said. "Still...I hope we don't run into too many if any things that need you to do...THAT again."

"Ugh...that's how we're all feeling…" Gyro groaned. "Seriously, I think I wanted to wet myself more than a few times today…"

"You and me both." Pyrrha added with a sigh as Jaune and Gomamon finally arrived, a bit exhausted as he was riding a bike.

Everyone shivered at how close this was to going VERY bad today.

"Wait, hold on." Pierce said, turning to his team leader "Why are you on a bike?"

"I stole it." Jaune said panting, Gomamon sitting in a basket on the front.

"So… this is one more reason to get out of Vale right?" Gomamon asked.

"Yes. Yes it is." Weiss said in deadpan.

"It's one thing after another isn't it?" Gyro sighed, before looking thoughtful "Though… what do you call a Digimon that went beyond Ultimate I wonder?"

"I have the answer to that." Gennai said from his scroll, Weiss handing it back to him "I just had a chat with Yggdrasil, he helped me make Analyzers for everything we saw today, and told me more about Omegamon's myth, turns out he appeared millenia ago in the Digital World during a great crisis, so he's literally one of the last lines of defense. As for his level, he's classified as a Super Ultimate. Here, let me bring it up." he said as he activated the analyzer.

 _Digimon Analyzer: Omegamon_

 _Omegamon. Vaccine Type. A Super Ultimate Level Holy Knight Digimon. One of the thirteen Royal Knights, and the last line of defense of the Digital World. It only fights when the situation reaches the deepest despair, vowing to protect and save everyone. It is said that Omegamon holds a great power within his blade, with unknown means of unleashing it. His special attacks are Grey Sword, using the blade from his WarGreymon arm, and Garuru Cannon, using the cannon from his MetalGarurumon arm._

"Wow...a level beyond Ultimate. I'm honestly glad we got one first instead of having to fight one first," Ruby couldn't help but say.

"The miracle of the century." Gyro said with a grin, raising his hand up, and Pyrrha high fived it with a smirk.

"Not to rain on the parade, but if there's anything else we need to do, we'd better do it quick," Weiss sighed. "I think it's safe to say all of Remnant saw what happened, the Crests...and Gyro and Pyrrha fighting alongside Omegamon."

"In short, the world knows they have some special power, and it's only a matter of time before everyone who thinks they could use them in some way or learn the secrets too...are gonna be after our asses," Pierce groaned. Talk about no good deed going unpunished.

"Right, let's grab everything then!" Ruby said urgently, as they ran to their dorm rooms and completely emptied them of everything save for the beds… though even then they took the bedsheets and pillows just in case they needed them.

"So, we all realise this is like the arc in a story where the heroes get branded as criminals and need to pull some glorious shit to get pardoned of everything, right?" Pierce checked as he finished stuffing his pouch.

"Yeah… that ain't gonna be fun, we'll probably have to save the world… AGAIN." Nora said with a loud groan at the end.

"It's dumb that saving the world sounds like a chore to us now." Blake said in deadpan.

"Saving the Digital World sounds like less of a chore." Patamon commented.

"That's because we've only done that ONCE so far." Palmon told him.

"Ok, so… we called for a ride to get us out of Vale, right?" Yang checked.

"Yes, I called home, mother said she'll get a boat over to us as discreetly as possible, she should have sent it out a few days ago, and it should be arriving soon." Weiss said, earning nods.

* * *

It was just a few days later, the group having judged that by now the boat waiting for them would be arriving soon.

In that time, they had changed out their clothes for new looks.

Most of them had simply gone for their outfits from what the twins called Volume 4, those being Ruby, Blake, Yang, Jaune, Nora and Ren.

Weiss's new look was completely different from what she had in Volume 4, as that had been more of a ballroom dress, made to look fancy and not suited for battle. Her new outfit however consisted of a light blue corset with a shoulderless shirt of the same color underneath, a bit of red visible underneath that to help cover her chest a bit more, she also had a small icy white jacket over her shoulders that that flared into a short cape on the bottom, with long white gloves covering her hands, a somewhat longer blue skirt covering the upper part of her legs, with long high heeled white boots going up underneath it for the rest of her legs.

Pyrrha's outfit sported more armor on her chest, the inside being lined in wool to protect her against cold climates, considering where they would be heading to soon enough, and she knew how cold her home could be. The armor even had shoulder plates, and she now wore a short red cape that hanged off her shoulder, a new skirt at her waist, this one having several metal flaps over it to act as armor, while she had long nylon socks going right up underneath it, her legs sporting a bit more armor than before… though, remembering a story Gyro had told her about her apparent namesake, she added a touch more armor to her heels.

Gyro's new outfit consisted of a long blue coat with yellow stripes going down the sleeves, and a set of three yellow claw scratches sewn onto the front, the spacing between the claw mark patches making it obvious it was supposed to look like it was made from Agumon's claws. The hood of the coat being a little fluffy on the inside, while underneath it, her wore a simple collared shirt with some light armor over it, along with armored side skirts underneath the coat, some greaves on his legs, and gauntlets on his arms, his goggles resting on his forehead as usual.

Pierce's new outfit consisted of a dark orange sweater with a yellow scarf around his neck, light armor on his chest with shoulder plates and gauntlets as well, a short black coat hiding the armor a bit, though it lacked the sleeves. He wore gloves on his hands, and dark green camo pants on his legs with combat boots, his look topped off with a pair of aviator sunglasses on his face.

"Alright everyone, got everything packed?" Ruby asked, making sure everyone was ready.

"We already checked and double checked," Weiss nodded.

"Alright then, looks like we're all set," Jaune nodded. "Can you call Klein to let him know we're ready?"

"Right," Weiss nodded again. When the ship had arrived for them, she was pleasantly surprised to find that her butler, Klein Sieben, had come along. With that she made a quick call and the ship was now preparing to leave. They only needed to board it.

"Gotta admit, gonna miss Vale while we're gone," Yang chuckled.

"But it's what we gotta do for now," Pierce sighed. "We're supposed to protect the world, even if it includes protecting people from themselves."

"So, we're all set now, let's get going." Veemon said.

Gyro chuckled "He's right, time to hit the road people!" Gyro said with a grin, as he opened the door… and his face fell "Uh, what?"

"So… what's going on here?" Coco asked with an amused smile as she lowered her sunglasses a bit, the rest of her team standing with her, and behind them, Ogremon looked embarrassed about something.

Gyro… quickly put two and two together, throwing Ogremon an annoyed look "How much did you say?"

"I, uh… told them everything after that network incident… they saw it all." he answered, looking everywhere but at Gyro.

"What is wrong with our luck on keeping this stuff secret?" Agumon wondered in deadpan.

"I don't know but it's kind of annoying." Gabumon added in the same tone.

"Well, after what happened in the network, you can't blame us for being curious," Velvet chuckled. "Though I have to admit...it's pretty funny how all of our partners knew about your group."

"We didn't just know, we were there during the final assault on the Dark Masters," Meicoomon said.

"Still hard to believe you basically defeated a bunch of villains who had actually taken over part of an entire world," Yatsuhashi couldn't help but say.

"Yeah, our lives lost all sanity and logic the moment we got our D-Cores the first time," Blake sighed. "But if you know, you know why we've been trying to keep this a secret."

"We get it," Fox nodded. "It doesn't take a genius to know that the moment people up top learn about those Crests you have, they're gonna want to try and use them."

"Which would be REALLY bad if used wrongly," Dobermon affirmed.

"The Crests were created to save the world, not be used for selfish reasons," Waspmon nodded.

"And with that… I'm guessing you guys are heading out on a world saving journey?" Coco asked with a smirk.

The chosen sighed, seeing where this was heading "You want in, don't you?" Jaune asked.

"Well… yeah, we kinda do." Velvet admitted with a slightly embarrassed laugh.

"...should we?" Ren mused. The group seemed to think about it for a moment...before shrugging.

"Eh what the heck," Gyro chuckled. "Welcome to the team. Please leave your sanity at the door, cause I guarantee this involves a one way trip to weird and insane, especially once we start diving into the Digital World again."

"You guys might want to work on the marketing line. You'll scare away normal people, which fortunately we're not," Fox laughed.

"Pardon the pun, but looks like we're about to jump down the rabbit hole," Yatsuhashi chuckled, to which Velvet giggled a bit.

With that, the group discreetly left school, heading down south from it after exiting the building.

"So, what's first on the list?" Coco asked as they were now in the Emerald Forest, which was very much the White Forest now.

"First we need to meet up with the others, they should be waiting for us near the ruins." Ruby said, before they finally reached said ruins, seeing Team SSSN, Keenan, Ilia and their partners waiting for them in the ruins.

"Yo! Glad you guys could make it!" Sun said with a grin.

"Looks like we have more people though." Neptune noted as he looked at Team CFVY's members.

"Accidents happen." Gyro said with a shrug.

"Alright, now that we're all here, what's first on the list?" Ilia asked.

"Well, we can't head to Mistral just yet. It's too obvious, and likely, Cinder might even expect that from us." Pierce said.

"Instead, we decided that we should head to my home on Menagerie and hide out there a bit." Blake said with a smile.

"Huh, cool, never been to Menagerie." Sun grinned.

"Are humans allowed on Menagerie though?" Keenan wondered.

"Good question, it's a land for Faunus after all." Falcomon nodded as he thought about it.

"Humans can go there yes." Velvet answered "My dad is a human, and he was allowed to go there with my mom, but, that's the thing, a human is only allowed if accompanied by a faunus, it's a rule that was set a while back, mostly to show we're still angry and don't trust all humans that much."

"Right, I guess that's a fair rule, we have four Faunus in our group at least, so that'll make moving around there easier." Gyro sighed "Anyway, come on people, Klein is waiting for us by the coast."

"Right… we're getting on a boat." Neptune said nervously, before yelping as something pinched his ear.

"Quit being such a scaredy cat would you? We get it, people died in front of you in the ocean, but you gotta get over it!" Tinkermon practically shouted in his face.

"Ok, I agree with her sentiment, but less rude." Scarlet sighed as he pulled his partner back.

"If it helps, you don't need to get out on deck," Pierce said.

"Yeah...that'll help," Neptune nodded, albeit a little stiffly.

"Anyway, after Menagerie, we'll be going to Anima, then make our way to Haven...by the land road," Pyrrha said. "Also, once we get on to the ship, there are a few things you'll need to know."

"Some kind of secret for your inner circle?" Velvet mused, to which the Chosen all nodded. "Well...it must be important, so alright."

With that the group soon boarded the ship and were soon sailing off the coast with their next destination in mind.

* * *

At that time, in the Digital World…

A figure walked through a long hallway, his body covered partially by a cloak, a pair of glasses with large lens glinting partially in the darkness of the hallway.

"You got your speech ready boss?" a small figure with long ears and a single horn on its forehead asked the taller figure, following behind them.

"Of course, it's been ready since this morning and I rehearsed it a few times already." the tall figure said with a confident smile.

"Of course you did, you're always ready after all." another small figure with long ears said, though this one had three horns as opposed to one.

"It wasn't always like that though." the first small figure snickered.

The tall figure chuckled "Come now, everyone was embarrassing as a child, but we all grow and mature."

"We had a lot of things to watch while maturing." the second short figure said "The Digital World sure changed a lot over the years since we lost access to it."

"Yeah, lots of bad guys came around, but those Chosen Children managed to put them down." the first short figure added.

"Yes, they did." the tall figure said, before frowning "However, a more permanent solution needs to be made, the world can't always count on others to save it."

"We can only hope the Digimon understand." the second short figure said.

"Meh, I'm sure they will eventually." the first short figure shrugged.

"It will take time, as all great changes do, but one day, they will thank me for keep the world peaceful." the tall figure said, before reaching the end of the hallway, stepping into the light, revealing a young man, his outfit consisting of a white and blue suit with a high collar and yellow shoulder pads, from which a white cloak hanged, his hair silver and slicked back, while he had large, white glasses with blue lens over his eyes, and finally, a sword sheathed at his hip, one of his gloved hands resting on the pommel.

The two small figures stayed in the shadows of the hallway, simply watching over him silently.

The young man looked down from the balcony he was standing on at a crowd of Digimon who were gathered below, the varying expressions on their faces even if he knew they all came of their own free will. They were still unsure, unsure of this decision, unsure if he could give what he'd promised. Well...it was time he began to dispel their worries.

"To everyone in this room, I thank you for coming!" he began. "For too long the Digital World has been at the mercy of those who'd use the power they amass to oppress those without it! Too long has the Digital World remained passive as they awaited others to fix the problems for them! I say no more! No more will this peaceful world be brought to its knees by the dark ideals of a few! No more will evil have a chance to rise and plunge the world into an age of darkness! Today I say to you that we shall unify this world under our banner, a world where strength is used to protect, not destroy! Where the innocent may live peacefully without fear of their lives being shattered one day! Today marks the first day of the first Digital Kingdom, where all may live in peace without fear or oppression!" he declared. "Are you with me?!"

The resulting roar from the Digimon below was practically deafening, as all of them started chanting.

"All hail the Digimon King! All hail the Digimon King!"

* * *

 **And here ends Volume 3, and the first major saga of the story.**

 **Next up... lock onto the Target, and full speed ahead, because...**

 **The Adventure Evolves.**


	61. 60: Troubled Waters, Uncertain Skies

**Welcome back to Digital Story!**

 **Now, Season 2 isn't starting JUST yet.**

 **It's why there's no intro in this chapter.**

 **Think of this as the Prologue to Season 2.**

 **Anyway, we hope you'll enjoy this small chapter!**

* * *

 **Troubled Waters, Uncertain Skies**

* * *

The voyage towards Menagerie was a relatively slow one, not because the ship they were using was slow, but because they were purposely taking a bit more...round about...way. The less they used more mainstream paths, the less likely they were of being noticed. "Gotta say...being basically a fugitive sucks," Pierce sighed as he was looking over the railing to the ocean below, several of the rainbow colored fish that Gomamon summoned popping out every now and then. These were their warning signs in the event any Grimm were approaching.

"Technically we're not officially anything," Weiss mused, looking through her Scroll. "There's nothing beyond normal news regarding the Diablomon incident...though views on Digimon DID take a bit of a hit since one Digimon nearly caused a LOT of damage. Fortunately the fact we stopped it managed to balance things out a little," she sighed. "Other than that, it seems Atlas has finally unveiled its prototype Digital Gate. So far it's still just in the prototype phase, but the news says they've been able to send AKs into the portals with them coming back with recordings. You can even see them here," she added, showing one such recording of several baby Digimon playing in a field, while a Digimon that looked like a swan was watching over them.

"Huh, that's surprising… how many you willing to bet ended up falling into the ocean or some volcano though?" Veemon asked with a grin.

"Probably a lot honestly." Tentomon chuckled.

"They DID say some AKs were terminated, so it's likely the drop is random." Weiss admitted with a smirk.

"Well, guess they're not about to be actively going into the Digital World anytime soon then," Pierce chuckled. "Speaking of active, who's turn is it next?"

"I think you said it would be Blake and Patamon next," came Velvet's voice as she walked up to them. "Though...I still find it an odd image that you all say you need therapy. Of course...with how Meicoomon admits she and Dobermon weren't around for most of what happened...I'm guessing it was really that bad…"

"Considering we purposely sprang a trap just so we could beat up the guy setting the trap for catharsis...yeah, we decided we needed to get some professional help," Jaune sighed from nearby. "Never mind the part we've basically accepted murder as the best option to fix issues these days...yeah…"

"Not helping that things Digimon do actually wear off when you kill the one causing it," Gomamon added.

"Ah...yeah...I can see the problem there…" Velvet nodded, looking decidedly uncomfortable.

A few moments after she said that, Gyro and Agumon walked up from below deck "I honestly feel a lot better now." Gyro said, his shoulders sagging.

"Same here, feels good to just talk about everything and have someone help you make sense of the confusing bits." Agumon added.

"Thank Oum for Gennai am I right?" Gomamon told them with a laugh when they got close.

"Yep," both of them nodded.

"I'm just glad we're finally addressing the problem," Blake sighed as she and Patamon soon went below deck, to the room where Gennai was waiting via a screen to be their therapist, since they literally couldn't talk to anyone else without spilling the secret.

"Speaking of problems, how's Neptune doing?" Weiss mused.

"I asked Sun earlier. He says not much change, but at least Neptune is moving around more," Ruby said.

"That's something at least, and its way better than what Neptune in the webshow was like," Gyro said, chuckling a little at the last bit. It WAS pretty funny when used for humor.

"Though at the course we're taking, how far before we reach Menagerie?" Veemon asked.

"Klein said with the current course, we should reach Menagerie in a week or so," Weiss answered.

"So...in the 'original story', what happened?" Coco's voice said as the girl came up to them. "We're headed to Menagerie cause its a bit off the normal grid, but you said there was something else too."

"Well...since we have time, I guess now is a good time as any to give you a recap of things to come. Call everyone else, they should hear this too," Gyro said.

It wasn't long before everyone (including Blake and Patamon who put their session on hold cause this was important, as well as Klein who'd put the ship on auto pilot for now, and Gennai who was present via a screen) was gathered on the deck, with Gyro and Pierce once again prepping their scrolls and unlocking the classified info to share. "We've gotten past the Battle of Beacon with an end result WAY better than what it 'should' have been, so lots of this info may or may not be accurate anymore, but since most of these events happened outside of Vale...it shouldn't make a major change," Pierce said as they prepared to start telling.

"So, first things first, the events of Volume 4 were presented from 4 different viewpoints, Ruby in Anima, Yang in Patch, Blake in Menagerie, and Weiss in Atlas. Volume 4 ended with Ruby and the remnants of team JNPR reaching Mistral, Yang setting out for Anima, Blake still in Menagerie, and Weiss sneaking out of Atlas." Gyro started.

"And before anyone asks, yes, shit happened which ended with Team RWBY split up by the end of Volume 3, which we've handily avoided," Pierce sighed. "Between a mix of emotional drain, depression, obstructive parents, and wanting to find out some reason to all the insanity, all four of you were on separate paths at the time."

"Yeah...thanks for helping us avoid that," Yang smiled a bit, though she still couldn't help but touch her arm, remembering how she was supposed to lose it in the 'original timeline', to which she suppressed a shudder.

"I'm guessing the reason we're going to Menagerie has to do with why Blake was there, right?" Coco asked.

"Yeah, when she went there, it was originally just to go home and clear her head, but Sun followed her there." Gyro said, making said monkey faunus whistle innocently when several turned to him "Anyway, she met her parents after being away for a while. We also get introduced to the two that Ilia dreams of strangling every night."

"Am I that obvious?" Ilia asked with a raised eyebrow.

"You tend to strangle your pillow in your sleep." Blake informed her girlfriend helpfully.

"You also grin sometimes when doing it." Kotemon added, making the chameleon faunus's freckles turn pink in embarassment.

"Don't sweat it, we'll let you get first dibs if they try anything funny," Pierce chuckled a bit.

"Ooookay, yeah you guys probably still need a few more sessions," Yatsuhashi sweat dropped. "Though...how bad are we talking here?"

"They're perfectly okay keeping Ghira in the dark of what the White Fang is devolving to, since they were secretly part of Adam's growing faction of WF members who think going to war with humanity is a good idea," Pierce said dryly.

"...please tell me they didn't get away with it," Blake growled.

"One of them died in the fire of your home and the other was arrested… can't remember which is which though since it's been a while last we watched." Gyro admitted.

"So they didn't get away with it. Not sure what to feel about the died in a fire part, and more than a little disturbed that it was my home, but at least there's that," Blake sighed.

"As for Ruby and Team JNPR...or team RNJR as they're called during their travels cause well...you know…" Pierce sighed, everyone in the know looking understandably uncomfortable, and everyone who didn't know the full details could read the atmosphere and realized better not to ask. "ANYway, they went through several shenanigans, but the biggest highlights I'd say were encountering one of Salem's followers, a deranged Scorpion Faunus named Tyrian, and running into Ren's old village...and avenging it."

Ren perked up at that "I finally killed that thing then?" he said, blinking a few times, before letting out a sigh "Good to know."

"That Grimm was Scary with a capital S!" Nora added.

"Yeah...it really was especially before it was properly shown," Pierce nodded. "Though for all the hype, it was beaten by the four members of RNJR so...yeah. Don't really know what to say about that considering its apparently destroyed entire towns, or at least played a key role in that."

"...hate to say it but I can see what they mean," Wormmon sweat dropped. How does a monster responsible for destroying entire towns lose to four teenagers?

"...so anything else?" Jaune asked, wanting to break the awkward moment.

"Well, there's the part where Qrow gets poisoned by Tyrian, but we're aiming to avoid that," Pierce mused.

"Well jeez, I hope we are, that's my uncle we're talking about." Ruby said.

"Speaking of Uncle Qrow, think he's found Oscar yet?" Yang wondered.

* * *

A knock resounded on a large barn door, which, after about a minute of hushed conversation on the other side of it, slowly opened to reveal a certain farmboy with a D-Core clipped to his suspenders, and Huckmon who peaked out from over his shoulder, the two looking up at Qrow who had an amused look on his face.

"So, kid… I got a weird question for you… do you have an old man talking to you in your head?" Qrow asked with a knowing look.

Oscar stared at him for a good moment, before muttering "Don't rush me." to someone "He's wondering how you found us so fast."

Qrow sighed, though it was in relief "Oh man am I glad to see you're actually there Oz. So, the how… that's a crazy story, and you'll want to sit down, trust me, it's gonna floor you."

"It can't be that bad." Huckmon said as they let Qrow into the barn.

Several minutes later….

"Hah! Summer owes me 50 Lien," Qrow smirked when he saw Oscar, with Ozpin in control, looking like he was trying to catch flies with his mouth. "But yeah, that's basically how I felt when I found out we'd been played by a bunch of teenagers, and that some of them know a version of the future that would have happened if they didn't step in."

It took a moment, but Ozpin's mind eventually rebooted and he straightened himself out. "Well...I must admit that it is...very surprising…" he said, trying to regain a more composed look. "Though...I always DID find it strange at how prepared Azure seemed to be...not to mention how his and his siblings' profiles seemed odd somehow."

"Yeah, in retrospect, they always WERE off, but, hey, can't say I blame them too much if they did this to save the world. I think we have one hell of a fighting chance against Salem now." Qrow said with a confident smile.

Ozpin was deep in thought at that, before looking up at Qrow, nodding slowly "I believe… you may be right old friend. Even more so with the incredible potential Digimon show." he added as he looked at Huckmon.

"Well, these kids are the Chosen Children apparently, so they have even more potential, I'm pretty sure they even made the white knight that we saw on the scroll a little while back." Huckmon added.

"And the information they have...even if incomplete, is a great help," Ozpin nodded, before frowning. "But still...what happened to Leo to make him betray us…?"

"From what the twins told me, basically he's doing it to survive. I get the sentiment, but the twins had a point when they called him being a coward, from the angle where he's okay with destroying hope for a change just so he can live a bit longer...and that is also tied to how long he's useful," Qrow frowned.

"Something we will no doubt have to deal with," Ozpin sighed, before Oscar took control.

"I...I don't FULLY understand, but I get that this is really important, like...fate of the world important. I'd...like to help," he said.

"And where Oscar goes, I go," Huckmon said with a smile.

"Well then, glad to have you all on board," Qrow smirked a bit, before tossing him the handle to Ozpin's cane, Oscar catching it, and with Ozpin telling him how it worked, extended it outwards, looking it over, before nodding to Qrow.

With that, they set out, to go and reunite with the others, hopefully sooner rather than later.

* * *

"Meh, probably." Biyomon shrugged.

"Okay, so we covered 'Volume 4'. What happens next?" Fox asked.

"Well, the next is the last Volume we have knowledge of," Pierce said. "Volume 5."

"Lay it on us, can't be that bad." Palmon said.

"Well…" Gyro mused "I guess compared to the last ones, it DID have a bigger feeling of hope. Anyway, for starters, by the start of Volume 5, everyone was gearing up to reach Mistral, if not already there. But, we learned at the end of Volume 4 that the headmaster of Haven, Leonardo Lionheart, was a traitor, and sold everyone out to Salem."

"He WHAT?!" Sun jumped up, actually in rage "You never mentionned our headmaster was a fucking traitor!"

"We didn't? Sorry, we might have forgot what with the immediate things we were worried about," Pierce apologized. "But...yeah, as much as we'd LIKE to try to give him some credit...he's a traitor and a coward, honestly no nice way to put it. He sent Huntsmen...fathers, mothers, to their deaths, all cause he was too afraid to stand up to Salem. He'd much rather help her kill off possible resistance and with it more and more hope for a change just so he could live a bit longer. Sorry guys," he said, referring to the group from Haven who all looked like they wanted to choke someone, probably their (as far as they were concerned) FORMER Headmaster.

"That… that fucking bastard!" Scarlet roared, surprising most of them "My parents went on a mission as a request from him two years ago! They died! My older sister and I were fucking devastated, and it was all his fault?!"

"My father did as well, about four years ago." Sage said quietly "Mom went into shock when we heard he died on the mission… she passed away just a few months after because she just stopped."

"Jesus shit…" Tinkermon breathed quietly, before frowning as she went to hug Scarlet's shoulder, while Koemon simply climbed onto Sage's back and held him.

"Damn...sorry guys, we didn't know," Pierce sighed.

"Though...to be VERY fair, we don't actually know WHEN Lionheart turned traitor…" Gyro added. He wanted to at least make that bit clear.

"They were on routine missions that even a fresh graduate would have had no issues with," both of them said, before gaining a dead look and looking at each other. "But suddenly there were an abnormal number of Grimm," they said...in perfect synch. The circumstances were EXACTLY the same.

"...you both can have first dibs," Gyro and Pierce said with a tone dry and cold enough to be the Sahara Desert at night.

"So...anything else?" Velvet asked, looking decidedly uncomfortable, even if she fully understood the reason for it.

"Well...guess there's what happens with Yang and Weiss...though Weiss won't have most of the issues, seeing as they stem from her bastard of a dad," Pierce said.

"What happened originally?" Weiss asked with a sigh.

"Well, you managed to get out of Atlas by sneaking on board a transport ship that was carrying supplies, well, ok, you actually paid the pilot to let you come onboard without making it known, but close enough. Then you reached some floating islands of some sort, and you got attacked by a Lancer nest. You managed to take down the Queen Lancer at least, so good on that… but then your ship crashed and you got captured by the Branwen Tribe." Gyro explained, ending with a sigh.

"Of course…" Weiss sighed. "Even if something tells me we're not going to bother with the tribe beyond pointing Keenan at them so he can have justice for his family, what happened and what part do they play in all this?"

As she said that, said boy idly polished his boomerang...and cut a random rock he had in half. Yeah...he was looking forward to that.

"Well...Raven has a young woman named Vernal playing Spring Maiden, and yes, we're talking about the 4 maidens who are real, and their powers are currently in the middle of a stupid power struggle, but basically the REAL Spring Maiden is Yang's mom, but she's having a body double ready," Pierce said for the ones who weren't already in the know. "Cinder comes calling and basically coerces them to help her get the Relic of Knowledge, an item apparently left by the gods with one of each hidden inside the four Huntsmen Academies. Basically the Relic in Haven needs to be unlocked by the Spring Maiden, which is why she came calling. At any rate, for all of Raven's talk of survival of the fittest, she actually loses more points than Leo, since he at least fully GETS he's a coward who's killing other people just so he can live. Raven calls it 'doing what is necessary to survive'," Pierce said darkly.

"...you sure you don't know where the camp is so we can tear them apart?" Yang snarled. The more she learned of what her mother had left her and her father for, the more she was honestly GLAD she was never raised by that woman. If anything, since she was so willing to justify everything for the survival of herself and a band of thieves, then she thought it was high time karma came biting her in the ass.

"Anyway, ignoring the worst mother ever for a bit." Gyro started "Yang ended up finding her after beating up one of her bandits, and then she found Weiss caged up… for like a second before she busted herself out with her Arma Gigas summon."

"Which we'll be avoiding," Tentomon said with a nod. "Though since Yang WOULD have met her mom, I'm guessing something happened."

"Well, Raven said a lot of stuff, but it boiled down to 'Don't trust Ozpin' which whe would instead put as 'Don't trust everything he says'. Ozpin is a good man, that much we're sure of, but we're sure he's said some lies from time to time." Gyro added.

"And to be fair, what leader hasn't had to tell a few lies here and there. Honesty IS necessary, but too much of it can bring its own problems too," Pierce sighed. "Don't ask us if we think he's got a good balance or not though. Anyway, after that at Yang's request, Raven portaled her and Weiss all the way to Mistral...where Ruby and Co were," he continued. "Oh, and there was the bit of Yang and Weiss being disturbed about Raven being able to turn into a bird, and confronted Ozpin about it regarding his use of magic on the Branwen siblings but well…"

Yang and Weiss had flat expressions at that. "That's honestly normal compared to the crazy we have to deal with," they both said dryly.

"Yeah, that's what we thought too by now." Gyro said with a shrug "Anyway, after that was the reunion, Yang being emo about Blake having ran, Oscar got more training, Blake smacked some sense into Ilia, and then the Battle of Haven took place, much smaller than the Battle of Beacon mind you, it was touch and go for a bit, but you all actually won that one. Though Yang decided to, just once, return the favor to Raven for the save on the train, and let her leave after she opened the door to the vault, which means we got the Relic hidden down there, and last we saw of Cinder she was frozen and falling into a ravine below."

"And team RWBY was reunited, right?" Blake asked.

"Yes, and Adam showed the level of crazy suicidal, at all cost, type of person he is, and basically lost any and all respect he might have still had in the WF...assuming him killing Sienna didn't already kill most if not all of it." Pierce said.

"Wait, what?!" Blake and Illia said in alarm.

"Oh yeah, we almost forgot to mention that one." Gyro blinked "We'll want to make sure we get to the main headquarters of the Fang fast enough to stop that, I'm sure having humans save her will help Sienna see we aren't all bad."

"Well, is there anything you remember about the timing?" Ren asked with a hand on his chin.

"Uh… let's see…" Gyro muttered as he looked through his scroll "Ah, there we go, it happened during Episode 2 of Volume 5… right on her first appearance… it was just before Weiss's ship crashed."

"So we're going to need to handle that as soon as we reach Mistral then, straightforward enough." Jaune said with a sigh.

"That's assuming Adam even CAN start his coup this time around," Pierce snorted. "Between the critical hits to his sanity and physical body, I don't know how much of a viable leader he is anymore."

"He'll probably try anyway," Blake sighed. That was something else they had to worry about.

"Feels like everywhere we turn there's something that might make the world fall apart," Coco frowned after hearing all that.

"Yeah well...we get used to it," Agumon sighed. "Seriously, we're barely 2 years old if you want to be technical," he noted, realizing they literally only hatched a short time ago.

"That's...honestly pretty messed up when you think about it…" Nora couldn't help but say, a sentiment the rest shared when they realized that yes, the Chosens' Digimon HAD in fact hatched not THAT long ago.

"And...I think that's about everything important so far," Gyro mused.

"Wait, Lionheart. You never said what happened to him," Sun said.

"Oh right. Salem kills him after the plan falls apart and he tries to run away," Pierce said simply.

"Good to know he didn't get away in the end." Scarlet growled lowly.

* * *

A few more days passed after that, and with the current course, it wouldn't be long before they reached Menagerie. "So once we get to Menagerie, we lay low for a bit, scope out what's going on, and if possible, expose those two who are secretly working for Adam, right?" Sun double checked.

"Pretty much, yeah," Gyro nodded. "After that, we'll play it by ear. We'll make our way to Mistral, but from there...it all depends on what kind of effects our actions have had on history."

"About as good as we can get, I guess," Coronamon shrugged.

"Hey, Gyro?" Sage started, coming up.

"Yeah?"

"Did a ship being attacked by Grimm happen in the story?"

Gyro was silent for a moment, before he walked out onto the deck of the ship… and saw a Sea Feilong attacking a passenger ship not too far off the coast of Menagerie.

"Of course this still happens, part of me was hoping since Blake and Sun weren't on it would be avoided." Gyro sighed in aggravation "Alright, time to kill an annoying Grimm people!" he shouted loud enough for everyone on the ship to hear.

"I'll maintain a safe distance from the ship. If you need to retreat, please do so," Klein spoke up from the PA. "And do be careful."

"We should probably focus on using fliers," Weiss said as they got to the deck. "And we should have some people stay here to help defend the ship.

"Actually, I don't think we need even that," Sun mused, noting how focused the Sea Feilong was on the other ship. It didn't even seemed to notice they were here.

"Sun...what are you thinking?" Ilia frowned. She was afraid he was going to do something stupid.

"We got a clear shot for a quick kill," Sun said, pulling out his D-Ark. "Let's go, Coronamon!" at that the D-Ark glowed.

"Coronamon, Evolution! Firamon!"

Before anyone could stop him, he and his partner were already flying towards the other ship. "Fira Claw!" Firamon shouted, getting close to the Grimm that JUST noticed him...and cut its head off with his claws.

"Nothing to it," Sun and Firamon grinned as the headless Grimm fell into the water. However, just as it sank below the waves and the people started to cheer...several large tentacles burst out of the water, and wrapped around the ship, one grabbing the two who were still in mid-air. "What the heck?! They never said anything about...oh...damn butterfly…!" Sun gasped as he and Firamon struggled to get free.

"How nice of the universe to remind us it likes to cause us trouble here and there…" Pierce growled at what they'd seen, which only became worse when several more Sea Feilong started to appear, swimming around the waters, and attracted to the screams of panic from the other ship.

"The Sea Feilong aren't the source of those tentacles though." Weiss said with a narrowed eyes.

"Ok, what Mystery Grimm is this then?" Gyro asked.

Right as he said that, a large, black form emerged from the water, and… well…

"That… is a Kraken." Coco said, lowering her sunglasses to look at the large Grimm that sported a bulb shaped head and a maw with several razor sharp teeth near where it's tentacles were sprouting from.

"Okay...this just got a lot harder than it needed to be," Jaune groaned. "Alright Gomamon, looks like we'll have to use Vikemon…"

"No wait!" Ruby gasped. "If we use Ultimate here, we'll risk hitting the other ship!"

"That'd be bad. Guess we'll have to stick to Perfects then…" Ren frowned.

"But there's another problem," Yatsuhashi said. "A Kraken is a rare and powerful Grimm. Fighting it in the water would be very bad for us…"

"Then we'll have to use someone else who can fight in the water...which we only have one," Pyrrha frowned, realizing the problem.

"We do have someone else but…." Velvet trailed off, looking to the entrance to below deck where Neptune was still holed up.

"I'll get him," Betamon said, and quickly went below deck. A minute later, Neptune came out, looking a little shaky in the legs, but otherwise grimly determined.

"Before anyone asks, I'm still afraid...but I'm more afraid about my friend being Grimm chow!" Neptune said, holding up his D-Core, which began to glow.

"Betamon, Evolution! Seadramon!"

He wasn't the only one, as several other forms were going over or along the water. Altogether, the group consisted of Birdramon, Garurumon, Ikkakumon, Stingmon, Kabuterimon, and Waspmon, with Gatomon, Meicoomon, and Dobermon being carried along by the larger Digimon, with their partners coming along...though Neptune was with the flyers...and clearly doing his best to not look down at the water.

The Grimm were having a field day now that they both outnumbered and outgunned the ship, but their 'fun' was soon interrupted again when several attacks hit them, throwing them into slight disarray...though the Kraken continued to hold tight, making escape near impossible for anyone in its tentacles.

"This guy's pretty stubborn!" Yang frowned.

"Then we'll just have to make it hurt!" Birdramon said as she fired her Meteor Wings again, impacting several Sea Feilong, and raining fire on the Kraken, which roared in anger.

"Get off!" Stingmon and Gatomon shouted as they landed their attacks on its tentacles, drawing more pained shouts from it, while the Sea Feilongs were forced back into the water by several other assaults, Seadramon and Ikkakumon peppering the Kraken with their attacks, causing parts of it to freeze and get blasted. Eventually the pain was too much, and the Kraken let go of the ship which teetered unsteadily, to which several of the Digimon went to brace it, while some like Waspmon and Garurumon kept the Grimm at bay in case they tried to keep attacking.

While they'd managed to keep the Grimm away from the ship, Sun and Firamon were still caught in one of the Kraken's tentacles. "Guys? A little help please!"

"We're coming!" Jaune said, to which the Digimon and Huntsmen soon focused on the Kraken, particularly the tentacle that had their friend trapped.

"Just a bit more!" Neptune said...and the Kraken was definitely taking a beating...but instead of letting go it did something worse. It went and dove into the water.

Everyone gasped in horror at that, while Neptune...Neptune was having some bad flashbacks, and even as the aquatic Digimon were diving to chase after the Kraken...he was remembering what happened all that time ago...and that it was going to happen again to his friend...and he had only one thing to say about that. "NO!" he shouted, and before anyone could stop him, he dove into the water.

The fact Neptune actually dove into the water made everyone who knew him stop short. Heck, Neptune half couldn't believe he'd just done that, but by then his body was moving on auto, and was swimming through the water, while Seadramon and Ikkakumon were working to free the two trapped teammates in the tentacle. They tore and bit, but the Kraken was for some reason intent on not letting go. Neptune managed to reach them, and pulling out his trident, stabbed it into the tentacle tip, and sent a jolt of electricity through it. The shock while not causing much damage, was enough to surprise the Grimm into letting go, to which the two Digimon (having had a moment of shock at seeing Neptune in the water) quickly dove at the Kraken to make sure it doesn't try catching again, while Neptune grabbed Sun and Firamon (who thankfully being a flying Digimon actually weighed less than he looked), and slowly pulled them to the surface, the three breaking the surface, gasping for air.

"You two okay?" Neptune asked with a gasp.

"Yeah, we'll live," Sun gasped. "Thanks Neptune," he said...before realizing what he'd just said. "Neptune?! You're in the water?!"

"Yeah… I… I guess I am." Neptune said, smiling after a moment "I think the do or die bit made me get over it."

"Well...glad something came out of us nearly drowning," Firamon chuckled weakly, as they were soon helped out of the water by the others. However, before they could pull Neptune out, he felt something snag his leg and he was pulled under again.

"Hang on buddy!" Sun gasped, ready to dive in himself and return the favor...but several of the Sea Feilong were back. "Oh come on!" he growled in anger at the Grimm stopping him from helping his friend back.

Under the water, Neptune was stabbing at the tentacle, which forced it to let go, the jolts enough to loosen its grip. But at the same time he saw Seadramon and Ikkakumon in a bind. Literally. Gritting his teeth, he swam closer and started stabbing at it as best as he could, freeing Seadramon's mouth, his partner soon shooting attacks at the Kraken, but it stubbornly held on. Despite that, they kept fighting. They weren't going to give up! At that moment, time seemed to stop for Neptune and somehow he found out he could breathe again...despite clearly being underwater. He didn't have a chance to question it as his D-Core floated out, and in a bright flash of light, it transformed, turning into a D-Ark with a light blue ring and strap. Following that, the light from the screen soon materialized a Blue Card, and Neptune already knew what this meant as he grabbed the Blue Card, and soon scanned it on the D-Ark.

 **(Play 'EVO')**

"Matrix Evolution," the drone like voice said, as the waves of energy were released from the D-Ark as Neptune held it against his chest, the light glowing brighter as it soon released the Matrix Crystal, colored the same shade of light blue as the D-Ark, a charming grin on Neptune's reflection, before it flew towards Seadramon's forehead, and absorbed into it.

"Seadramon, Matrix Evolution!" Seadramon called out, as his body started to be encased in ice, which soon shattered revealing red scales from what were once blue, with several additional fins. At the same time, a horn grew out of his head, with lightning coming down and striking it, transforming his helmet, making it more metallic in appearance and charging up the horn with lightning. As that was happening, his body grew longer and stronger, with some green 'hair' growing out from under his helmet. "MegaSeadramon!" he roared.

 _Digimon Analyzer: MegaSeadramon_

 _MegaSeadramon. Data Type. A Perfect Level Aquatic Digimon. A Seadramon that evolved to survive in the harsh environment of the Folder Continent, where the weak are food for the strong. The lightning shaped blade on its head is said to be a conductor for powerful storms. Its special attacks are Thunder Javelin, firing a powerful thunderbolt from the horn on its head, and Ice Reflect, slamming his tail down to erect a wall of ice._

The Kraken was met with a slam of MegaSeadramon's tail. "Ice Reflect!" he called out, causing part of it to freeze over, and mixed with the force of the strike, it was enough to finally force the Kraken to let go.

"Great timing to reach Perfect," Ikkakumon said. "Though...shouldn't you be swimming for the surface now?"

Neptune blinked and realized he didn't feel his lungs burning or anything. "Huh...somehow I don't feel like I need to," he admitted.

"Maybe it's because of our bond?" MegaSeadramon mused...until they heard the Kraken roar in anger as it was coming back. "Worry about that later. Deal with this one now!"

Above the water, things were also quite intense as Sun was currently riding on top of one of the Sea Feilong, shooting it from point blank, while Firamon was hitting several others as fast as he could. Right after he finished killing one, Sun soon leaped back onto his partner...and soon saw more Feilong appearing. "What the actual heck?!" he growled.

"Maybe the Kraken has the same kind of ability as the Wyvern!" Pyrrha frowned. "It might be attracting all these Feilong!"

"Then we'll just have to take them out faster than they keep coming!" Sun said determinedly. "Come on buddy, we're gonna give Neptune a hand too!"

"I'm with ya all the way!" Firamon agreed, and at that moment, Sun's D-Ark started to glow, and from it, a Blue Card materialized.

"Perfect timing!" Sun grinned, grabbing the card and not wasting time in scanning it.

"Matrix Evolution!" the drone like voice said from his D-Ark, as it released waves of energy as Sun held it to his chest, and from the light, a dark orange Matrix Crystal appeared, an image of Sun grinning reflected on it, before flying into the air, and soon entering Firamon through his back.

"Firamon, Matrix Evolution!" he called out, as above him clouds faded away, revealing a bright sun and under the light his armor began to glow before his body ignited, shifting from a quadrupedal build to a bipedal build. His mane and tail grew longer, while he gained more armor along his body, and when the flames dispersed, it revealed his new form. "Flaremon!"

 _Digimon Analyzer: Flaremon_

 _Flaremon. Vaccine Type. A Perfect Level Beast Man Digimon. Its regal mane and imposing manner seem imposing at first, but this Digimon will brave any hardships for the sake of its comrades. There are rumors that its flames are powered by a faraway sun, and that should it one day reach it, its power would become immense. Its special attacks are Fist of the Crimson Beast King, unleashing a powerful red flaming fist in the shape of a lion's head, and Crimson Lion Dance, a wild combination of flaming kicks and punches._

"Let's show them who's boss, Flaremon!" Sun said.

"Gladly!" Flaremon grinned as he flew to a group of Feilongs, flames starting to ignite as Sun jumped on top of one of them, and distracted it. "Crimson Lion Dance!" Sun jumped out of the way as the attack hit, tearing apart the Feilongs at a rapid pace. At the same time, something broke the surface, revealing the Kraken...with its body impaled on MegaSeadramon's horn, its pained screeches heard as it was dragged through the water.

"You too?" Neptune blinked from where he was riding on Ikkakumon as Sun landed there as well.

"Looks like it yeah," Sun nodded with a grin, before the two high fived.

"Double Perfect for the win," the two grinned.

By then Flaremon had thrown any remaining Feilongs into the Kraken, while MegaSeadramon got his horn unstuck. "Finish these dopes in one hit?" MegaSeadramon offered.

"Definitely," Flaremon smirked as they set their sights on the downed Grimm.

"Fist of the Crimson Beast King!" Flaremon called out, punching forward and firing a flaming fist shaped like a lion.

"Thunder Javelin!" MegaSeadramon called out, firing the electric blast, which speared through the Grimm before the fist burned them to cinders.

 **(End Song)**

The two Perfects soon approached Ikkakumon, their bodies glowing, before shrinking, and soon landed in their partners' arms, revealing what could only be called a tiny sun with a flame on its head and a smiling face, Sunmon….and another Bukamon.

"Huh, kinda weird seeing another Bukamon that isn't me," Ikkakumon noted.

"And this happens everytime we go Perfect or higher?" Neptune's Bukamon groaned.

"Only until you both get used to it," Ikkakumon chuckled as they soon made their way back to their ship.

"In that case...Sun, we're gonna learn to get used to Perfect form ASAP," Sunmon said.

"So you don't lose your limbs?" Sun joked.

"Why else?" Sunmon laughed.

* * *

"Well I'll be… that sure was a sight." a young man with a southern accent spoke as he had been watching the fight going down through a pair of binoculars.

"I'll say, they must be good if they hit the Perfect Level." a purple reptilian like Digimon said.

"Looks like they're heading over here too." a young woman's voice noted in interest.

"One wonders what for? Perhaps, a journey of some sort? How exciting that would be!" a red avian Digimon said with a small bark of laughter.

"Well, I reckon we'll probably end up finding out somehow." the young man said with a slight grin.

* * *

 **And there's the chapter!**

 **Sorry for the clifhanger mystery, but don't worry, you'll all find out what's up soon enough.**

 **Also, yeah, Neptune facing his fears and making his partner reach Perfect, and Sun hitting Perfect as well.**

 **Anyway, hope you enjoyd, because...**

 **The Adventure Evolves.**


	62. 61: Blazing Return! Arise, KajiGreymon!

**Hello everyone and welcome to another Digital Story!**

 **This time... we're finally entering the new arc properly.**

 **Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

 **Blazing Return! Arise, KajiGreymon!**

* * *

The ship properly docked and the passengers soon exited out of the ship. "Not saying the ship was cramped, but it feels good to be outside after a while," Veemon sighed, stretching a bit.

"Yeah, it wasn't quite like using the Ocean Destiny. We were only on that thing for a week," Agumon agreed.

"Yeah, felt like we were on there for like a month." Palmon added.

"But we're here. So this is Menagerie?" Patamon asked, looking around.

"Yeah, and everybody remember to stick close. The other Faunus won't give the humans grief as long as you stick close to the group." Blake reminded.

"The non White Fang ones at least." Ilia tacked on.

"Just don't pick any fights if we can help it and if we can't disarm only," Gyro sighed, before adding. "And I mean that metaphorically just to be VERY clear. No idea why I feel the need to say that though."

"We're not stupid bro," Pierce said flatly. "But yeah, disarm only."

"But just to be safe, I vote we go straight to Blake's house," Pyrrha said. "The last thing we need is to risk running into the Fang now."

"Good idea," was the general consensus.

"Kinda wish we could look around, it's my first time being here and all, but I guess we gotta focus on what's important." Sun sighed.

"We can look around AFTER we've got some stable footing," Coco said. "Sides, there'll always be other chances once we stop the world from falling apart, right?" she added with a grin.

"You say that a BIT too casually boss." Waspmon sweatdropped.

"But she's right," Ruby chuckled. "We're already in this together, and we're gonna see it through to the end."

"Yeah, let's get through this together," Jaune agreed.

"As long as we're careful and don't get overconfident...we should be okay," Gyro said with a small smile.

"So don't rush into something half-baked or it might get dangerous basically." Agumon added.

"Avoid being halfboiled either." Pierce snickered, with Gyro snorting at the reference. "But yeah, our info is running out very soon. Once we get the item, that's literally the end of our cheat codes. Whatever happens next, we'll have to deal with them the normal way. Head on."

"And all we know beyond that is that our next destination is Atlas." Weiss muttered with a frown, not liking the idea of going back to her home that much, even though her father was kicked out, it was still heading into possible enemy territory.

"Let's worry about that when we reach that point. For now we should focus on what we DO know is likely to happen," Velvet said with a small sigh.

"Yeah, like actually reaching Blake's house," Neptune said with a snort, and with that the group departed for their destination.

* * *

Meanwhile...far away in a dark region of the world, a fortress stood among the desolate lands, Grimm roaming the lands below as up in the tower-like structure, a meeting was taking place.

At that meeting where Salem's… generals would be a suitable term.

Dr. Arthur Watts, a brilliant doctor and callous manipulator, Tyrian Callows, a crazed scorpion faunus assassin, and Hazel Rainart, a beast of a man with a grudge to bear.

And of course, Cinder was there… and she did NOT look good. Where in one timeline she would have been bad...but ultimately recoverable, the damage she'd endure this time was...leagues above. The direct blast from the Silver Eyes had burned up any part of her body that had been fused with a grimm, while the absolute zero temperature ice had caused severe damage to her skin, and thus she was now barely recognizable as a person, instead, she was inside what could only be described as full body armor. It bore a resemblance to a certain Sith Lord what with it covering her body completely, complete with a helmet and mask to help her breath. Her severely damaged body was being protected and kept alive inside of the armor which was colored a mix of black, white, and red, giving it a Grimm-like design, pushed further by her lone right eye visible behind the mask on her face, almost glowing gold with rage. The mask itself was roughly robotic in appearance, completely covering her left eye which was basically gone, while it also protected her right eye with a transparent glass lense. The lower half of her face was covered in a triangular design that held both a device to help her breath AND some microphones to help her damaged voice box speak. The torso armor was fitting on her, and well armored, enough so that it would take decent strength to cut through it, with no obvious weaknesses, while on her head, the mask was secured on with a helmet that had a pair of white horns, pointing ahead downward, seemingly there as an intimidating factor, which when added with her eye...actually worked quite well.

"Well now, I had my doubts, but I must admit, that look suits you quite well," Watts chuckled, earning a glare from Cinder. A slightly garbled sound came out of her suit, the system not QUITE finished learning to properly translate the words coming from her damaged voice box. "I honestly have half a mind to thank those kids who completely bested you for the silence."

"Well if I were you, I'd hunt those kids down and well...well, they left you like that, so eye for an eye," Tyrian said before laughing like the mad man he is.

Cinder would have responded to that, but right then, Salem chose to enter the room, practically gliding across the floor to her throne as the four of them stood at attention. "Watts, do you find such malignancy necessary?" she said, her voice calm, but it held a clear sense of authority, before she waved her hand, beckoning them to sit back down.

"My apologies. I just have little patience with failure," Watts said.

"Then there is still little need for that," Salem said. "True Beacon and Vale wasn't destroyed, but the fact remains young Cinder is the new Fall Maiden, and more importantly she killed dear Ozpin," she acknowledged. "Furthermore, she revealed something we've been overlooking for quite some time now."

"You speak of just how powerful Digimon can get, right?" Hazel asked knowingly.

"Not just that, but also just how powerful the students that keep getting in her way are." Salem added.

"And, at her… request." Watts said, looking at Cinder in annoyance while she growled at him "I looked up every student, and actually found something… interesting."

"Oh?" Salem rose a curious eyebrow "Is that so? Do share Arthur."

"Well, most of the students have obvious backgrounds to them in their profiles, but when I looked into two specific ones, there was barely anything, the same for a teacher." Watts explained "The Vermillion siblings, students Gyro and Pierce, and teacher Azure, all three of them barely have any recorded history, no date of birth, no previous known homes, nothing, the farthest piece of information is them renting an apartment in Downtown Vale after opening an account at the bank, and that was only a year before they all went to Beacon."

"Interesting," Salem mused, before turning to Cinder. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but I do believe each time you encountered them...everything went awry for your plans...almost as if they knew of them ahead of time, correct?"

Cinder's visible eye seemed to gain a thoughtful look...before it widened when she realized that yes, every single time she'd encountered them, things went badly. In fact, now that she thought about it, they always did seem to keep their distance...almost as if they KNEW she was the enemy, and when taken into that perspective...Mercury's legs being revealed, his win against Xiaolong, Nikos not using her Semblance...it would make sense they'd behave differently...if they already knew what she had planned. "H...how…?" the voice rasped out, her voice now heavily digital in tone, but was finally starting to be able to communicate with the device.

"How indeed? I doubt anybody would leak your plans as the only ones who knew were Emerald and Mercury." Salem said, looking at the mentioned two.

"And we both swear we didn't say anything, especially me, I got fucked over in those failed plans twice." Mercury said "I know Em didn't say anything either, she's like Cinder's number one fan."

"Hey!" Emerald hissed out as she elbowed him.

"You know it's true." he shot back with a wince.

The conversation was cut off as Cinder rasped out "It wasn't them… I trust them." she said, with Salem nodding in acceptance.

"Then the question still remains: How did those children know of Cinder's plans?" Salem asked again.

Watts hummed "Well… one theory is those Foretellers that have started giving us grief. But then that goes into the question of how do THEY know of her plans?" Watts said, before sighing "I won't lie, this is quite the confusing mess you're in, I'm glad I'm not in your shoes." he said, looking at Cinder in deadpan.

Salem had a thoughtful look at that. "For now we continue as planned. Even if Beacon is still standing, it's lost its head, and thus greatly weakened," she said. "Continue searching for the Spring Maiden, and while we're at it...find out more about the Vermillion brothers. I feel they may in fact be the key to this conundrum."

"Well, two of them have gone off the grid, but one is still in Vale, so it should at least be feasible to track his movements there." Watts said, knowing this was going to be his task.

"In that case, I'll continue the hunt for the girl." Tyrian said with a crazed giggle.

"What about me?" Hazel asked.

"Although he's been crippled, Adam Taurus said he can still get us a foot in the door with Sienna Khan, you shall go to him, and try to convince Sienna that we are the ones she will wish to side with." Salem told him.

Cinder's rasping cut in for a moment "What about… the kids?" she asked, the rage evident in her voice.

"What about them? I'm already looking into the Vermillions, and on top of that I'm the one who has to meet with Lionheart now because you still need to recover." Watts asked in annoyance.

Cinder glared at him "I want them… DEAD!" she said, slamming the table with her fist.

"Calm yourself Cinder." Salem warned her "I doubt we can kill all of them swiftly, but… Tyrian, see if you can't try to kill at least one of them, why don't you?"

"As you wish, my goddess," Tyrian said before laughing maniacally.

* * *

"Thanks again for having us, Mr. and Mrs. Belladonna," Weiss said with a small smile and nod.

"Well...it was a bit of a surprise, but I guess it's okay. Blake certainly made a lot of friends while she was away," Kali Belladonna said awkwardly...as the room was rather full with her various friends human, faunus, and Digimon, and the fact that a Schnee was among that list...it was a lot of things to take in. She was just glad it wasn't dropping by unannounced.

"As long as nobody does anything stupid, I don't personally mind, heck, this is amazing, she barely had any friends before she left." Ghira Belladonna said, with everyone looking at Sun at the 'anything stupid' comment, before Blake blushed at her father's last words.

"Come on dad." she groaned as Ilia patted her on the back.

"What? It's true." the giant of a man shrugged.

"You'll find that it's every father's job to make his kids feel humiliated." Yang told Blake solemnly.

"Oh boy don't remind me of the stuff dad does." Ruby groaned as she tried to forget.

"Well, now that you mention it…" Yang trailed off with a grin.

"I used this last year but I'm reusing it: Dad's guitar!" Ruby shouted, which made Yang go quiet with a blush.

"You know I'm honestly curious about that," Biyomon couldn't help but say, and promptly got her head pressed down a little.

"That is an incident I'll be taking to my grave," Yang said frantically.

"And now we're REALLY curious," Gomamon laughed.

"This is their world's frog problem huh?" Gyro said, glancing at Pierce.

"You can't prove that happened." his twin said quickly.

"Wow...I'd honestly say you four are made for each other," Scarlet laughed at the irony that two pairs of siblings in love with each other...and they even had a noodle incident they never want to talk about.

"Think we'll ever learn about that?" Agumon snorted to Veemon.

"NEVER!" Pierce shouted...with enough force they actually stumbled back.

"Well Blake, your friends are certainly lively," Kali couldn't help but laugh.

"But we can't help but wonder what brought this visit on," Ghira sighed. He wanted to take this as just a friendly visit. Really, he did. But as it was, things were crazy in the world lately, and he couldn't help but feel this was part of it somehow.

"Well… how fast as news travelled over to here?" Gyro asked.

"Well, we know Beacon and Vale narrowly avoided being destroyed thanks to the efforts of some very power Digimon showing up, but beyond that, we haven't heard much." Kali answered.

"Hmm… Do you think… their controlling the incoming signals?" Pierce muttered.

"Knowing our luck? Yes, yes they are." Jaune sighed.

Oh well that's just great." Nora groaned in annoyance.

"I wouldn't be surprised," Blake sighed.

"Okay...there's no nice way to say this. How in the know are you about the White Fang's recent activities?" Gyro sighed.

"...I'm not going to like where this is going, am I?" Ghira frowned.

"No, no you're not. Really sorry about that honestly," Gyro shook his head sadly. "You started a really good thing, but I'm afraid people who don't want to go peaceful, and some people like that have taken it so far, it's just a glorified revenge quest."

"Adam lead a section of the White Fang that helped the Grimm attack Beacon," Blake said, her voice hollow not because she cared anymore about Adam, but because she was going to bring this harsh reality to her parents...the last people she wanted to get involved in this...but they NEEDED to know. "He helped them smuggle Grimm into Vale and let them attack everyone, all just so he could 'make humans pay' as he told me while he was trying to kill the three of us. He didn't care at all who got caught in the crossfire, only that he could hurt as many humans as possible."

To say that her parents were shocked would be an understatement, as Ghira's jaw had dropped, while Kali had a horrified look in her eyes.

"We sent the idiot packing though, don't worry. Poor bastard lost more than just an arm back there." Pierce assured them.

"Anyway, another reason we're here, besides telling you Adam went nuts, is-" Gyro started before being interrupted as the doorbell rang "... possibly at your front door right now… possibly… for all I know this is someone else."

"But just in case, quick! Every non-faunus and non-Digimon into a closet, especially Weiss!" Ruby said quickly.

Right after she said that, all the humans just moved so suddenly Ghira and Kali lost track of most of them, save for Gyro who was practically glued to the ceiling… and he then held up a sign that read 'Nobody ever looks up.'

"You know, he's not wrong about that one." Velvet muttered as she glanced up at him.

"Well, let's not keep whoever is there waiting for too long," Blake sighed, before getting the door, opening it fully expecting to see a certain pair of twins. What she got instead was…

"Huh? So that WAS you, Blake." said the faunus at the door. He was dressed in a typical cowboy outfit, wearing a simple white button up shirt underneath a brown sleeveless vest, wearing a pair of jeans and cowboy boots with heel spurs, a handkerchief around his neck, and the obvious cowboy hat sitting atop his head, hiding a short cut head of black hair, his green eyes looking at her in surprise as his rattlesnake tail shook a bit.

Blake blinked at that. "Rusty? Is that you?" she asked in surprise.

"Well slap me silly and call me a donkey, I haven't seen you in forever!" Rusty exclaimed with a grin.

"Yeah...it's...been a long time," Blake said, looking away a bit. The last time she'd seen him...hadn't been on the best of terms. "Look...about the last time we talked…"

"Nah, it's fine. Me and Aile forgive ya," Rusty grinned. "We always knew you wouldn't have gone too far no matter what."

"I'm...glad you all had so much faith in me," Blake said with a small nod. "So...how is Aile doing?"

"She's doin fine, though we did worry when we heard our old friend was in places where all the crazy's been happenin," Rusty grinned.

"Sorry to make you two worry. But I really didn't have a say in things happening where I was," Blake chuckled.

"Sounds like a headache." said a voice from lower down, making Blake look to see a Digimon (obviously) one that was purple in color with a red triangle on his forehead, a single lone green eye behind a visor on his face, his body reptilian in shape with sharp claws and a long tail, though he was bipedal in structure.

"Huh, didn't think you had a partner." Blake blinked in surprise.

"Yeah, he's been with me for… well, a while to say the least." Rusty said, looking away, before grinning "Anyway, let me introduce ya to Bemmon!"

"Howdy." Bemmon said plainly with a small wave.

"Nice to meet you," Blake chukled. "Funny you should have a partner too cause well…" Patamon soon flapped over to her.

"Hi!" he said brightly.

"So you too, huh?" Rusty chuckled. "Shouldn't be surprised though, pretty much everyone has a partner nowadays. So...what ya back for?"

"Well…" Blake tried to think of a way to explain this… before she heard a thud from behind her, turning around to see Nora having fallen out of the closet she had been hiding in.

She then heard muffled laughter coming from a nearby room, which soon exploded into something louder, followed by Yang's voice "Hey Nora, nice of you to finally step out of the closet!"

Nora's response was to flip the bird in Yang's general direction, followed by grinning in satisfaction as she heard the loud THWACK! Of someone slapping Yang upside the head for her terrible joke.

"...was this a bad time?" Rusty blinked.

"Yes and no?" Patamon said unsurely "We thought you were White Fang members, and that might have gone bad with humans here."

"Oh… that makes sense." Rusty admitted after a moment.

"So...you're an old friend of Blake's?" Gyro spoke up, causing Rusty to look up in surprise, Gyro jumping off. "Didn't know she had friends other than Ilia," he added with a chuckle, getting a punch in the arm from Blake.

"Bite me Vermillion." she said with no real heat behind it.

"No thanks, I might catch 'The Angst'." Gyro shot right back, before looking at Rusty, holding out a hand "Nice to meet you, name's Gyro Vermillion."

Rusty looked on in amusement at the byplay, before grabbing Gyro's hand and shaking back "Nice to meet ya pardner, name's Rusty Shores."

As they shook hands, Gyro noticed something glinting beneath his handkerchief, and when he looked closely… "Hey… what's that there?"

"Oh, this? Had it for a while." Rusty said as he moved his handkerchief aside to reveal…

"A CREST?!" Blake and Gyro both exclaimed in shock, as they saw a Tag around his neck, with a moss green Crest inside of it, in the shape of an X with a small diamond in between each line.

"What?!" was the surprised shout from the others who heard it, as they all rushed to the front door, cramming it full of people, much to the confusion from those not in the know.

"That can't be right!" Weiss said in alarm.

"You...know about Crests?" Rusty asked in surprise.

The group looked at him, before looking at each other. "Do we tell him?" Ruby asked uncertainly.

"I mean, we haven't really met him before this…" Jaune trailed off.

"We've been handling it fine on our own so far." Pierce added with an unsure frown.

"Why is this even a question?" Ren wondered.

"Yeah! Come on guys, we tell him!" Nora added.

"She's right." Pyrrha said with a sigh.

"Uh… what am I missing here?" Rusty asked.

In response, both he and Bemmon were grabbed, before they were pulled into the house, the door closing behind them.

"Okay...Blake? You and your friends are starting to scare me," Rusty gulped.

"Sorry, this is just VERY important. You're basically about to join our group." was her answer, which just confused him more before he and Bemmon were sat on the couch.

"...we don't get it," both of them blinked.

"The best way we can explain is because of these," Jaune said as they held out their D-Crests, their own Crests appearing on the screen.

"There are more Crests?" Rusty blinked in surprise.

"Your wording implies you knew about more than just the Crest around your neck," Pierce said.

"Well, yeah, Aile has one too." Rusty said, causing everyone to stop short and stare at him.

"... call her and tell her to come here, say it's urgent." Blake told him seriously.

"Alright." he said after a small moment, bringing out his scroll and doing just that as they then waited for her to arrive.

Eventually a knock was heard, and Ghira called out "Come on in!" the door being opened and two pairs of footsteps were heard, though one seemed to be scratching on the floor a bit as it walked, and after just a few seconds, two figures came into the living room. One was a young woman (because with a figure like that, she wasn't just a girl) wearing what appeared to be a skin tight black suit with several ports along it as if to attach something to them, though over said suit she wore a simple tank top and short skirt, her dark blue hair falling down her back as her red eyes looked at them curiously, several feathers seemingly being part of her hair, and around her neck was a Tag, bearing a cyan crest that took the shape of a trio of swirls connected together.

Next to her was a Digimon, an avian obviously, with a red plumage on most of his body, his wings sporting black finger like claws at the tip, while his head was white, a leather strap around his forehead and a single feather on the back of his head that pointed up, a few red markings framing his blue eyes, just above his yellow beak.

The moment they saw her, Yang opened her mouth...only for Velvet to clap her hand over Yang's mouth, stopping her. "We all know what you're probably going to say, so save your breath and our ears, and just don't," she said dryly.

"You guys are no fun," Yang actually pouted.

"You're Aile right?" Gyro asked, ignoring his eventual sister-in-law.

"Yeah, Aile Cyclone, this is Hawkmon." Aile introduced herself while her partner took a small bow.

"Good day to all of you, it's a pleasure to meet you." Hawkmon said rather grandly.

"Oh boy we got a theater major." Pierce muttered.

"Be nice," Blake admonished, before turning to Aile. "Sorry to suddenly call you out of nowhere, but this is...very important."

"If you had called us in such a hurry, it HAS to be important, so it's fine," Aile said with a light chuckle. "Still, it's nice to see you again, Blake."

"Likewise," Blake smiled a bit, before frowning. "Anyway, now that you're here, we should start explaining," Blake said.

After that came explaining everything to them, and there was… a lot to say the least.

"Now hold up a bit. Three worlds in total?" Rusty asked after a bit into the explanation.

"Yeahp, Gyro and I are from Earth, which makes up half of the Digital World." Pierce said.

"And Rusty and I are basically supposed to help you protect the worlds?" Aile asked for clarification.

"You have Crests, that LITERALLY means you're supposed to be part of our inner circle." Ruby shrugged.

"It's a bit weird honestly, doesn't help we had no idea there were 2 others." Salamon supplied.

"I must say, I certainly didn't expect to hear that there were more than the two we had in our possession." Hawkmon admitted.

"That and that we're supposed to be saving the world." Bemmon added.

"Come to think of it...Gennai never said anything about there being more than 10 Crests," Jaune mused.

"Do you think he had a good reason not to tell us?" Agumon asked.

"Well...whatever it is, we'll have to ask him next time we can talk to him," Ren frowned.

"I'm sure he had a good reason, like maybe they were emergency Crests or something," Nora said.

"He's never steered us wrong before, so there's no reason to doubt him now," Pyrrha agreed.

"So… what should we do now?" Aile asked after a few moments.

At that… everyone looked unsure "Well…"

"Honestly… we're waiting a bit… just have this feeling that if we start something, another thing will come up." Tentomon admitted.

Right on cue, Gyro's scroll started to ring, but when he checked the caller ID...it was an unknown number. "What the…?" he blinked, wondering who was trying to call him.

"Who is it?" Palm asked.

"Don't know. The caller ID is unknown," Gyro frowned. "Think I should still pick up?"

Before anybody could answer him, the call… answered itself? "I really don't have time for this." came Mirei's voice.

"Mirei? Is something going on?" he asked in confusion as he put her on speaker.

"Long story short, we have a new problem in the Digital World, I'll tell you more once you get here, just hurry." she said, before ending the call.

"Uh…" Sun trailed off, before jumping as his own scroll started ringing, except rather than a call, it looked like he had a new app "The heck is this?" he said, tapping it… and what looked like a window of some kind opened.

"Let me see that." Weiss asked, looking at his screen "This… this is a gate, back in the Digital World, it's closed, but we can probably open it easily."

"How do we do that?" Coco asked.

"The Digivices probably can act as keys, but first let me examine this," Weiss said, going through the data. "Hm...yes, this is a gate, but it looks like it can only send a total of 10 individuals through at one time, so that's 5 people, and 5 Digimon," she said after a few minutes. "There's...also some kind of map," she said, finding a map of the Digital World, but for some reason it was rendered in a grid, with a bunch of black points dotting the map, with one such grid cell pulsing.

"I'm gonna take a guess and say that's where we're going if we use this?" Sun said. "So...who's going?"

"Me for starters." Gyro said "And I think Rusty and Aile ought to come so they can get a first taste of things."

"Sounds good to me." Rusty said as he stood up.

"Guess it's a good thing I bring my weapons with me." Aile said as she pulled a pair of sturdy charkrams from… somewhere.

"I'll be going as well just in case we need to do some hacking." Weiss added.

"Hey, I know that quadrant a bit." Ogremon said as he looked over their shoulders "Yatsu, let's go with them!"

"Alright." Yatsuhashi nodded easily as he stood.

"Okay, let's get somewhere we're not liable to drag someone in by accident," Weiss said as the group of 10 moved position and got in front of Sun's Scroll as he activated the app, forming the gate again and pointed it towards them. The group looked at each other, to which Gyro and Weiss held out their Digivices, light shining from both as the gate shifted from 'closed' to 'open', before the light turned into what appeared to be ropes and attached to the screen.

"I'm gonna guess that we all need to do this?" Rusty said.

"Probably a good idea, yeah," Tentomon remarked, to which the rest of them held out their D-Cores, the same light connecting, while on the screen the Gate said 'Ready'.

"...uh...why isn't anything else happening?" Sun blinked.

"Maybe we need a keyword or something," Agumon said.

"What? Like…Digital Gate, Open?" Gyro hazarded a guess. True enough, the light got brighter as the gate started to shine. "I was kinda joking," Gyro blinked, right as they were sucked in.

The path through the gate was one that was both a roller coaster ride and a beautiful sight as they were flying through a kaleidoscopic tunnel of colors, their destination a bright light in the distance, which they quickly reached, and went through in a blinding light.

* * *

The Digital World was oddly unassuming today. To a casual viewer, there wasn't anything of note going on. That was when a small tv-like device suddenly started glowing, before depositing 10 figures in a heap.

"I fucking hate this world sometimes." Gyro said with a groan as he was on the bottom of the pile.

"Meh, it's not so bad." Ogremon commented… on top of everyone else.

"Don't care, now GIT!" Rusty shouted, rising up which made Yatsu and Ogremon fall off, Bemmon and Hawkmon having been between him and Aile, while underneath her were Tentomon, Weiss, Agumon and Gyro in that order.

Once everyone was finally up, Gyro dusted himself off "Alright, now let's find Mirei and- wait, what happened to my coat?" he stopped short, seeing his coat was now orange in color.

"You've got the Crest of Courage on your back." Weiss noted.

"Huh… oh hey your jacket is purple, you've got your own crest too." he noticed as he looked at Weiss.

"Huh, my hat's different too." Rusty noticed, pulling his hat off, seeing it was a moss green color now and sported his own crest right on the front, while Aile's bodysuit was cyan and sported her crest on her chest, right above her breasts.

"My outfit is still the same." Yatsu noticed.

"Maybe it's only for crest users then." Agumon figured.

"Correct, a little something Yggdrasil made for you all." Mirei said as she suddenly appeared out of thin air.

"What in tarnation!?" Rusty shouted as he pulled out two pistols at his hips in his shock.

"Woah! Woah, that's Mirei, she's with us." Weiss told him, getting in front of him.

"Besides, even if you had fired, it wouldn't have done anything," Mirei said with a light chuckle.

"Not helping," Gyro, Tentomon, and Agumon said dryly, earning another chuckle from her. "So what's the emergency?" Gyro asked.

"First of all, try evolving," Mirei started.

They all look at her oddly at that, before Tentomon shrugged and did so.

"Tentomon, Evolution!"... "Wait, nothing's happening." he said after a moment of NOT being Kabuterimon.

"Wait, what? But you ate recently yeah?" Weiss asked in confusion.

"Yeah, had a nice meal before we touched on land and I'm still feeling full from it." Tentomon confirmed, feeling just as confused.

"Hold on, I'll try too." Agumon said "Agumon, Evolution!"... "What the hell, I'm not Greymon?"

"What… the hell? Our Digivices didn't lose power suddenly did they?" Gyro wondered as he looked at his D-Crest.

"No, the culprit is over there actually." Mirei said, pointing off in the distance, and they saw what appeared to be some sort of tower of sorts, Gyro pulling on his goggles to get a better look.

"A white, almost prismatic tower… looks like the one back in Washington." he muttered "That thing's stopping us from evolving?"

"Yes, and it leads me to the reason why I called you all here. The Digital World, or at least Server is dealing with an...uncommon...situation," she worded it carefully.

"...I don't get it," Ogremon blinked. "Did something happen while we were all gone?"

"Yes, something did happen...though how good or bad it is...that depends on who you talk to," Mirei said. "Go to the nearest town and you'll likely find more answers." With her piece said, she promptly vanished, leaving them alone.

"Well...she's weird," was all Aile could say.

"You have no idea. Oh, also, likely chances are she's the one who chose you two to have Crests, since she chose us… so she PROBABLY KNOWS WHAT THEY ARE!" Gyro called out into the area, receiving a rather faint 'I'm not telling them just yet.' from the forest, making him grumble as he started marching on, using his Digivice to find the nearest town.

"Great, if she'd at least tell us we'd know what trait it is you two need to work on." Weiss sighed, before following Gyro "Come on, let's just go find out what the issue is."

"So uh...what's the deal with these Crests actually?" Rusty asked.

"The simple version: They're powerful and a key to saving the world," Weiss said. "The harder version: They're artifacts with immense power that if used, can either save the world or possibly destroy it. Their first function is to allow Digimon to evolve to Perfect and up, but there's a trigger needed to use them."

"And that trigger is…?" Aile asked.

"A virtue of some kind. Though without knowing what they are we don't actually know WHAT to do," Tentomon sighed.

"That...would be problematic," Hawkmon frowned.

"Perhaps for now we should simply reach the town," Yatsu said with a sigh.

"Town isn't too far away. It should be just over that hill," Ogremon said, and true enough, they saw the town...and clearly something was off.

"That flag… looks like… is it supposed to be for some kind of country?" Gyro mused as he saw a flagpole near the center of town, with the crystal tower located right in the middle, the flag flapping in the wind looking like it was split down the middle, the top half white and the bottom half black, with a diamond shape split perfectly between both halves, the top one green and the bottom one purple.

"There appear to be armed forces at the town as well." Yatsuhashi noted, seeing various Digimon, some seeming like they were naturally equipped with soldier gear.

"Sealsdramon, and some other Digimon too." Gyro said as he looked through his goggles to get a clear look.

"What about the Digimon in town?" Aile asked in concern.

Gyro looking at the houses in the town, seeing Digimon looking fearfully out their windows, some were even inside cages near the central tower "Not good, looks like this was a forceful takeover of some kind."

"Seems pretty open and shut," Agumon blinked. "Wonder why Mirei made it sound like it was some super complicated problem."

"Something we can figure out after we free the town," Tentomon said. Sharing a nod, the group moved closer to the town, being careful to stay out of sight.

"So what's the plan?" Bemmon asked as they were currently on a smaller hill, using it to stay out of sight. Some woodlands were nearby so they could duck in there for cover, or they could attack head on.

"Looks like they've mainly got Adult levels guarding," Weiss frowned.

"I think we can go for a head on attack," Gyro said. "Our partners are strong enough to fight the average Adult, and we have our weapons with us."

"What should we do then?" Rusty asked.

"Hang back a bit and attack from further away, we don't want the new kids getting hurt too bad." Gyro said with a joking grin.

"We DO have combat training you know," Aile frowned, a little insulted by that.

"Yes, but one, we're used to these kinds of situation, and two, you guys are the backup in case something unexpected happens," Gyro clarified.

"...fair enough," the two of them and their partners shrugged.

"Okay, Yatsu, you and Ogremon will be taking the lead on this attack. Hit them hard to surprise them, and we'll capitalize on the surprise," Gyro said, earning a nod from the two of them.

The guards of the town were nothing too of note, just a pair of Tyrannomon. As such, they were taken by surprise when an Ogremon suddenly came charging forward, with a human by his side holding a large sword, and as such the two plowed right through them, causing them to land on a group of Commandramon. The moment that happened, several more Commandramon and a few Sealsdramon moved to intercept, but two blurs shot into the town, before separating into four, revealing two more humans alongside an Agumon and a Tentomon. That's when all hell broke loose as the four began attack, taking out the group with fast movements to the point they barely had time to fully register, and the ones that did soon found themselves under more fire from another pair of humans and Digimon. The attack was aggressive and effective, causing the combatants stationed near the front to be wiped out fairly quickly.

"We've taken out the gate, keep going!" Weiss shouted, earning nods as they continued advancing, while Rusty and co took control of the gate.

A couple more platoons tried to intercept them, but were quickly beaten down, allowing them to reach the center of the town which had the tower (the local residents shut their windows when the chaos started. "There's the tower! Time to bring it down!" Ogremon smirked, readying his club, but before he could…

"Volcano Strike!" a voice called out, a fireball shooting towards them and forcing them to dodge. When the smoke cleared, they saw...a Monochromon.

"...anyone else feeling a little underwhelmed suddenly?" Gyro couldn't help but say considering most if not all Monochromon they'd seen so far were either passive or being used as grunts...and this one for some reason had the air of being the 'boss' of this town.

"Yeah… but… something's off." Agumon frowned, before squinting his eyes "What's that he's wearing?" he pointed out, making them look to see a crystal like ring around the Digimon's waist.

"Well, whatever it is, I'm breaking it." Ogremon smirked, raising his fist "Fist of the Conquering King!" he shouted, aiming right at Monochromon, and everyone expected for the Digimon to get blown back… but Monochromon decided to prove them wrong, using his horn to block the attack as he grinned.

"Too bad for you. You Chosen Children are obsolete and useless now, especially against the Crystal Rings and Crystal Towers." Monochromon laughed.

"Crystal Rings? And this thing that blocks out Evolution is a Crystal Tower?" Tentomon blinked, looking up at the tower. "What the heck are they?"

"Do you think he's going to-?" Weiss started, but…

"They're incredible right? With these babies, even weak mon can become strong as heck, and without that annoying random Evolution, we keep the advantage!" Monochromon laughed. "The King's army will rule the land soon enough!"

"...glad to know those things don't do anything for intelligence," Gyro and Weiss snorted. By now they'd gotten used to dumb henchmen.

"Glad I was never that dumb." Ogremon muttered in deadpan.

"Jokes aside, I do believe we're in trouble now." Yatsu said as he glanced around, seeing some of the troops they had beaten getting back up.

"Yeah… time for the Joestar secret technique." Gyro muttered.

"I'm not even mad at you for mentioning that again, just make us some cover." Weiss shot back.

Gyro nodded, before using his Semblance to push the wind into the ground, kicking up a dust cloud which the group used to escape, heading back out of town.

"We gotta regroup! They have an advantage!" Agumon said to the new chosen that had been keeping a watch on the gate, earning nods as they started retreating as well.

* * *

"So...is running away from the enemy a normal part of the plan?" Rusty asked.

"When we find out they have an advantage and nothing is IMMEDIATELY at stake, yeah," Gyro nodded. "Normally we'd just evolve and beat them, but those Crystal Towers and Rings are a game changer."

"It's a strategically clever strategy though," Yatsuhashi mused. "Power up your own troops while locking down your enemies. Whoever this 'King' is, has made a simple but effective combat strategy."

"Unfortunately WE'RE the ones who need to figure out how to break that strategy," Weiss frowned.

"I see you all were given a taste of the changes that took place while you were away," Mirei said, suddenly appearing next to them.

"You're shopping for a clobbering, I hope you know that." Gyro told her in annoyance.

"There is more to this story than meets the eye," Mirei said with her usual enigmatic smile. "But that is for you all to find out. For now, know that you will have the tools to uncover it," she said, before she walked over to Gyro and Weiss, and tapped their Scrolls, a new App suddenly downloading into them, before self activating, revealing some kind of tracker...and it was pointing towards a nearby location.

Weiss sighed "And of course, you aren't going to tell us what these are pointing at." she said, Mirei simply giving her usual smile before disappearing.

"...welp, let's go find out what it is she wants us to find," Agumon said with a sigh.

"If that's the help you usually got, then this sounds like its gonna be a pain in the butt," Rusty said dryly.

"Welcome to your new life as Chosen Children." Tentomon said flatly as they started following the tracker.

"Is it too late to go home?" Aile asked dryly.

"Somehow I think it is," Hawkmon shrugged helplessly, while Bemmon snickered.

Following the tracker led them through the forest a bit, coming across what they were rather sure was a vending machine that Numemon were hiding in (Aile felt grossed out at hearing Weiss describe them… especially the part about them being VERY likely to try and ask her on a date), which they passed without being noticed thankfully, eventually reaching a cave of some kind.

"Looks like the signal is coming from in here." Gyro said as he looked at his scroll, before he and the others went into the cave, following the path within to the deepest point, and finding…

"What… this… my Crest?" Gyro said in utter confusion when they found an egg shaped object sporting a flame pattern on it, along with a horn, and the Crest of Courage.

"Correct." Mirei said as she appeared "This is a Digimental, a sort of extra security measure Yggdrasil made in the years you were gone. There is one for each Crest."

"What does it do?" Rusty wondered as Gyro looked at the Digimental from various angles.

Mirei simply smiled mysteriously "You'll find out, just remember the activation code 'Digimental Up' and everything will be fine."

"Well… no time like the present then." Gyro said, taking a deep breath, before grabbing hold of the Digimental, and pulling on it… and it just popped off the pedestal easily.

He blinked at that, looking down at the object in his hands "Huh… for some reason I had this weird feeling it was going to be difficult." he said, Mirei laughing mysteriously at that.

"It would be natural you could remove it. Caliburn only allowed King Arthur to pull it from its stone after all," she said, adjusting her glasses. "Well then, I leave the rest in your capable hands." And with that, she vanished.

"And there she goes," Weiss sighed. "Well, at least she gave us the tools again. Judging by her wording, I'd assume whatever this does can let us get around those Towers."

"Let's find out what this does then," Gyro grinned, before adding, "...after we get out of this cave. If this thing causes another Evolution, I don't think any of us want to find out the hard way how big or small it'll make Agumon."

"Good call," everyone nodded in agreement.

The group soon made their way out of the cave...and were met with a less than pleasant sight.

"Heh! Did you think I'd just let you all go so easily after you caused that disturbance in my town?" Monochromon said with a smirk as he and several Sealsdramon were present, the Crystal Ring glowing brightly on his body. "For the crime of public disruption, you lot are going into the slammer...AFTER we rough you all up a bit."

"Yeah...how about WE kick your butt and then free the town you're enslaving," Gyro said flatly. "Let's go, Agumon!"

 **(Play 'Break Up!')**

"Right!" Agumon grinned as Gyro raised up the Digimental.

"Digimental Up!" he called out, and in response, the Digimental began to glow, followed by his D-Crest and Agumon.

The Crest of Courage appeared in a void, spinning, before Agumon and the Digimental started floating around it "Agumon, Armor Evolution!" he called before the Digimental moved towards him and seemed to turn into flames that rose up around him, slowly taking shape while faded images of Greymon, MetalGreymon and WarGreymon appeared over him, his body changing within the flames, before he burst out, his body having changed into a more raptor-like shape with Greymon's colors, which included several blue stripes on his body, while his torso, knees, hands and head were covered in red armor with a flame pattern, his long fingers shaped like claws coming out of the hand armor, and his helmet sporting a bladed horn on the nose "Blazing Courage! KajiGreymon!"

 _Digimon Analyzer: KajiGreymon_

 _KajiGreymon. Vaccine Type. An Armor Level Reptile Digimon. An Agumon that evolved through the power of the Digimental of Courage, his power over flames has been enhanced due to the Digimental bearing the same element. Digimon that don the power of this Digimental find their fighting abilities rising like a blaze, being able to fight enemies with powerful abilities. His special attacks are Heat Shooter, firing a lob of nitro spit from his mouth that ignited upon contact with the enemy, and Fire Missile, encasing his body in fire before rushing at his opponent._

"What?!" Monochromon gasped in shock. "That's impossible! You can't Evolve inside the Crystal Tower's field!" he said, backing up a little.

"Yeah well, you should have thought about that before picking a fight with us. This isn't the first thing everyone said was impossible that we pulled off," Gyro said, before turning to KajiGreymon. "How's the new Evolution feel?"

"Different from our usual, but definitely feels good," KajiGreymon said, before turning to look at Monochromon and his men. "Hope you're ready, cause it's time for round 2!"

"D-don't think you can win THAT easily! I still have the Crystal Ring AND my men!" Monochromon glared, before the Sealsdramon started moving forward.

In response, KajiGreymon suddenly moved in a near blur, taking out the Sealsdramon before they barely had a chance to react, knocking several aside, before aiming at the remainders and opening his mouth. "Heat Shooter!" he called out, firing globs of...spit...at them, which hit them. They only had a moment to register the part where they just got spat on...before the liquid ignited, causing them a lot of damage, and making them fall over, unconscious. As such, it wasn't long before the only one left was Monochromon. "Feel like giving up?" KajiGreymon smirked.

Monochromon...gulped thickly. This...was going bad very fast for him, but whatever it was, be it over confidence in the Crystal Ring...or just plain not wanting to lose, he stood his ground...and charged blindly. His charge however was stopped short, easily, by KajiGreymon catching him...before lifting him up over his head and tossing him aside.

"I ain't gonna lose! I CAN'T lose! Not after I finally got power!" Monochromon shouted in anger, before firing his attacks, which KajiGreymon easily blocked.

"Even if you've got a nice power boost, that's not going to help if all you're doing is relying on it," KajiGreymon said, before charging forward and landing several kicks on Monochromon, pushing him back, before he got behind him and grabbed his tail. Monochromon didn't even have time to register that before he was being lifted up and spun around, and finally thrown...in the direction of the town. "Time for you and that tower to go down! Fire Missile!" KajiGreymon's body ignited with fire, before he surged forward towards the still airborne Monochromon, hitting him right in the Crystal Ring, the force causing it to break, while Monochromon was launched towards the town...right towards the Crystal Tower, smashing into it and breaking it in half before he landed on the ground in a heap, eyes swirly.

"Oh, wait, I didn't-" KajiGreymon started with wide eyes, about to rush at the tower to kick it away, only for it to break away into data particles before it even got close to landing "Huh… well that's convenient."

"Almost a bit too convenient," Gyro frowned. "I mean...we've smashed a LOT of things, and they didn't just break down immediately after we smashed them. It's almost like that thing was designed to break when it took heavy damage," he mused.

"Well...how about we check on the town first then worry about that?" Rusty suggested.

"Probably a good idea," Aile agreed, while the rest nodded. At the same time, KajiGreymon started to glow and soon reverted into Agumon, while the Digimental flew into Gyro's D-Crest, before transferring over to his Scroll, the radar app now having an image of the Digimental in it.

When they got to the town…

"Thank you for beating down Monochromon," the villagers said with grateful smiles.

"It was no problem. Dealing with Mon like him is part of our job," Agumon chuckled.

"Though…" one of the villagers, a Floramon, frowned. "Did you HAVE to destroy the Tower in the process?"

Gyro just gave that Digimon an odd look "Yes? It was preventing evolution, why would I NOT destroy it?"

"We could have just asked the King to turn it off." another random Digimon in the crowd said.

Gyro put on a serene smile that was anything but nice at that "Is it just me, or do I hear complaining?"

"N-No! Nobody's complaining!" the Digimon all said together, rather fearfully.

"Good to hear," Gyro nodded. "Now…" he started, smile still there. "What's this about the King?"

The Digimon gave them a...rough gist of who this 'Digimon King' was. To say he was not what they expected was...an understatement.

"Alright… so another human in the Digital World. That's surprising, have to admit. He's apparently trying to make the Digital World peaceful… obviously, that didn't work so well here. His Crystal Rings are supposed to denote the leader of a squadron on top of boosting power, and the towers are so people know from a distance this area is under his control, while also stopping Digimon from suddenly evolving, except that had the backlash of preventing them from evolving to defend themselves. Basically, we have a well intentioned extremist to deal with, one who's messing with the natural order of the Digital World." Gyro summed up everything they had learned from the village.

"Is it really all that bad though?" Rusty asked in confusion.

Gyro sighed "Think about it this way, if he succeeds, then he'll literally grind the Digital World to a halt. No single Digimon will be able to evolve without his permission, and it's not like he can know when exactly he needs to turn off the towers to let Baby levels evolve and actually become able to take care of themselves. It's like turning the world into a Zoo and he has all the controls."

"Well this is certainly a unique conflict we're in." Weiss said with an unsure look.

"Yeah, we fought to bring order to the world before… but now he's basically pushing it so there's no chaos at all. You can't have one without the other after all." Tentomon summed up.

"And I can see why this would be difficult," Yatsuhashi frowned. "With the enemies you've faced up till now, who was right and who was wrong was obvious. But with this 'Digimon King'..."

"Yeah, I can see a LOT of Digimon I've met in the past throwing their lot in with this guy," Ogremon scratched the back of his head. "Years upon years of having to live through maniacs like Devimon would do that to lots of Mon."

"This is really complicated…" Agumon sighed.

"Perhaps we should return to Remnant for today," Hawkmon suggested. "Confer with the others over what we've learned and discuss further strategies."

"Agreed. I think we'd all need to sleep on this too," Bemmon added.

"Right. Time to go home," Gyro agreed as the group went back to the television they came in from, and using their Digivices, opened the Gate once more and left the Digital World.

* * *

Meanwhile…

A grand castle stood overlooking a sizeable city, walls surrounding the entire city while the castle was separated from the rest of the city by a moat and bridge. The city looked nothing short of prosperous while the castle was a large building with a mainly circular design for the main body with a few additional circular towers around it its body. The structure stood easily 5 stories tall, with majestic white walls and a golden roof (all of them just paint), overall giving the image of a great and prosperous kingdom. The city before the castle was also great and prosperous, with several rivers running through it and lush trees growing in various parts of the town. The main sections showed a large number of facilities and housing areas for the citizens, with a few research facilities and agricultural areas set up, all of which protected by strong walls with various defenses and guards patrolling it, and a gate with a door that could be raised to keep intruders out.

Inside the castle was no less majestic than the outside. With several floors going up, until the throne room which almost felt open air, with sunlight streaming in from the glass ceiling and grass on the edges of a small path from the entrance to the throne itself. On the throne was the one who called himself the Digimon King, with several holographic screens around him. "I see...so the Tower in one of the fringe territories was destroyed," he frowned. "Investigate what happened, and report back to me," he instructed to the Digimon on the other end of the communication. With that done, he leaned back and sighed. "I shouldn't be surprised that there would be resistance, but...to actually defeat a Digimon with a Crystal Ring...who could be rebelling?" he frowned. "No matter. Things are progressing well. I won't let the Digital World fall into chaos. Not again," he said with determination.

* * *

 **And there you go!**

 **Yeahp, new Chosen Children, and one of them has a pretty irregular Digimon.**

 **For those who don't know, Bemmon is from Digimon World 3 on the PS1.**

 **As well, things in the Digital World aren't so black and white anymore.**

 **It certainly promises to be interesting, but for now...**

 **The Adventure Evolves.**


End file.
